The Tribute Memoir
Week 1: Creating a Character
The Family Tree
The goal: Figure out which family member will be the focus of your tribute. It can be some living or dead. It can be someone close to you or someone you’ve never met but would like to investigate.
The prompt: Draw a family tree. Keep branching until you run out of information, at which point you may contact a parent or grandparent. You can either sketch this by hand, or use an online site such as www.familyecho.com (it’s free).
Narrowing Your Focus
The Goal: The following series of writing prompts can help you identify and sketch out the person you want to write about. Scan through the list of questions and see who or what story comes to mind. Then take 15-20 minutes and just start writing or typing the story. Don’t worry about grammar. Don’t go back and look up historical details. Just write.
Adapted from http://lisalouisecooke.com/2015/10/7-prompts-write-your-family-history/
The Prompts
1. The course of _____’s life totally changed when….
2. A big mystery in my family history is….
3. If I could meet _____, I would ask him/her _____ and this is why….
4. I am fascinated by my “black sheep” ancestor, who….
5. My ancestor lived through a (frightening, important, rapidly-changing) time in history. Here’s what was going on, and here’s his/her story.
6. A great love story in my family is the story about _____ and _____. This is how it goes.
7. I often wonder whether the life of _____ was as (sad/exciting/lonely/boring) as I imagine. Here’s what I know….
8. I remember my_________...
Do you have your person yet?
Find the Complexity in Your Character
Note: From now on, we’ll be referring to your chosen family member as “your character.” This is especially helpful if your character is still alive and close to you; it’s important to step back and consider this person’s existence outside of your own.
The Goal: The following prompts are designed to help you investigate the complexities of your character. Use as many as are helpful to you.
Quirks in The Color of Water
“Who wants to read about that bland creature, that regular Joe? Literature is not a place for conformists…” -- Phillip Lopate, To Show and To Tell
Our Mentor Text:
Taking Inventory of Your Character’s Quirks
Make a list of the following:
Peculiarities
Tics
Odd mannerisms
Nicknames (they had or they gave)
Unusual objects
Distinctive/repetitive clothing
Sayings
Contradictions
Making Meaning of Your Character’s Quirks
Freewrite on the following:
What contradictions, conflicts, and ambivalences in your character have you uncovered?
What challenges has your character encountered?
What’s likeable about this character? What’s unlikeable about this character?
What makes this character vulnerable?
Writing the Quirky Story
Using your list of quirks and your brainstorming on their meaning, try typing a page or two in which you explore your character’s peculiarities and, perhaps, contradictions.
Use Chapter 2 (“The Bicycle”) in The Color of Water as your mentor text.
For at least two of your quirks, let complete scenes unfold. In others, whenever possible, tell stories that show the quirks.
The Tribute Memoir
Week 2: Creating a World
First Step: Zoom Out
Research Your Characters’ Worlds
Using The Color of Water as Your Mentor Text
Read the big paragraph on page 9 that describes the mother’s roles within her household.
Then, flip through the chapters you’ve read and make a list of all the “worlds” to which she belongs. In other words, outside being a mom, what other worlds have shaped her? Consider gender, race, class, location, career, family, etc.
Take a moment to brainstorm how each world has shaped her. Look especially for contradictions.
For example, I think Tateh’s hypocrisy (he’s a rabbi, yet he has no moral compass) shaped the mother by making her recognize the importance of being sincere and candid, which is how she comes across in her narrative.
Your Character’s Worlds
The goal: Figure out the multiple worlds to which your character belongs in terms of gender, race, class, education, career, family, location, history, etc. We all produce and are products of the many worlds in which we exist. Figuring out your character’s worlds will help you unlock your character’s psyche.
The prompt: Draw a timeline for your character. Start with when your character was born. If your character is no longer living, end with his/her death date. If your character is still alive, end with today. You can either sketch this by end, or use a website such as timeglider.com. Fill in as many significant events for your character as you can.
