Memoir Proposal Due: 8.27 | Draft Due: 9.5 | Final Due: 9.

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[Description]: In the memoir your goal is to write an essay about some event in your life.
Ultimately you want to not only recount important details, but you want to try to convey to your
readers why the event sticks with you. The most important events in our lives are somehow
transformative; your job is to subtly communicate the substance of that transformation to your
audience. Transformations can occur in numerous ways: lessons learned, sense of self altered,
innocence lost, anger fueled, etc. Begin by writing down the details and events that stick with
you; but, remember, you are not just listing events (i.e. this happened, then this, then this, the
end). Your ultimate goal is to weave a narrative, so there should be some form of rising action,
climax, and resolution to your story. In order to keep the reader engaged you must select which
details to highlight and which details to cut, which events require explanation by the narrator and
which speak for themselves, which events should be drawn out and which should occur quickly.

Start with the facts. Try to relate the happenings in some kind of narrativethat is to say, make
it a story with a beginning, rising action, and end. As our readings of minimalists like
Hemingway and Carver illustrate, even the most innocuous events can be told with some kind of
compelling narrative structure that will engage a reader.

Once youve told your basic story, the harder work begins. All of the short pieces were reading
have shown us some moment of realization, or understanding, or refusal to change. Dig into the
event youve chosen and into yourself, and try to unearth those elements. This is tricky, and you
dont want to force itremember, youre uncovering here, not creating. You also want to leave
some ambiguities and gaps for the reader to dig into themselves.

Remember, these types of revelations are to happen in your story, not to be told directly by the
narrator. We dont want lines like, And that day I really learned what it meant to be a man.
Reveal the meaning to your reader subtly. Trust that your reader is intelligent enough to read into
your story. For example, see the Hemingway line, For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.

Please also realize that your piece will be workshoppedthat means that two other people in the
class (besides myself) will read your story.

Take advantage of my office hours to meet with me about this essay if you want more feedback
or guidance. I love meeting with students one-on-one at any stage of the writing process. So
whether you have a draft or dont even have an idea yet, come talk to me.

[Requirements]
01. At least 4 double-spaced pages
02. At least two separate sections of dialogue
03. A repeated symbol or callback
04. Several sensory details or images that are specific to your lifethat past the Scattegories
game
05. A flashback or flashforward
06. A point of suspense where the reader doesnt know what is going to happen next
07. Well-developed characters. The reader should understand why your characters are doing
what they are doing because the characters personality, backstory, description have been
developed
08. A good balance of action, description, and reflectionmake sure characters are actually
doing something in your story, its not just the narrator reflecting
09. A subtle revelation

[Common Mistakes]
Showing vs. Telling (Active Reader): Your characters should not feel emotionsyour
readers should. Instead of telling your readers, I was really mad at my Dad for breaking the
plate, show them the events that caused your anger, describe your state of anger, and let your
readers identify with the situation and feel your emotions themselves. Note the difference in,
Dad dropped the dish; it shattered. My baby plate, bought for me on the day of my birth, was
gone. I stared at the pieces and bit my lip. Bob? Dad said my name in an apologetic tone. No
I said. I walked out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind me.
The same advice applies to morals in your conclusion. Nothing ruins a story more utterly than
ending with a straight forward moral like, And that day I learned that I shouldnt party so
much. If you are dealing with something you learned in your essay, let your readers figure it out
on their own. The events you relate should illustrate what you learned. When you tell the reader
what you have learned, you are saying that you dont trust them, and they feel like they are
having conclusions forced upon them. Letting the reader examine symbols, repetitions,
ambiguities, dialogs, metaphors, etc. for the moral of the story will create an active and
interested reader.

Pacing: Sometimes writers want to convey every detail they remember and their stories
become no more than a simple list of events: We drove in the car, it was hot; we went to the
beach, it was sandy; I went in the water, my mom said, put on sun screen; a shark bit my leg, it
hurt really bad. Though all the events you have experienced in your life have probably occurred
in real time, you must remember that your memoir is not in real time and all events are not of
equal importance. You must prioritize the events which are essential to your story and slow the
narrative down (go into more detail) when describing those events. And, as difficult as it may be,
you must cut events and characters that do not add to the transformation you are trying to
describe. Though in real life your dog died, your sister broke a dish, you found out Santa Claus
was not real, the mail was delivered, and you received your first F all in the same hour, each of
these events probably does not deserve equal time, or even to be included, in one story. You just
cannot cover everything, dont try. Slow down and develop a few individual scenes that add up
to a great piece.

[Questions to Consider]
01. What is the story here? Can you accurately and clearly summarize the plot that the
narrative follows?
02. Why do you think that the writer chose to tell the story being told? What is the point of
telling the audience about this particular event/person/placethat is, what can we learn
through this story that sheds new light on the themes present within it?
03. Is there a transformation (or resistance to transformation) that goes on in the story? Does
something happen?
04. Are there too few or too many scenes? Are there times where you wished the author had
slowed down and developed an idea, scene, setting, or character more? Are their times
when the plot progressed too slowly and bored you?
05. Are there details unique to the author that you never would have thought of until you
encountered them here? Point out your favorite detail. In which sections would have you
liked more detail and in which would you have liked less?
06. Is there a good balance between action and thought (internal narration)? If the story
focuses on mostly thought or mostly action does it work?
07. What kind of unique writers voice is the author cultivating in this essay? Is the voice
evocative, does it place you in the scene? Is the imagery vivid, with plenty of active
08. verbs?
09. Does the story reach an interesting conclusion, without being too heavy-handed in its
moral? What kind of wisdom is present within the narrative, and how does the author
share it without simply telling the read?