http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog 200 Essays and Interviews to Help You Read and Write Memoirs Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:38:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Copyright © 2010 Memory Writers Network jerrywaxler@yahoo.com (Jerry Waxler) jerrywaxler@yahoo.com (Jerry Waxler) Self-help 1440 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/LearnMemoirCoverFront-small.jpg http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog 144 144 Reading and writing memoirs. Record the Stories of Your Life, tips, how-to, memoir book reviews, by Jerry Waxler memoir, writers, self-help, book-reviews, essays Jerry Waxler Jerry Waxler jerrywaxler@yahoo.com no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-workshop-story/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-workshop-story/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:02:02 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=595 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-workshop-story/feed/ 3 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/character-development-lesson/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/character-development-lesson/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:45:40 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=460 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/character-development-lesson/feed/ 0 6:48 By Jerry Waxler Part of relating to a good story is to feel a personal connection with its characters. Now I need to develop the knack ... By Jerry Waxler Part of relating to a good story is to feel a personal connection with its characters. Now I need to develop the knack of portraying the people in my life onto the pages in my memoir. I have attended workshops, and read how-to books about this skill, but it has been eluding me until recently when I stumbled upon a valuable insight. By incorrectly reading a series of short stories, I had an aha-moment about how reader and writer work together to form characters. This discovery will help me bring my characters to life. I first noticed my reading problem last year when I read a lovely collection of short stories, "Apologies Forthcoming" by Xujun Eberlein about life in China during the Cultural Revolution. [ To read that essay, click here.] In one story, a student was relocated to join peasants in the countryside. In another story, a young factory worker struggled to make friends. I imagined the second story was about the same person as the first. My interpretation was wrong. The link was created by my imagination, not the author's. Recently, I read another book of short stories, "Inheritance of Exile" by Susan Muaddi Darraj. [To read that essay, click here.] I am attracted to short stories, both as a reader and a writer. So I jumped into the collection, enjoying each story individually. But again I noticed my mind making incorrect or unsubstantiated assumptions, unconsciously bridging a character from one part of a book to another. The fact that I repeated my mistake made me curious to learn more about this mental habit. In many collections of stories, this effect is used intentionally. Readers expect the detective Adam Dalgleish in P.D. James' mysteries to maintain his quirky personality from one novel to another. His ability to completely override compassion in the service of his job became his trademark, and so the reader of these novels forms an expectation that he will continue to behave in this way. As a result of this agreed continuity, the author of a series can portray deeper characters over a longer period of time than they could in just one story. All kinds of series are built on exactly this principle. Star Trek allows us to get to know their recurring characters across a range of stories. Sitcoms, comic books, and book series take advantage of the reader's accumulating familiarity with characters. By digging deeper into the way my mind insisted on linking characters together across pages, I now see more about the way authors create characters. Books don't tell us everything about a character all at once. They drop in a fact here and a scene there, and the reader's mind accumulates a deeper understanding of that character in bits and pieces across many pages. In any longer book, this effect of continuity is a crucial tool for authors, but I never noticed it quite so clearly as when I saw it happen accidentally across multiple stories. Now that I see the bridging, I can use it to help me offer my reader a better, more satisfying connection with the supporting characters in my memoir. Take my older brother, for example. He's an important enough person in my life that I would want my reader to know more about him. So how do I bring him to life? Ed towered over me in my youth, at first because he was seven years older than me and later because he was really tall. Six feet five inches and too thin he should have easily made it onto the basketball team. But like me and my dad, he was not particularly athletic, and he walked with a slight tilt because of his scoliosis. When he was cut from the team, he responded with an intensity of disappointment I wouldn't have expected. Perhaps he had hoped a team sport would help further his ambition to be a doctor, or maybe he really wanted to play basketball. I was too young to ask, and now it's too late. Armed with this collection of observations, I begin to look for places in my memoir to expand his character. Hopefully the reader will do wh Literary Non-fiction, My own life, Writing Workshop Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/yin-yang-dramatic-tension/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/yin-yang-dramatic-tension/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:29:36 