Memoir Writing with Laurie Donaldson
What a treat it was to have our very own Vice-President, Laurie, give an engaging session on writing memoir. Laurie’s career has ranged from Glasgow University’s Library to a technology and education publisher in London – his extensive editing experience and exquisite poetic voice make him the perfect guide for our session on memoir!
When Writing Memoir..
- It is important to recognise the vulnerability of memoir. It can feel uncomfortable.
- Writing should contain a theme with challenges, supporting stories, emotional beats and personality.
- A memoirist should be selective with the truth, build trust with the reader and engage the reader from the beginning.
- One should ‘think like a fiction writer’ by keeping it relevant and keep the reader in mind.
- It can be useful to write the opening last.
Laurie discussed the value of writing exercises and how they have been essential on his writing journey. In particular, Laurie mentioned experimental activities that can give us a ‘new and exciting route into materials and experiences’.
Writing Exercise One – ‘I Remember..’
- Inspired by Joe Brainard, this exercise involved a simple list of items, experiences and memories prefaced by ‘I remember..’.
- I’m sure I’m not the only one who found this exercise completely illuminating. Margaret shared her list and it certainly captured a range of experiences in youth and beyond!
Writing Exercise Two – Look at Your Own Archive
- This next exercise was inspired by Arlette Farge, in The Allure of the Archives:
“Beneath the archives lies an organised topography. You need only know how to read it, and to recognise that meaning… The reality of the archive lies not only in the clues it contains, but also in the sequences of different representations of reality. The archive always preserves an infinite number of relations to reality.”
- Laurie encouraged the club to examine their own archive – what would it contain? Everyone has a wealth of material they can tap into.
- We were encouraged to think of the physical, to map our bodies and think of the memories triggered by the visible marks of our past as well as our emotional responses.
Writing Exercise Three – Collections
Following our list of scars and bad haircuts, we were to re-examine our archives but this time think about our personal collections.
- What do we collect at home?
- What have family members been known to collect?
- Laurie then encouraged us to think of the following:
‘If you are tired of everything you possess, imagine that you have lost all these things.”
- Imagine a fire in your house, and you had to grab things as you fled – what would they be? (photos, jewellery, an heirloom etc).
- We were to select a precious object before thinking about it deeply and writing about it for 5 minutes.
- Afterwards, we considered our work and tried to identify patterns, trends, phases and ideas etc.
- The power of collections is to incorporate what you find significant.
- Memoir is not unlike fiction as it is ‘imagination ground through the mill of memory’.
What a stimulating and thought-provoking session! I’ll certainly be using these exercises again, especially the simple but effective ‘I remember’ activity. Thank you to Laurie for sharing such a wealth of expertise. As writer Charles de Lindt stated (and which I will happily re-iterate):
“Don’t forget – no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell”.
I’m sure we’ll all be delving into writing memoir more often!
List of Memoir Recommendations (Thank you, Margaret!)
- The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr (2015)
- Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr (2020)
- Writing Life by Betty Smith; Annie Dilliard (1990).