So...My Projects are Due Next Week. Where Should I Start?

Writing Help
Scan down the page. There's lots of advice here. You may have to go to the bottom of the page and click on "older posts" to find what you are looking for. If this doth not satisfy you, google "memoir" writing and seek further assistance elsewhere.

Reading Help
If you are trying to catch up on your reading, and have yet to read the short memoirs for the project, you can download and read them below. All of the following are from either In Brief or In Short, two excellent collections of creative nonfiction edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones, in case you're interested (thanks for the help Ricky).


On the Street - Vivian Gornick
Around the Corner - Sharon Bryan
Artifacts - Brenda Miller
Calfing Heifers - Ann Daum
Ice Cream - Susanna Kaysem
Enough Jam - Maxine Kumin
MRI - Jim DeCamp
On Two Wheels - Lee Gutkind
Rose Vegetables - David J. Duncan
Snow - John Haines
Stuck With Strangers - Castle Freeman, Jr.
Suspended - Joy Harjo
The Signature of God - Judson Mitcham
The Usual Story - Fred Setterberg
Volar - Judith Ortiz Cofer
Here are the chapter length memoirs.

Other Reading Materials You May Need
Here are any other materials needed for the reading portion of the project (story note sheets, response ?'s, storyboards, etc.).

Eng. IV - Memoir Personal Checklist

Memoir - Developing a Theme

Your memoir is an exploration of an event. Your job is not only to recreate the experience for the reader. You should also be telling the story for a purpose. You should be trying to retell this story as a way to offer insight into the human condition as you have it figured out. This theme could be simple (I may have broken a window in that mudball fight in 3rd grade, but, in retrospect, it was just innocent childhood fun) to more sophisticated (In "Sink or Swim," the narrator cold swim helps her become aware of her own mortality. In "The Chase," Annie Dillard explores the delight of just throwing your self at something without any thought to your own safety.

Anyway...try to convey a life lesson. There are two types of themes:

• Explicit Theme - Near the end of the memoir, you come out and directly state the lesson you have learned from the experience.
• Implicit Theme - You never quite say it clearly, but the action in the story implies, or hints at, deeper meaning

It is more difficult to pull off an implicit theme. See what you can do.

Memoir - "I Don't Know How to Start"

For those of you who are having trouble developing a beginning to your memoir, try one of these four tried and true methods:

1. Start off with a vivid description of the setting (the physical place, not the year, etc.). This can establish a backdrop for the reader, show off your descriptive skill/writing chops, set the mood, or even foreshadow the action (dark & stormy night cliched horror beginning).
2. Start off with you or another character doing something. This gets the reader right into the action.
3. Start off with dialogue. Beginning with conversation makes you get right into the action, reveals info about yourself & other characters/people integral to your memoir.
4. A description of an interesting character. Descriptions of characters who have interesting qualities are another way to hook the reader.

Important: The lead is very important. You want to grab the reader's attention right away and let them know that good writing will follow. Don't bog down the reader by giving all sorts of unnecessary information. Avoid giving details about the year or your age. Avoid introducing oodles of characters (don't ever introduce a character who you will not develop somewhat. You may have to leave people out or combine characters. In a memoir this short, keep it simple). Avoid getting into thematic elements.

Donald Murray - Memoir Writing Advice

Donald Murray was a longtime writer for the Boston Globe who passed away last week. He was a master at the craft of memoir. Here is some advice he had for budding memoirists.

English IV: Memoir Lesson - Formatting Dialogue

Folks, when you are ready to write your memoir, and you come to a point where dialogue is necessary, look this sheet over. It's a few lines of dialogue that is diagrammed. Read over my notes. Make sure your dialogue is formatted correctly AND sounds authentic. Click to enlarge

Eng IV - Nancie Atwell's Memoir Advice

Nancie Atwell is a rockin teacher from Maine (but originally from Western New York...she's a Buff State grad). She's like the Barry Bonds of English teachers...well...without the steroid allegations and general unfriendliness. Okay, overall, bad simile. Here's some of the advice she gives her 8th grade students, who do some fine writing up there in New England.


Qualities of Memoirs

• The voice is first person singular: I, not we, one, or you.
• The memoirist is the main character, the someone for readers to be with in the story.
• The writer's thoughts and feelings, reactions, and reflections are revealed.
• There's enough context - background information - to understand the events of the story.
• A reader can envision (see) the story.
• A reader can imagine the setting - where and when the event is taking place.
• A reader can imagine the relationships among the characters.
• The dialogue sounds like these people talking, both what they say and how they say it: "Boy, you're gonna be sorry," versus, "You will be sorry."
• There isn't unnecessary information. The writer leaves out what the reader doesn't need to know.
• The lead (introduction) invites the reader into the world of the memory.
• The conclusion is deliberate: it represents a writer's decision about how to leave his or her readers.
• The writer is telling the truth.
• The writer tells details that fit with the memory and the theme.
• The memoir sounds and feels like literature, not reporting.
• A reader learns something about LIFE by reading about a life.
• There is a reason for the memoir. A discovery of some significance in the memory.
• Use similes and metaphors! Use vivid verbs and descriptive adjectives!

- From In the Middle

Eng IV - Memoir Unit - Materials - Reading Requirements

Here are the materials given out in class that relate to my expectations for your work.

Memoir Assignment Sheet - This is actually the memoir contest sheet, which becomes the de facto assignment sheet for the writing portion of the assignment. Your memoir is due Monday, February 5th (one extra week due to Regents).
Reading Requirements Sheet - Choose the grade you want to earn. Then, fulfill the requirements.
Here's the checklist. Remember, only fill out information in the box of the grade you want to earn.

Here are a few things that will help with your responses.

Story Notes Chart - After reading the story, fill out the Story Notes worksheet. Summarize, respond, jot down a quote, a description, and a new word.

Response ?'s - Having trouble generating a response? Use one of the questions on this sheet for guidelines.

Storyboard Samples - One of your response options is to storyboard a scene or memoir. Here are some possible storyboards you can use.

Eng IV - Video Quilt Filming Day

Today we created the patches of our quilt. If you didn't bring a picture today, bring one Monday and we'll film it during one of my free periods. Here are some pictures from the action:

Eng IV: Neighborhood Mapping

English IV: Memoirs We'll Be Looking at This Week

Here are the works we'll be looking at this week...

Gabriel Garcia Marquez Memoir
Frank McCourt Writing in the 1st Person
Using Sensory Imagery With Alexandra Fuller

- linked from Literary Cavalcade Memoir Tips

English IV - Memoir Unit Introduction

Hello dudes. We are going to be studying/writing memoirs over the next month. I will post updates, assignment sheets, checklists, and copies of the reading materials on the site so that you can access them outside of the classroom. More to come.