Writing the Memoir Cinematically: Last Part
| Backstory Post-its on a Timeline | In God, the Devil, and Divorce, I've made an effort to write backstory chronologically. In real life, however, thoughts of the past often pop up according to subject matter. Consequently, I chose to group some of the backstory according to subject. For instance, |
as I begin to recover from divorce, I'm confronted with problems involving my family. I've titled the chapter concerning those events, Hard Calls, and it deals with how I had to cope with some new and serious responsibilities. I mentioned in my last blog, that sometimes one memory triggers another memory, and that calls for writing a memory inside another memory. I tried this by visualizing a scene cinematically, showing a flashback of a counseling session in which I related how my husband and I finally solved our fights over my cooking. Instead of telling her, the scene in the counseling office fades. I began the flashback this way. "I
closed my eyes, picturing the scene in my big beautiful kitchen.." I describe how I'm making guacamole with cucumber. My husband enters, makes a face, and an argument begins. Does it work? I think so. That's it for backstory, a least for now. I hope you've enjoyed thinking how you might employ backstory in your own work.
Blessings,
Linda
Blessings,
Linda
