Exercise 5: The Power of the List
Lists are one of the simplest yet most powerful tools for the memoirist. It can be quite amazing how memory surges forward when one takes a few quiet moments to simply make a short list of people or events in response to being given some topic for rumination.
Here's how the list-making tool works.
Step one: Priming the pump. Choose one of the suggestions below and make a list in response. Don't spend too much time on this list, no more than five or ten minutes! You can always go back and add to your list later. As you write, use only a couple of words to describe each item (just enough to jog your memory). Don't worry if you can't remember all the specifics--for example, the name of that company where you packed boxes in a store-room when you were in high school. It's perfectly fine write: "Box packing in that place downtown." Be sure to leave 3 or 4 blank lines between items on your list.
Now take a few more minutes to study the list you just made.
Step two: Dredge for Details. Choose one or two items from your list that really speak to you, and begin to write down (on those empty lines you left) some details and specifics. If your list contains the names of people, be sure to write out their full names, as well as such specifics as: How old were they when you knew them? Where did they live or work? What was your relationship to them? What were the circumstances of how you met? How long did you know them? What happened to them? What did they look like or behave? Did they have any peculiar habits? Whatever comes to mind, but be specific and put in all the facts you can pull up. You probably won't be able to fill out a lot of details for every person, event, or thing on a list, but there will always be some on the list that can be enriched with detail if you try.
Finally, choose an item from the list you made and write it's story. File this story in your notebook, and file the list you made too--in your Memory Bank, or on the desk where you write. Come back to it from time to time and add more details and write more stories.
Admire the power of the List!
Here's how the list-making tool works.
Step one: Priming the pump. Choose one of the suggestions below and make a list in response. Don't spend too much time on this list, no more than five or ten minutes! You can always go back and add to your list later. As you write, use only a couple of words to describe each item (just enough to jog your memory). Don't worry if you can't remember all the specifics--for example, the name of that company where you packed boxes in a store-room when you were in high school. It's perfectly fine write: "Box packing in that place downtown." Be sure to leave 3 or 4 blank lines between items on your list.
- A list of all the names of relatives you can remember ever meeting or hearing something about
- A list of friends or playmates from your elementary school years
- A list of six or eight turning points in your life, those moments when an event or person or even an idea or feeling suddenly headed you off in a different direction
- A list of places to you have visited on vacation
- A list of jobs (and bosses) you've had during your life
- A list of best friends, not your current best friends, but all the best friends you've had during your life
- A list of girls or boys you kissed, or dated
- A list of favorite foods or meals you've eaten
- A list of the ten best movies you've seen during your life, or the ten best books you've read
- A list of the cities you've lived in
- A list of the churches you've attended
- and so on . . .
Now take a few more minutes to study the list you just made.
Step two: Dredge for Details. Choose one or two items from your list that really speak to you, and begin to write down (on those empty lines you left) some details and specifics. If your list contains the names of people, be sure to write out their full names, as well as such specifics as: How old were they when you knew them? Where did they live or work? What was your relationship to them? What were the circumstances of how you met? How long did you know them? What happened to them? What did they look like or behave? Did they have any peculiar habits? Whatever comes to mind, but be specific and put in all the facts you can pull up. You probably won't be able to fill out a lot of details for every person, event, or thing on a list, but there will always be some on the list that can be enriched with detail if you try.
Finally, choose an item from the list you made and write it's story. File this story in your notebook, and file the list you made too--in your Memory Bank, or on the desk where you write. Come back to it from time to time and add more details and write more stories.
Admire the power of the List!