Post #136 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing Needs a Point of View: What’s Yours?
As a writer, you know that point of view (POV) refers to your decision to write in First Person (I), Second Person (you), or Third Person (He or She). If you’ve studied POV, then you know a lot more about this topic including that the Third Person has several sub-types including single character, multiple characters, omniscient narrator.
That’s all important, including knowing which POV works best for your story and even how to use different POVs. Memoir is mainly First Person, but there can be times when others work.
I’m assuming you know all of that. Today, I want to bring up a different type of point of view. To make the distinction, I refer to it as point of view rather than POV in the discussion below.
I hope this will give you something different to think about that may let you connect with your readers in new ways. Leave me a note below on your thoughts about this.
MEMOIR AND POINT OF VIEW
When Kendra spent some time with me in Oregon late last year, she mentioned a movie she had enjoyed. I’d neither seen nor heard of. It’s “Corrina, Corrina” starring Whoopi Goldberg.
When I displayed a blank look at the mention of the movie, Kendra said, “Let’s watch it tonight. I’m sure it’s on Netflix for instant download.”
And indeed it was. When the movie opens, we see legs from about the knee down. There are men and women in the room. We hear voices but don’t know exactly who is talking.
I was immediately struck by the literal point of view. By shifting from the expected view, I paid close attention to details that I would have completely ignored. I noticed the style of shoes and could tell something about the age of the women. I saw how close (or far) people stood from each other. I noticed the somber colors of clothing. I fairly quickly figured out that I (the camera) was under a table because I noted the lace tablecloth hanging down, partially in the camera’s view.
This perspective didn’t go on for too long. Soon the young widower Manny Singer, played by Ray Liotta, reaches under the table and gently coaxes his 5-year-old daughter Molly, played by Tina Majorino, to come out. Then the point of view shifts and I see that this is the gathering after a funeral, complete with homemade casseroles and desserts, brought by friends and neighbors, clustered on the dining room table.
Last week, I flew from Portland to Orange County. As we approached, I looked out from my window seat. First, I’ll admit, I was confused when I saw water on my left (shouldn’t it be on my right?). But that aside, (I figured the pilot knew how to get us to the airport), I noticed again the point of view. Instead of looking out at trees, as I do from my kitchen, I was looking down on the tops of trees. No textured trunks to describe. Just masses of green.
Well, you get the point. Memoirists usually describe the world from what might be called a “normal perspective.” Try this: When you think about your story, consider if there are times that your reader will learn more by altering the point of view. An obvious time to use this would be if you are telling a story from your childhood.
For example, I must have been about six years old in a vivid memory I have from my childhood. I was dressed up in a pale blue cotton dress with two white ruffles on the top. Over the dress, I wore a light wool coat. We were standing under a portico at the First Baptist Church in a jumbled line that wasn’t moving. I think we were waiting for a wedding reception to begin because we were at a side door rather than the front entrance to the sanctuary where we would have walked in without a delay.
In any event, I managed to get lost from my parents. I looked around — but just at my eye height. I saw a navy blue suit, assumed it was my father, tugged on the jacket with my white cotton gloved hand before I looked it into the face of my father. The only problem was that many men wore navy blue suits and this one belonged to someone other than my father.
I have no idea what I did at that moment. But I definitely remember being embarrassed. Even today, I feel that emotion when I recall that day. I think that what I did next, after managing some kind of an apology, was to raise my head and look around for my father. In other words, I changed my literal point of view.
Get back into the moment and you just may be able to bring a perspective into your writing that will engage the reader.
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Think of a scene or brief vignette. Write it from the perspective of a child.
2. Write it from the perspective of the omniscient narrator.
3. Write it from the perspective of your current age looking back.
How do these perspectives allow you to focus on distinctive details?
