The Larger World, memoir tip #1

Effective memoir is about more than your life and interior experience of emotion. It weaves in external elements—the larger world. Here, Mardi Gras is the "larger world" that enters into mine.

New Orleans, Part 2

And then there was the festival the city is most famous for: the one week in February when New Orleans is Mardi Gras. My introduction to this annual celebration began one day when a classmate at Aurora Gardens Academy brought a large, donut-shaped cake to school. Called a King Cake, it was sugar-frosted in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold. Hidden inside the pastry was a small, pink, plastic baby. Whoever got the slice of cake with the baby inside had to bring the next King Cake, and so on until Mardi Gras was over.

French for “Fat Tuesday,” Mardi Gras was the citywide carnival celebration that took place prior to the fasting season of Lent. For families like ours, Mardi Gras meant daily parades with ornate, gaudy floats from which people threw plastic beads, aluminum doubloons, and other trinkets. For many others, it meant a week of wild revelry in the heart of the French Quarter.

Though I was too young to understand why, Mom detested Mardi Gras and everything it stood for. Originally a celebration of the death of winter and the rebirth of nature, it grew out of pagan fertility rites (which probably explains the baby in the King Cakes). In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church assimilated the festivals into their celebration before the Lenten season in an effort to control the wild excesses normally associated with the carnival. In modern times, Mardi Gras has lost most of its religious meaning. For most participants, it's simply an excuse to party.

Mom avoided the Mardi Gras scene as much as possible, but Dad would take us to watch the parades scheduled throughout the week. David and I loved to watch the long, long procession of floats, bands and marchers. We would join the rest of the crowd yelling “Throw me something, mister!” to encourage the people on the floats to toss their handfuls of beads and doubloons (representing the booty acquired by the Spanish Armada in days of old). When they threw the doubloons, the coins would cascade over the crowd in a rainbow of colors, and as they fell to the ground, we’d stomp on them to claim them. It was almost a contest to see how much loot we could accumulate, kind of like Halloween. David and I were quick and eager, and we always arrived home with plenty of bounty, which we would then hoard like misers.

David and I discovered the site near our house where two elaborate floats were stored off-season. These provided a wonderful playground for us with lots of interesting nooks and crannies to explore. We would climb aboard and scour them for trinkets left behind, which we then added to our Mardi Gras bounty.

Comment from the coach: Broaden story appeal by weaving in "larger world" elements. Answer questions such as:
- What major events were going on in the world?
- How did people in your circle or community respond?
- What were the economic realities? How did these affect your family?
- What music was popular? Books? Food? Clothes?
- What values did your community teach its children?

Memoir defined

Memoir or autobiography—what’s the difference? Strictly speaking, an autobiography provides an overview of an entire life told chronologically from birth to present. Memoir focuses on a slice of your life, and the events may or may not be in chronological order.

We use these terms loosely, though. In his recently published Autobiography, for instance, Mark Twain approaches his story by talking “only about the thing which interests you for the moment"—and is therefore more free-ranging than you would expect from a strict autobiography. “Autobiography” in this case most likely refers to the completeness of the work.

On the other hand—most common, everyday memoir writers (that’s you and me, the non-celebrities) say we’re writing memoir, but most of us are probably writing autobiography. Why? Because autobiography is simpler for the unpracticed writer. The structure is already in place: you start with birth, you end with where you are now.

Memoir might require a more skill—more time, more editing—to achieve the desired effect. It might also be more literary as thematic elements are explored and structure may not be a straight, A to Z shot.

Either way is a perfectly legitimate way to tell your story. The main thing is to get it told.

Someplace I lived as a child, memoir prompt #2

Today we’ll take a look at how place can become a meaningful part of your memoir. Here’s my take on New Orleans, where I lived in the early 1980’s.

New Orleans, Part 1

There’s no city in the world like New Orleans. A blend of Spanish, French and Cajun cultures, Old World charm and southern tranquility, it exudes an aura all its own. The birthplace of jazz, it also has a lively – and seedy – side to its character. I wasn’t exposed to this aspect of the city, however. Mom and Dad saw to that.

Despite the damp, sticky heat, I always enjoyed our family’s forays into the French Quarter at the heart of the city. To my young eyes, everything was exotic: the cramped shops selling everything from sugary pralines to voodoo trinkets and incense, the monuments to southern war heroes, the trolley cars ringing past, the wrought-iron fences surrounding lush, garden patios, even the Muddy Mississippi, which was as brown as its nickname implies. I read Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while we were living in New Orleans, and I was fascinated by these legendary characters and the river that played such a role in their adventures.

There was always plenty to see, taste and smell in New Orleans. I remember touring the Mississippi on a paddleboat, sampling the spicy Cajun food and visiting the wax museum filled with characters from the city’s history. One of my favorite pleasures, however, was a simple one. When I got tired of walking the cobblestone alleys, I liked to purchase a bag of crumbs from a street vendor, sit beside a cool fountain and feed the pigeons that gathered there.

Comment from the coach: When describing a place where you lived as a child, be sure to include a bit of history, which provides broader scope. Also include sensory details, such as the mention here of “the damp, sticky heat.” Highlight specific details and experiences that are unique to you.

How I Got My Name, memoir prompt #1

My guest blogger today is my second-grade daughter, Madeline, who originally wrote today’s post as a homework assignment. Special thanks to her teacher, Mrs. Vogel, for providing the inspiration.

My name is Madeline Elise Jones. My parents had a hard time deciding on a girl’s name if their baby was a girl. After a lot of discussion, they chose Madeline because it was a classic name, and elegant, and it had a cute nickname (Maddie) if I wanted one. They chose Elise because they thought it was beautiful and liked the way it sounded between Madeline and Jones. Jones is my dad’s family name. It’s Welsh.

Comment from the coach: Telling the story of your name is a terrific piece to include in your memoir. Your name tells a lot about you and your family, and no two stories are exactly alike.