Category: Beth Kephart
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Memoir Lessons: Buddies, Endings, and Beyond
In this post, I wrap up the last of the twenty lessons I found in Beth Kephart’s “Slant of Sun.” I have delved into this enjoyable, well-written book, a process I have grown accustomed to. After reading a memoir, I go back and consider it again. I hope you will do the same. By studying…
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Lessons from Kephart: Labels, Definitions, Language
When Beth Kephart’s son was diagnosed with a vague “disorder” she had to cope with the news. But how do you make sense of information that affects people you love when it is so technical you can barely understand it? You must sort out more than jargon. This is your son, and you must take…
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Memoir Lessons: Moms, Quirks, Choices
Even those who firmly believe mother knows best also know of situations like Beth Kephart’s in which the child presents problems that exceed the mother’s grasp. At what moment does the mother decide that her own resources are not sufficient? It’s a profound question I would have never thought about before reading this memoir, about…
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Memoir Lessons: Mysteries of emerging consciousness
Jeremy was using his words to explain his actions, and that’s what memoir writers do, too. Your whole memoir is an attempt to describe how your life works, from inside your point of view.
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Four More Writing Lessons from Reading a Memoir
Consider one scene in which Beth Kephart uses a delicious strategy to tell about her earlier life while maintaining firm authorial control over the present. In the scene, a snowstorm traps her alone in the house with her son. She doesn’t want to leave him alone so she demands that he listen to a story.
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Lessons 4-5 from Beth Kephart’s Memoir, Slant of Sun
Pick a scene, and instead of jumping right to the outcome, build up to it. Remember how you felt while you were still worried, still anticipating. Did you discuss your fears with other people, or muse about the possibilities? Pause, anticipate, feel heart racing. Note the tension. Let my heart pound, too.
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Use this memoir as a study guide: lessons 1 to 3
Her journey to help her son enter the game of life abounds with courage, psychological sleuthing, and love. It is a warm coming of age story of two people: Jeremy’s development into childhood, and his mother’s maturity as the shepherd of her son. I learned so much from reading the book that I think it…
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