Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“All this
time the Guard was looking at her, first through a telescope, then through a
microscope, and then through an opera glass.” Lewis Carroll
The
lens through which we view or relive our memories will focus the story we want
to share with others. First we take all our brainstorming and look for the
connections. The memories begin to form a shape, a map, from which to outline
and track the journey we want to relive and then to share. Both figuratively
and literally maps can help us go deeper into memoir and give us new insights.
Drawing
maps can combine the brainstorming and concrete research at the same time,
whether you use an existent map to copy from, or design your own. It is another
way to focus on the time, place, and experience that you are exploring.
Here
are some suggestions to experiment with and choose which lens you want to share
from—a long distance reminiscence, a day in the life, or an internal life-changing
experience. Then once you know the style that captures your voice focus on the
action step versions below to fine-tune your story.
Possibilities.
Draw your own setting map, or trace one. Take an old atlas and cut and paste to
make up your own country or local setting. Mimic a tourist map. Take a map and
turn it upside down or backwards. Make a collage of landscapes and buildings.
Research
old maps in a library, make copies, and then turn them into your own. Several
years ago a friend sent me an historical map of a small town in Holland around
the 12th Century. It has figures on the streets showing where
commerce was done. One youth is leading sheep down one path. On another a wagon
is loaded with produce. The people in the village are included along with the
street names.
Any
map can be adapted to your personal visual memories.
Here
is a word sample memory map that is a combination of memoir and creative process
that author George Ella Lyon suggested for beginning poets in her book “Where I’m From.”
I
am unable to copy, sadly, but she took a piece of a traditional map of a
geographic location and then placed the word YOU in the center. Then she
scattered words all over—near the highway, along the river, and in the various neighborhoods.
Here are some of her words—“Town or Street Names, SMELLS, Central Events, Wild
Card, TASTES, Objects, Church Experience, Parent’s Work, and Hiding Place.”
Action
Steps:
1. Choose a
literal map, antique or present, or a photograph of a particular landscape, or
draw your own version with multi-colored pencils, or in black and white with
pens. Or try all three to see which atmosphere most resonates with your
memories.
2. From whichever
map shape or style you chose to work with, make at least three different
versions. A) Literal objects or site names. B) Emotion words or phrases only.
C) Themes or symbols as representatives of your main impressions. Have fun and
draw your own personal emojis.
3. Then from your three approaches mix and
match them as in the sample by George Ella Lyon.
Share: What one key
word did you post on your map that you didn’t expect?
Read deep, marcy
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