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=449 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/yin-yang-dramatic-tension/feed/ 3 7:09 by Jerry Waxler An author's job is to tie us in knots, forcing us to search for relief on the next page. Thrillers easily generate tension ... by Jerry Waxler An author's job is to tie us in knots, forcing us to search for relief on the next page. Thrillers easily generate tension when the hero races to find and defuse a bomb. But how do writers create tension from ordinary life? To find out how one writer achieves this creative task, I peered into the collection of short stories, "Inheritance of Exile" by Susan Muaddi Darraj. Each story shows characters caught in the emotions and circumstances of ordinary life, and yet despite their ordinariness, I feel engaged in their struggles, turning the page to learn more. As I seek to understand how Susan Muaddi Darraj has accomplished her hold on me, I notice a particular feature of the writing. She has superbly tapped the power of opposites. Opposites generate texture in every aspect of ordinary life: sad and happy, rich and poor, young and old, hope and despair. It's the yin-yang of nature, that oriental principle that claims each polarity contains its opposite. I knew about the principle, but I never noticed it as a tool for storytelling. Now I discover the secret hidden in plain sight. Opposites, by their nature, create tension, like the sparks that jump across the two terminals of a battery. The tension pulls together when opposites attract, or pushes apart when we want to maintain our distance from the other. By juxtaposing the two sides and allowing us to feel the contrast, the writer generates energy, creating an intellectual and artistic feast. Here are examples of the opposites I noticed in these stories: Girl and boy romance While describing a relationship, the author maintains her protagonist's feminine needs, and at the same time, she shows a deep empathy and understanding of the boy's perspective. Child and parent have two very different views She shows characters at different stages of Coming of Age, wanting to grow up, and at odds with their parents. This universal tension can be confusing and polarized. And yet, somehow, Inheritance of Exile brings enormous compassion to these situations by giving us deeper understanding of the parents' point of view. Tension between rich and poor To earn a few dollars, she sells hand-made baskets at a craft fair. People with lots of money stop by to look. The contrast between their economic situation and hers crackles with tension. Hoodlums and law abiding working people A working man is robbed at gun point, showing the stark contrast between these two lifestyles. The man works hard, pushing himself through the daily grind to support his family. The hoodlums break the law and steal what he built up. The scene creates an intense contrast of these opposing life choices. Relationships with Father vs. Mother The protagonist's relationship with her mother and with her father are each formidable, each rich in emotion, tension, and love. The real power, though, comes from the juxtaposition of the child's relationship with each. The difference in her connection with each of these two parents creates enormous tension that the character must sort through, and which drag me deep into their family dynamic. Mother-love and father-love, so different and so authentic, create dramatic tension that drives me not only to turn pages, but to ponder these truths of the human condition after I have closed the book. Palestinian (immigrant) culture and American (dominant) culture Of course, every immigrant copes with these two opposing forces - the confining boundaries of the culture-of-origin, and the inexorable crucible of the melting pot that demands escape from that confinement. Susan does an artful job of showing her characters moving sometimes easily and sometimes awkwardly between these two different states. Life as a balance of opposites All of life is caught in the pincers of endless pairs of opposites. Opposites create revolutions, hatreds, and passionate love. We live day by day, constantly striving to resolve these opposites, and so, as readers, they hold us i Coming of age, Family, Immigration Experience, Writing Workshop Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/philadelphia-stories-conference/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/philadelphia-stories-conference/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:58:42 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=242 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/philadelphia-stories-conference/feed/ 13 10:20 by Jerry Waxler On Saturday morning, a sunny autumn day, I left my home amidst the browning corn fields of Philadelphia's northern exurbs. Thirty miles later, ... by Jerry Waxler On Saturday morning, a sunny autumn day, I left my home amidst the browning corn fields of Philadelphia's northern exurbs. Thirty miles later, turning onto estate-lined roads of the Main Line, I reached Rosemont College, rich with serious stone buildings nestled amidst old-growth trees, the perfect setting for an intellectual feast. The college's MFA program was hosting a regional writing conference called Push to Publish, organized by Philadelphia Stories magazine, a literary journal founded and run by Christine Weiser and Carla Spataro. I was looking forward to this opportunity to spend a day soaking up the ambiance of writers, learning, and networking. In the lobby, looking for the registration desk I felt the buzz of writers, with our desire