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You want to know something stupid? I can't tell you a good damn thing about most of my sisters and brothers. I sure can't tell you what it was like to live with them, because most the time, I didn't. That's the thing about being the youngest in a hurricane of offspring, at some point they make a jump all willy-nilly and sometimes, they don't make a show of coming back.
Unless, maybe, every time they come back is a show.
Seems to me I can't write a story about my family if I can't talk about my family, not with any acute knowledge, that is. So, I'm just going to sit here every now and then and write a few things down, leave a little tangible evidence of my presence, stir it up once-in-a-while and see what kind of story to make of it.
You understand.
Celebrating good news!
2 years ago
I guess I'd question whether your memior writing is "about" your sisters and brothers, or about your experiences. Maybe you can't write "about" your family, but you can write about the fact that they weren't there, that you knew you had a family but saw them so rarely, and how that influenced you. I imagine that would raise odd thoughts in a young mind. Or maybe not, if that was the way it always had been.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Mercy. It throws me off sometimes when I think too hard about the project. I can't expect all these people to be realized characters in the book now, can I? It would just be overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that I could-should only write the story that is mine...I even wonder if telling mine is fair when the tangents will cross others lives so closely. So it sounds to me as if you have an advantage...you can tell yours without casting too much light on anyone else, because they weren't close enough to be illumined. And if the shadow you feel sometimes is somehow shaped a bit like one of them, that's how it is.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely way of looking at it, Jeanette. Baring that in mind, there wouldn't be cause for frustration, but instead a great boon to the writing process. Thank you for your thoughts.
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