Researching Historical Worlds
Research the times in which your character was born, grew up, grew old, etc. Punctuate your timeline with events happening in the background of this person’s life.
If you’re wondering how to research, here’s a suggestion from the highly esteemed Mr. Hawthorne, Mrs. Winn, and Mrs. Cornils: I always encourage my students to check out the library subscription site and under the "History" section there are two good resources:
Other recommended resources:
Capturing the Scope
In a personal essay about his mentor, John Jeremiah Sullivan writes,
“When Lytle was born, the Wright Brothers had not yet achieved a working design, When he died Voyager 2 was exiting the solar system. What does one do with the coexistence of those details in a lifetime’s view? It weighed on him.”
(from “Mr. Lytle: An Essay,” Pulphead)
Try this out: Look at two events that could serve as bookends to your character’s life. Imitate the sentences above: “When ____ was born, _______. When he/she died OR today, __________.”
Then, try asking a question about how this scope affected your character. Last, try answering that question.
My Example
When my Aunt Winnie was a little girl, she had a black, rotary phone, and her entire household shared it. By the time she was a teenager, she and her four sisters held so many wars over that clickety-clackety line to the outside world that their father ripped the wiring right out of the wall on a regular basis. Now, my Aunt Winnie posts obsessively on Facebook--sometime four or five posts in the span of a minute. Half the posts on my timeline are from her even though I’ve seen her only once in 25 years. How have evolutions in communication affected my Aunt Winnie? She no longer has to wait for someone to listen.
Partnering the Historical with the Personal
Focus on one spot on your timeline where something interesting was happening on BOTH sides (the top half and the bottom half).
Try writing a paragraph or two in which you tell the story of what was happening with your character and what was happening in the world.
What was the role of the historical backdrop in what was happening with your character? Did they reflect each other?
My Example
In the wake of Vietnam’s exploding jungles and heated protests, the Cold War quietly emerged. As my Aunt Winnie packed Hostess cupcakes in her children’s lunches and pulled on legwarmers for her TV aerobics class, the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics. President Reagan railed against the evil empire of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party, though starting to show signs of crumbling, still threatened us with its distant red glow.
According to my mom, Aunt Winnie never talked about her first son’s death. She focused on her three living children: Scott, Paul and Katie, perhaps searching them for signs of illness and warding off evil spirits. It didn’t work, though. Shortly after her divorce in 1985, Aunt Winnie received a phone call from the hospital: Did she have a son named Scott? Yes, she did. She needed to come right away. There had been an accident, and things didn’t look good.
If the timeline exercise isn’t doing much for you, try the next few slides...
Observing a Character in Her World
Reread the second half of page 133 in The Color of Water.
What sensory images (think about all five senses) does McBride use to help you experience mid-20th-century New York?
What tone do these images work together to create? In other words, how does McBride show you what the mother might be feeling at this point?
Recreating the World
Select one specific location in space and time that likely played a significant role in your character’s world.
If you can, try to find some images of this place, especially if you can find any images of what this place looked like at the particular point in time in which your character lived there.
Spend some time in this place. Imagine yourself there, and describe it using your five senses. What’s the weather like there? What might it sound like? Smell like? How might the people treat each other? Walk around in that place, in that time, and describe what it’s like.
Putting Your Character in His/Her World
Using the description of the place and time you’ve already created, try putting your character in there and see what happens:
How would he/she act in this place, at this point in time?
What might he/she say? Whom would he/she be with?
How would this person move through this place (driving recklessly? Sauntering and flirting? Trying to be invisible?)?
What might this character focus on? Think? Shout? Mumble? Wonder?
Does this character fit in with this place and time?
Second Step: Zoom In
Research Your Character’s Artifacts
Show & Tell
The goal: Process your artifacts by talking about them out loud; generate some ideas by listening to stories about other characters’ artifacts
The prompt: Share your artifact(s) with your partners. Explain what each artifact is and why you brought it in. What’s its story? What does it reveal about your character?
