THOMAS LARSON

Writing About Significant Events

Write down your memoir’s subject: what’s it about?

List three anecdotes or short events that happened as part of your subject. They might be emotionally intense or dramatic. Avoid the car wreck. Concentrate on something that has movement, which is an action between, among people that produces a change in a person’s character, or belief, or appraisal of another.

(One significant event for me was when my adopted father tore up a piece of paper that had the names of his real parents on it—in front of me, then talked about why with me.)

Good movement characterizes, reveals, changes people.

Choose one.

Writing About Significant Emotions

Concentrating on your memoir’s subject, think of an incident in which you experienced a very strong emotion.

Strong emotions include, but are not limited to—passion, love, anger, rage, joy, fear, tenderness, awe, feelings of rejection, abandonment, belonging, innocence, wisdom: the rapture and/or the despair that accompanies some of our days.

Your incident may have happened with another person or many other people or only with yourself.

Make a list of these incidents: perhaps do so with, “the one time I felt the most pain was when . . .” Substitute other emotions for the word “pain.”

Put a check by three of those experiences, from lesser to greater intensity.

Choose one to write about. Remember writing may make it flood back, so be careful.