Anyway. I thought it was fascinating to read in Tell it Slant about how memoir is so similar to photography. A photographer frames a particular shot to purposefully tell a story. Leaving out other aspects of the scene or widening the frame to allow more detail to be captured are all part of telling stories and giving the audience a particular piece of life's art.
I love photography. I took two photography classes in high school and as soon as I graduated I used my saved up money (and a birthday gift) to purchase my own Nikon D3000.
It is beautiful. It is my baby. I am in love with it. Sadly, this past year I have not used it as often as I would like. You know, school and work and stuff. They get in the way of hobbies.
To say I was inspired by the visit from Jed Wells today would be an understatement of the greatest fashion. I want to take pictures all day every day for ever and ever now. I want pictures to tell my life story, to tell my future story, the future story of my future family. I want photographs to be a large part of my life. I want them to display my personal history, as it continues day to day.
Back to memoir. Another aspect of chapter 12 of TIS that was profound to me was the explanation of how to handle "partial truths" or the like. For me this has been difficult to understand as I've been writing essays for this class. In creative nonfiction, how much creativity can play a part?
I love using creativity, and I love doing my best to fill in what cannot be remembered word for word. But I've always felt this is wrong in some way. But in the end I believe that memory itself is creative nonfiction. Memory is altered immediately by outside influences, and even inward feelings or thoughts. Memory is so malleable that every story must have some fiction. Imagination's potency has a power over reality.
This is why I love to write! There is no right answer.
Find the sunshine. It's out there.
<3 Mel
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