Why
Write?
The act of writing memoir is enough to justify
itself. Even when you are writing about what you remember, or think you
remember, you often surprise yourself with what you discover. Robert Frost
said, “…no surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” If the end of
all your writing is self-discovery, you have still gained from it.
Additionally, whatever experiences you’ve had, there are people who can relate
to them and need to hear what you have to say.
Another
reason for writing your memoir (or novel, for that matter) is that the act of
writing (anything, but I think memoir in particular) changes the brain. It
imposes a structure (open to change later) on memories and experience which
tend to be much less orderly as lived events. It makes a container for what is
naturally fluid. I found an article online for instance, that summarized what
one researcher, Dr. Stephen Krashen learned from his study:
- Writing does not help you become a better writer; reading does.
- Writing makes you smarter and allows you to solve more complex problems.
Dr.
Krashen found that through writing, the brain becomes stimulated. And Ph.D.’s
from UC Berkely, Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, have found that through
stimulation, the mind is pruned to become more focused and attentive. The
more your mind is stimulated, your mind grows and increases its ability to
focus.
In
summary, two important things were discovered about focus through writing:
- As one writes, they become smarter
- As one writes, they increase their ability to focus
·
Through writing, thoughts disentangle themselves. When
speaking, thoughts are poured out in real-time. The communication is raw. With
writing, however, one has the ability to redraft and refocus their thoughts.
This results in a more clear and concise form of communication. This act of
organizing thoughts, is a powerful way to enhance the mind. It allows you to
slow down and ask yourself critical questions. After making writing a routine,
the way you think will change, the way you speak will change and others will
sense this change.
And again,
patterns and images and themes emerge whether the writer intends them to or
not. Like a photograph developing. Then you can ponder, why do peaches show up so often in what I write? Why are all my
memories of my cousin centered around watching TV? How come I never realized
that my parents put such importance of being quiet? What effects did not
returning those phone calls have? When did I realize I was smarter than they
were? How did I deal with it? We never talked about his suicide, what does that
say about us? Or whatever reading over what you’ve written leads you to
consider more deeply. Sometimes it’s best to just keep moving and not look at
what you’ve written until it’s cooled off for a month or two. You don’t even
have to have answers to the italicized questions, but maybe they will lead to
more writing or just stay in the back of your mind somewhere waiting for
fulfillment.
Start
anywhere. Start small and big will show up, invited or not. What you think
you’re writing about and what is the true subject, the subterranean subject,
are not always the same. Start with an image. Build it into a scene. Don’t
moralize. The more difficult the material, the more traumatic, the more matter
of fact the writing should be. Not flavorless, but not overwrought, because
that leaves no emotion for the reader to supply.
Fall in love with what’s in front of you. Is it toast? Start writing about toast. That toast, toasted cheese, triangle toast,
rectangle toast, your friend who liked French toast as sandwich bread, who’s
been dead for seventeen years now, who you meant to go back and visit and whose
books that were loaned to you are still on your shelf, that has about nine
books from that period in your life and wonder where that guy’s kids are now,
they must be grown, wonder would they like to have his books, but how to find
them?
Sooner or
later, if you do just that little exercise, you’ll hit pay dirt. Word
association will kick in and you’ll remember something you should write about.
Just a little exercise like playing scales on the piano or practicing a sport.
Keeps you limber for when you need it. And you will need it. You have something important to say.
