Monday, September 19, 2016
Bad Boy Blog #2: Reflections on Truth- Telling
Something that I've always wondered in memoirs is "How do they remember what they said?" The dialogue is something that I think has to be fake. Some dialogue is real like, if it was something really important that might have stuck with the author but just regular everyday conversations? I can barely remember what I wore yesterday but they can remember when there mom asked them to do something when they were 12 and they are now 43. I guess you could remember that if you document every single thing that happens in your life but that seems very unlikely. I think that the advantage of this could be that it could set a different mood or tone. Autobiographies are from the point of view of the author so by creating your own dialogue you can make it favor your point of view. The disadvantage could be that you can't really capture the essence of the moment because you don't remember what that person said I mean sure you could make up some fake dialogue but that' not the same as the real thing. I think that I will use this technique in my writing because i don't document everything so I will probably create some fake conversations along the lines of the real ones and start documenting things that really stick out to me. Noticing this you really see the importance of documenting things. Also people could exaggerate things to make the memoir more interesting or maybe just because from there point of view they made the story so much bigger than it actually is. For instance, I have a scar on my back from when I got burned by my sister in the back because she had a hot tray of taco shells straight out of the oven and i didn't move out the way because I was dancing in the dining room and wasn't paying attention so she ran into me with the taco tray and that's how I got the scar on my back but, if I didn't remember her telling me to move I could say that she was just being malicious and rude.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that all of us have our own stories and memories. Our feelings and thoughts can color our memories, even create our memories. But they are ours. And that's okay. You and your sister might have different memories of the taco shell disaster, but it doesn't mean one is "more right" than the other. Each story has its own merit and can tell us so much about what it's like to be you, what it's like to be human in your own way.
ReplyDeleteI think you make some great point, you could just fabricate different portions of your story to exaggerate a point or to create a certain feeling you would otherwise not feel if you just told everything that happened to you like it happened. However, I think that it's good to be more liberate in how you weave your story so the reader can get the full impact of what you're trying to convey. I think this will help the reader to understand more of where you're coming from and of your perspective.
ReplyDeleteHey home girl! I have to agree with you on this one, because I wonder the same thing sometimes. How do writers remember things from so long ago and now they're grown people and still remember? Sometimes I think it's not about documentation, but about how vivid the memory is. Like you said, you got burned with a taco shell tray, and I'm sure you remember exactly how it happened because it was something that made you emotional. I think memories are based on how good or bad the situation was, and that determines whether or not you remember it well, because it made such a big impact on you when it actually happened. I see you over there with the emotional thinking and questions girl! Get it girl, get it! Okay way to go, peace out.
ReplyDelete