Writer’s Notebooks3/17/2010

• List 5 significant emotional memories that are on your heart map.

Homework:

• Ask family for 3 family stories / memories from when you were younger.

Finding a Focus

• Do not include EVERY event in your life– Too much material for a writer to juggle– Extremely boring

• Omit as many dull, dreary, unimportant moments as possible

• Use stories your audience would like to hear

• Just having an interesting story is not enough…

It must fit smoothly with the whole

• Don’t focus on your whole life story at once

• Focus on smaller chunks– particular story– person who strongly influenced your life– particular place

“Bye My Camp, I’ll Never Forget You” p. 29

• Is there a common theme among stories?

• Are many of your stories connected by something?

“Cooking up a Life” p. 30“Lost Along the Way” p. 31

• Use a title as a theme or main idea to help focus your stories

• Physical artifacts soak up important memories and personal history– Hold an object (toy, photo, keepsake, blue ribbon, etc.)

– Close your eyes– What memories surface?

“The Glove” p. 33

Ask yourself early on:

What do you want your

autobiographical writing to look like when it’s

finished?

• Introduction• Chapters About Your Life

– In the order in which the events happened

• Proper Ending

• Series of short vignettes– Vignette: short, descriptive literary

sketch– Can be quite short (barely a page)

“Junior” p. 38“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

• Series of small moments, or snapshots capturing moments in time– Briefly describing each one with well chosen

details– Shorter than a vignette (paragraph)

• Need connective tissue between each one– Something to pull your stories together

“When I Was Young in the Mountains” by Cynthia Rylant“When I Was Younger in West Tampa” p. 40

• A way of cutting through the fluff• Getting down to what really matters

“Where I’m From” p. 42

• Collection of very short pieces, each one a different kind of writing

List of different kinds p. 44

• Choose the form that best suits the story you’re trying to tell

“Wanted” p. 45

1. Choose your focus!2. Select 10 stories from your list

that fit with your focus and overall vision for your autobiography