http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog Hundreds of Essays and Interviews to Help You Read and Write Memoirs Tue, 15 May 2012 12:09:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 2006-2007 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-writing-lessons-from-the-heart/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-writing-lessons-from-the-heart/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:43:55 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-writing-lessons-from-the-heart/ Continue reading →]]> http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/memoir-writing-lessons-from-the-heart/feed/ 9 0:00:01 by Jerry Waxler (This blog is also available as an audio file. See the Podcast player control at the end of this post.) Perry Foster was an ordinary business man until he found himself on the wrong end of a cardiology exam. Now he bears a scar on hi[...] by Jerry Waxler (This blog is also available as an audio file. See the Podcast player control at the end of this post.) Perry Foster was an ordinary business man until he found himself on the wrong end of a cardiology exam. Now he bears a scar on his torso that looks like it was zipped shut, which makes him a member of the zipper club. When he chose to record his experience he was not drawing upon years of training as a writer. He simply wanted to tell his story and his memoir “Hands Upon My Heart: My Journey Through Heart Disease and Into Life” is the result. Whenever I read a memoir, I look for lessons. How did the author put it together? How did his words create the emotions as I was reading? I have found that new authors, in their passion to explain what happened, often provide lessons every bit as good as the ones I learn from the pros. Memoir like a novel One of the most basic lessons in this book is Foster’s knack of telling a story like a novel – that is, he lets me see events for myself. His descriptions are so quintessentially “show don’t tell” that reading the book is like attending a “show don’t tell” seminar. Take for example a stressful scene in a doctor’s office when Foster’s wife pulls out a bottle and takes two aspirin, showing the headache rather than telling it. And precisely because the example is so basic, its lesson is easy to learn. If he had written, “she had a headache,” he would be reporting a fact that was inside her head, not his. A slightly improvement would be dialog. If she had said “I have a headache” at least he would not be reading her mind. But now she becomes the one who is telling. When he shows her taking the two aspirin, readers can see the evidence for themselves. Foster also does a good job staying within a time frame. He immerses himself within each scene, providing sensations that let me lose myself in his world. Since the book starts around the time he learns his heart is failing, I know little about his history until he is sedated for a surgical procedure. In his drug altered state, he describes a picture perfect flashback from his childhood. This ploy supplies background about his family, and the flashback also provides pacing, letting me linger there with him while surgeons are poking at his body. His observations include his own thoughts, feelings, and body reactions. These internally directed observations take me inside his experience. “Does anyone ever wake during surgery?” he asks his surgeon. He notices the taste of perspiration dripping from his upper lip. After this frightening meeting he becomes furious with his wife for trying to relax while she was waiting. “You’re buying a romance novel,” he asked in a restrained voice. “How could she?” he thinks. Edgy characters make me turn pages From the beginning Perry Foster showed me his messy emotions. He was afraid for his heart, angry at the doctors, and edgy with his wife. His thoughts are often judgmental, and paranoid, and I think, “No wonder this guy’s heart is a wreck.” I also wonder how he could be so honest about these feelings. This is a big issue for me, because my instinct is to hide my imperfections. “Hands Upon my Heart” shows me that disclosing authentic feelings, even if edgy and flawed, creates human warmth so palpable I want to pick up the phone and ask him about his health. Perry Foster’s nervous tension serves another purpose. It increases dramatic tension. Consider Shakespeare’s characters Hamlet, and Ophelia, or Romeo, and Juliet. Their edginess creates suspense because you’re never sure what they’ll do next. Foster achieves the same effect. I kept turning the pages to see how he will juggle the pressure of his disturbing emotions. Will he grow? I love character development in a book. By the time I reach the end I’[...] How-to Jerry Waxler no no http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/unbearable-courage-of-living/ http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/unbearable-courage-of-living/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:05:11 +0000 jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/unbearable-courage-of-living/ Continue reading →]]> http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/unbearable-courage-of-living/feed/ 1 0:00:01 By Jerry Waxler To become more knowledgeable about living, I try to find out as much as I can about dying. This is easy information to find, because writers have so much to say on the subject. Death is such an important topic, Hemingway suggested to[...] How one memoir author takes us an ordinary journey with extraordinary courage. Trauma Jerry Waxler no no