Objective Freewriting: Create an Archival Label
Date of origin/Date of use:
Place of origin/Place of use:
Material:
Past ownership:
Type of object:
Object’s uses:
Monetary worth:
Subjective Freewriting: Find the Story
Value: What is this object’s value to your character? To you?
Timescale: Where does this object fit into your character’s personal history? Yours?
Space: What spaces has it occupied? Where has it traveled?
Production: Who or what made or found this and under what conditions?
Mode: How would you describe its feel, shape, dimensions, etc?
Power: Who or what controls this artifact?
Context: Describe the artifact in use, in context. What stories does it remind you of?
Significance: As you look back on the time/relationship/activity associated with this object, write about its significance to you (or to your character) now vs. its significance then.
Unpause the Photo
Taking a photo is a little like hitting a pause button.
If you have a photo, try this out:
Reflect on What the Artifacts Mean
What do these artifacts reveal about the character?
What insight do they offer you as to…
The Tribute Memoir
Week 3: Using Sensory Imagery
Getting Lost in Sensory Imagery Scenes
Listening to the scene without watching it…
Sensory Imagery Scenes, Part 2
Watching the scene without hearing it…
Sensory Imagery Scenes, Part 3
Watching and listening to the scene…
Using Sensory Imagery for a Larger Purpose
Reading a sample sensory scene in The Color of Water, page 223...
Enriching Your Own Sensory Imagery
Skim what you’ve written so far.
If you’ve already written a scene that you like/has potential/feels important, then try this:
If you’re treading water but haven’t really delved into a scene yet, try writing one right now in which you consciously include your five senses..
Using Your Sensory Imagery for a Larger Purpose
Two questions to ask yourself:
What tone do you want to create here? In other words, what do you want your reader to feel?
What themes do you want to convey? In other words, what do you want your reader to understand better or differently?
Which sensory images contribute strongly to your desired tone and themes? Which sensory images need to be stronger/more purposeful?
The Tribute Memoir
Week 4: Creating a Story
Snapshot of the Narrative Arc
Identify Your Turning Point (the Peak)
Although the turning point doesn’t happen until almost the end of a memoir, I like to consider what’ it’s going to be before I figure out the opening of the memoir. That way, everything else falls into place.
McBride’s Turning Point
Reread page 229.
What discovery has McBride made about himself through the process of writing this tribute memoir?
What discovery has he made about his mother (and her mother)?
Finding Your Memoir’s Turning Point
Back to the Start...Your Exposition
Readers can identify with just about anything, but one thing they won’t tolerate is confusion.
Here are some of the jobs of your exposition (the first page):
In other words, who, what, where, and when.
When you transition from one time period to another, be very clear about it.
Rising Action
Keeping your turning point in mind, include scenes that build up to that turning point, possibly by doing one or more of the following:
Create conflict/tension (inner and/or outer).
Heighten that conflict until it reaches its breaking point.
Move between time periods, focusing on the essential scenes that reveal something about this character.
Move between the character and you, the narrator.
Check on That Turning Point
Now that you’ve considered your exposition and rising action, does your turning point still work?
If yes, move to the next slide.
If not, adjust your turning point.
Remember that writing is NOT a linear process. There’s no shame in changing your turning point and/or anything else in your memoir.
Falling Action and Resolution
If you have a satisfying turning point, your reader is going to want the rest of your essay to finish up quickly. Don’t dawdle. After your turning point, you consider reflecting on the following:
Which conflicts got resolved, and which didn’t?
Which questions have been answered, and which haven’t?
If this character is still alive, what’s he/she up to now?
If this character is dead, what part of him/her lives on, and how so?
What lasting effect has this character had on you, the narrator?
A Ms. Leclaire Ending Trick
Some people like to end with reflection. But I love to end with a short, concrete scene that symbolizes something important. I leave it up to the reader to draw his/her own conclusions.