Every so often, I come across a post from a writer who claims that one of the main differences between writing fiction and writing memoir is the use of imagination: fiction writers are unlimited in their use of imagination but memoir writers have to stick to the facts they remember.
Nonsense.
The use of imagination can lift a memoir from a retelling of events as remembered to storytelling at its best. Why?
Most people write a memoir long after the events they describe have passed. If you’re lucky, you may have a photo, a letter, a journal – something to help trigger memories. But most likely, what you have is a sketchy memory of what happened.
Most of the writers I work with are also writing their memoirs long after the people who played a key role in their lives have passed. Almost always, I hear:
“I wish I’d asked my father…”, or “I wish I’d thought to ask my mother…”
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Imagination can help us to fill in the blanks. It can help us to paint a picture in the reader’s mind, to flesh out a scene, and enhance our reader’s comprehension of what we’re trying to share.
A bit of imagination can enhance a fragment of memory. It can help you to surmise the season when an event took place, and even the occasion.
“I remember my mother walking down the front steps of our house. I don’t remember what month it was, but I figure it was deep winter because my mother wore her thick winter coat, the good one. The one she wore to church or some special occasion on a very cold day.”
Metaphors and Similes
The tiniest, easiest brushstrokes of imagination are metaphors and similes. They can also deliver big impact.
A simple metaphor can help you hear a sound: “His voice was crushed gravel.”
A simile can be more descriptive than a hundred words. “She was bent over as she walked, looking more like a 90 year old woman than the 50 year old she was.”
“As if”
One of the workshops I most enjoy facilitating is on the use of two words: ‘as if’.
“Write about a scene or feeling you experienced,” I tell the group. “Use the words ‘as if’ to help the reader understand what it was like.”
‘As if’ can be magical – taking both writer and reader into another dimension.
I share one or more examples:
“His insult hit me hard. It was as if he’d punched me in my gut.”
“The morning sun was so bright, it was as if everything around me had turned to gold.”
“My father hung up the phone without speaking but his face was crumpled, as if he had just received disastrous news.”
The next time someone says memoir-writing does not require imagination, don’t accept it. Meanwhile, enjoy using your imagination to bring your writing alive.
My best,
Cynthia.
