MEMOIR?

I Could Tell You Stories... by Patricia Hampl.

Well besides this short excerpt, "Memory and Imagination", from Patricia Hampl's story being difficult to read. It talked about her ideas about writing fiction and what we perceive as a non-fiction stories. The beginning starts off with her "first" day being introduced to the piano and the sneezing nun and the snobby classmate. She talks about how this day effected her and what she clearly remembers; later on though you realize that it was all a lie. She goes on to say that this was her first draft therefore she left it how it was and just let the "juices flow," all she did was remember things and put them down in a way that was interesting and captivating for the reader. The whole story suggests that 1) our memories our not always reliable. 2) Writing is supposed to be creative and no holds bar. And finally 3) Question Authority.

Thoughts and What I Learned

This was a very hard read, so it is naturally hard to find out and discover what I really learned. In all honesty this just made me more confused about writing actually. It goes on about how memories are just an action that can get in the way of creative juices, it then goes on to state that there is no real difference in writings and what their genre is. Walking out of this reading I must say that I was taught to just write and whatever happens happens, you can always go back and change it. Another thing learned is that a writer must not always tell the whole truth and only that because you need to keep the audience/reader/"cat" intrigued and interested.