to put words on paper, to organize thoughts, and reach out to people. This ever-present tension between writing in private and reaching out to the public is at its most paradoxical when we get together in person. The keynote speech turned out to be invigorating and liberating. Beth Kephart, whose work I did not know, started as a memoir writer, who, as her career proceeded, extended her writing to other forms, most recently winning awards as a young adult novelist. As her writing skills and interests develop, Beth follows her creative compulsion and then finds people who understand it. This is the refreshing message I drink in; it's okay to speak from my heart and then find a market, rather than the other way around. The writer's journey is a long walk through a desert and talks like Beth Kephart's are the oases of cool succor, mixed with a bit of prophecy that if I keep going, I too will reach ever more interesting connections with readers. (Click here for Beth Kephart's blog.) Outside, tiptoeing around the stinky ginkgo berries, whose smell I knew well because of the tree outside my grandmother's house in the Logan district on North Broad Street, a professional-looking man with a rich German accent introduced himself. He's a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and wants to publicize science. I told him my interest and asked him about his writing style. When he told me he was still writing in the academic mold, I launched into my pitch that the best way to reach readers is to bring himself into the page. "That's interesting," he said. "When I show my students photos I've taken around the world, they ask me what the trip was like. They want to know about me." It was really fun sharing this insight about popularizing science with a university professor. I need to do this more often. At lunch I sat down with a couple of women and asked what they write. One of them said, "I'm Ethel David. I wrote a book called, "My Lover the Rabbi, My Husband the Doctor." "How interesting," I replied. "I saw that book on the display table. How nice to meet the author." The other woman said, "And I'm Cheryl Grady, her Boswell," referring to the fact that Ethel spoke and Cheryl wrote. "So," I said. "Your husband was both a doctor and rabbi. That's incredible." "No. I really had an affair with a rabbi while I was married to a doctor." Pause. "Don't you feel awkward writing about it?" "At 92 years-old, honey, I can say anything I want." I had to ask her to repeat her age several times. Her voice was so lucid and strong, I would have figured her to be around 70. After she showed me family photos from 1916, I went back to the table where Larry Robin, owner of the oldest independent bookstore in Philadelphia, Robin's Book Store was glad to sell me a copy of the book. While most conferences provide the opportunity to speak with an editor or agent, this one offered "speed dating" letting you talk to more than one for a generous 15-minute block. First I spoke with Michelle Wittle, a blogger for Philadelphia Stories, and then Peter Krok, publisher of the Schuylkill Valley Journal. I told Peter about my interest in memoir and essay writing. He expressed i Cultural community, Philadelphia Regional, Writing Workshop Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-lessons-zombies/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-lessons-zombies/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:30:49 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=217 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-lessons-zombies/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Zombie books awaken spirituality Writing lessons for Memoir Writers from Thriller writer Jonathan Maberry Myths, Storytelling, Writing Workshop Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/boomer-memoir-is-a-step-towards-social-activism/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/boomer-memoir-is-a-step-towards-social-activism/#comments Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:08:45 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/boomer-memoir-is-a-step-towards-social-activism/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/boomer-memoir-is-a-step-towards-social-activism/feed/ 1 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-myth-to-find-story/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-myth-to-find-story/#comments Tue, 08 May 2007 10:36:46 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=4 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-myth-to-find-story/feed/ 0 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-memoir-as-literary-non-fiction/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-memoir-as-literary-non-fiction/#comments Tue, 01 May 2007 10:37:26 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=27 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-memoir-as-literary-non-fiction/feed/ 0 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-fiction-to-tell-truth/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-fiction-to-tell-truth/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:28:15 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=26 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/writing-conference-tip-for-memoirists-use-fiction-to-tell-truth/feed/ 0 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/does-it-feel-good-to-write-your-memoir/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/does-it-feel-good-to-write-your-memoir/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:18:28 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=22 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/does-it-feel-good-to-write-your-memoir/feed/ 1