Post #212 – Memoir Writing – Matilda Butler
What if you could talk to a younger you. What advice would you give?
Late last year, I flew to Boston to wish my sister-in-law a happy birthday. While on the plane, I found an article that made me think of a writing prompt to share with you.
I have to say that if you don’t know me, you’ll be surprised where I find the inspiration behind some of my writing prompts. The easiest way to explain this is to state that I see the world as a gigantic kaleidoscope of writing prompts. It seems that everywhere I look and everything I hear turns itself into a writing prompt. I get multiple ideas each day.
Fortunately for you, I don’t write them all down. Some just don’t make the cut. I like to find ones that cause you to think about your writing in a different way or that cause you to think about your life from a new perspective.
With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this one.
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Pretend you just turned 13 and you meet your current self. The birthday present to your 13 year old self is a beautifully wrapped gift box. The 13-year-old you yanks at the ribbon and pulls off the paper. In the typical excitement of a 13-year-old, you pull the lid off the box and inside is just one piece of paper. Your gift to yourself is three pieces of advice based on what you have learned in life.
Write that piece of paper with your advice.
2. Assume your 13-year-old self took your advice. How might her life have been different (or the same)? Think not in general terms, but remember one specific incident when taking your advice might have changed the outcome. Write that scene twice. The first time, write the scene as it took place. Then give your younger self the advice and write the scene a second time with the assumption that you had heeded the advice.
3. Assume that after the birthday party of your 13-year-old self, your current-age self has a meeting with your agent. The agent has read your memoir manuscript and thinks it is well done. However, she believes she could place the manuscript with a publisher it you rewrite the story as a novel. What title would you give your life story if told as a novel?
