Denis Ledoux's Blog, page 81
January 16, 2015
Another Bucksport Story—An Ice Holiday
As I write this, it is winter here in Maine. Yesterday, I went ice skating and remembered so fondly many skating experiences in my life—especially my young life.
Here is a story of a day spend on the ice from a half century ago. For more stories about my high school years, click here.
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One morning, when the sun promised to be bright and the sky clear, as we sat down to breakfast at refectory tables, on a day that seemed to be a day just like every other day in January, Father Guy would announ...
January 13, 2015
Telling The Truth In A Memoir
In this post, I am sending a link to a thought-provoking memoir review which was published recently in the Buffalo, NY, News.
The review questions the veracity of Coming Ashore, a new memoir by Catherine McClure Gildiner. I quote briefly to whet your appetite.
“I think a reader and a writer enter into almost a kind of a contractual understanding, and it starts with the genre,” said Mick Cochrane, a professor of English and director of the creative wr...
January 12, 2015
How Long Should It Take to Write a Memoir?
Have you ever wondered, “How long should it take to write a memoir?”
One answer, of course, is that it takes as long as it takes. While so true, this answer is not useful to those writers who are trying to get their duckies in line—looking at where the time is in their schedules to write, knowing what support to ask from their life partners, etc.
I’ve come up with a calculation for those people who want some sense of how long writing a memoir might take. The fo...
January 9, 2015
How Do I Convey Theme Effectively?
The following article first appeared in Kathy Pooler’s excellent blog, Memoir Writer’s Journey.
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Underlying all of your stories is its theme. The theme is really a message, the global way in which you understand your story – either in its entirety or in its parts. The theme conveys the essence of the you (or the them) that you want the reader, and history, to know and understand. The theme provides spirit to your piece, the breath of life that individualizes your life story.
To read more, cli...
January 5, 2015
Do not waffle in telling the truth.
“I have permission [as a memoir writer] not to waffle in my writing,” I was recently informed by a memoir writer.
“Not to waffle” somehow missed the point for me.
Certainly, the memoir writer has permission “not to waffle,” but there is more that is incumbent on the writer. S/he has the obligation not to waffle. As memoir writers, “not to waffle” means to tell our truth about what happened. This is a must. Over the years, I have been amazed at how I can pick up waffling and h...
December 31, 2014
Is Memoir Fiction?
I emphatically don’t agree that memoir is fiction. Although a memoir invariably uses fiction techniques—and we will look at one in this post, it must be an as-much-as-possible true accounting of an experience.
A strength of fiction is its ability—when it is done right—to place us in the story, to enable us to get out of our “present” and enter into the time of the story. The memoir writer has to aim for the same level of involvement.
In many cases, this involves removing the...
December 29, 2014
Is Theme in a Memoir The Driving Force?
Theme in a memoir is absolutely important!
Here’s is a distinction between a family-focused autobiography and a memoir that, I hope, will help you to appreciate the value and the role of theme in a memoir.
First: a reminder of definitions
People are always wanting to know the difference between an autobiography and a memoir.
An autobiography is about a whole life—birth to the present. Your kids will love your autobiography. The public may not. Generally speaki...
December 23, 2014
The Wrong Point of View in a Memoir Can Throw The Story
In 1996 and 1997, I composed about 200 pages of a memoir of my high school years and then it wasn’t going anywhere more than where it had been—mired in facts and details with no spirit.
I merely stored it in various computers for years.
In the fall of 2013, I completed my mother’s memoir (We Were Not Spoiled). Because I was looking for a writing project I might devote myself to next, I picked up the high-school memoir.
(Lest you think that I w...
December 18, 2014
Word Usage
Every once in a while, I send you a few of my verbal pet peeves. Here are a few other unfortunate phrases that have come my way recently.
1. Amazon just today was offering me a “free gift.” Awfully good of them to make gifts free. It’s a rather innovative concept—don’t you think?
2. There was also a case I came across of “first introduction.” I wish people would skip the first introductions and go immediately into the second introductions. We are so busy these...
December 16, 2014
Don’t Wait: Start to Write Your Memoir Today
“What are you waiting for? Why are you avoiding the real work? What will it take for you to go deeper?”
—Phil Cousineau in Stoking the Creative Fires
The Phil Cousineau quote above ought to be for all of us a stirring call to continue—or to begin if that is where we are at—the writing we may have procrastinated about for so long. We fill our days with lesser tasks when we know that what we ought to be doing is writing a memoir.
It is later than you thin...
