Writing Toward Understanding

I just got back from a family reunion in southeastern Illinois, and next month I go to my fiftieth high school class reunion. The events have me thinking about a writing exercise that should work for both fiction and creative nonfiction.

Maybe you’ve had the experience of being close to someone and then drifting apart, either by a lack of effort to stay in touch, or maybe by a direct wound or insult that severed your ties. If you’re writing creative nonfiction, you might begin by presenting the facts of how you and someone you were once close to came apart. Maybe sometime later you had the chance to meet up with that person. Did you take that chance? Why or why not? If you never saw that person again, what do you think would happen if you did. What would you say and/or do? What do you think the other person would say and/or do? Write a speculative piece where you imagine this meeting.

If you’re writing fiction, perhaps you can use this prompt to develop your characters, and by extension, your plot.

Remember, you’re not writing for forgiveness or redemption, and you’re not writing for revenge. You’re writing because you want a deeper understanding of what happened in your relationship with this other person. What is it you don’t know? What have you always wondered about? This is your chance to write your way toward a better appreciation of the factors involved in the split. It’s an opportunity to understand the sources of your behavior as well as that of the other person.

If anyone would like to share what they end up writing, just post it in a comment.

 

 

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