Memory Mapping

1. Memory Mapping Entering a Virtual Setting of Memory

2. Write a descriptive “memory.” For five minutes, describe your very earliest memory. Descriptive Technique: Use as much sensory detail and vivid imagery as possible to capture it truthfully. Point of View: Try to capture the mood as well as the experience of that memory Cathartic Motive: Explore this memory with the intention to find within it a reason for something about you today.

3. Memoir As a Forensic Process The Old Oaken By Samuel Woodworth How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view! The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew! The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it, The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell, The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well. That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure, For often at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell; Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the well. How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips! Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it, The brightest that beauty or revelry sips. And now, far removed from the loved habitation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell, As fancy reverts to my father's plantation, And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well! Remembering is either a sentimental process or a discovery process. If sentimental: Remembering is a enjoyable moment of self-indulgence: “Mental masturbation.” But . . . If forensic: The act of remembering is interpretive. Interpretation changes the memory What makes the “true” story is a matter of current motive. Memoir versus Anecdote: an impression of the facts versus a collection of them. True or Truthful: accuracy versus verisimilitude. Parts or Details: how things occur happen versus how things are remembered. My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke The whiskey on your breath 
Could make a small boy dizzy; 
But I hung on like death: 
Such waltzing was not easy. 

We romped until the pans 
Slid from the kitchen shelf; 
My mother's countenance 
Could not unfrown itself. 

The hand that held my wrist 
Was battered on one knuckle; 
At every step you missed 
My right ear scraped a buckle. 

You beat time on my head 
With a palm caked hard by dirt, 
Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.

4. On a sheet of paper . . . Draw as basically as you can the street relevant to the object you selected for your Creative Nonfiction Assignment . If it's an object from your childhood, for example, draw a map of the street as you remember it from that time. (If you recall an area of land, rather than a street, draw that instead.) Include three prominent physical features of the vicinity.

5. In your mind, . . . Zoom down from the Moon to the clouds, down to a place on Earth, and into a space where you did something you felt bad about. Draw a basic schematic of the space. If it's indoor, give attention to furniture, doors, windows, closets, etc. in a floor plan. If it's outdoor, note landmarks and other features that mark the perimeter of the space.

6. Imagine yourself holding a small, empty picture frame, or a small magnifying glass, or your camera phone. Use it to “frame” certain details of your space, and write a brief description of the following: Look in one direction. What's there? Catalog everything you see. What can you feel with your hands, between your toes, against your cheek, etc.? If there are windows or clearings, pick one and write what you see out of it and what you hear while you're looking. Select one or two other objects in the space to focus on, and describe the feelings they evoke in you.

7. Introduce a person you feel guilty about, and put them in that space. Then, write . . . a description of what that person looks like, sounds like, smells like, feels like (and tastes like, if you want to go there) in this virtual setting a description of how you feel strongly about them. an analogy (a comparison) with some other experience that these feelings are like. an explanation of why you feel strongly.

8. Who cares? Describe one major way in which this person and this space matterto you. State one reason a reader unknown to you should be interested in your story of this person, or even find it relevant?

9. Free-write! Free-write: To write uninterrupted for a period of time, without concern for grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage or any other convention of proper writing; an invention strategy that “free associates” about a topic without concern for structure or development. In ten minutes, free-write about the memory you mapped in this exercise; try to capture a sense of the importance of what happened without actually saying what that importance is.