21W.022.02

Susan Carlisle

Predraft 1.2

On the first day of class, we read an excerpt from Joe Brainard’s “I Remember”—a catalogue of specific memories from his years of growing up in Oklahoma.  We did an exercise in class in which you wrote down a list of ten memories that seem especially resonant or significant for you, even if you are not sure why. You then jotted down ten images from your memory; they may or may not coincide with the ten “I remembers” you initially wrote down.( This was predraft 1.1 and you should keep it and include it in your folder when you hand in the revision of the essay in a few weeks.)

Your assignment for this predraft is to choose one of these memories or images and tell its story—what you remember about that moment, image or experience. What happened? Here are some suggestions of ways you can question your experience. Just like Chang Rae Lee does in his memoir of a visit to Korea in “Sea Urchin,” try to ground your description in specific, concrete, sensory details. For example, what did you see? Can you describe the physical place of this memory? What did you hear? Can you recall any smells?  Textures? Did this memory make you remember other things? Were other people there? What were their names? And since you will write a narrative of this memory, it is helpful to think a little bit about chronology.  How old were you? Were you aware of time? What happened first? What happened next? (You do not, however, need to structure your narrative chronologically. You can start in the middle, for example.) Resist any urge to “sum up” this experience or to generalize about it or to analyze it. Also be sure to choose a memory that you will feel comfortable reading to the class if you are called upon to do so.

Length: Two pages. Give yourself enough time to write a couple of drafts of this piece before you hand it in; proofread it carefully for rough spots with grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Draft and Revision Guidelines

Draft (5 pages)

Your assignment is to tell a good story: to write an engaging, persuasive first person narrative about a  real life experience.  In your first predraft, you wrote a catalogue of twenty memories: ten “I remembers” and ten images. In the second predraft, you narrated the story of one of these memories, and in the third predraft, you reflected on the question of what this memory means, what questions it raises or perhaps what it says about your sense of identity–personal or cultural. Use these two predrafts to help you launch an autobiographical essay. As you begin this draft, you might want to expand on the story of your memory, perhaps by paying more attention to some of the key storytelling elements we have discussed, such as dialogue, diction, structure.  It is likely you will want to begin your story in a different place, or perhaps shift its focus. Predraft 1.3 may have led you to some intriguing insights about the significance of the memory, which you might want to explore in more detail.  You are likely to find that this predraft has another important function: it serves as a “lens” of sorts to  help you see  what’s missing in your story, what the story might really be about, or how you might expand it. Though your task is still to tell a story and therefore to use the narrative as the overarching structure, it is up to you to figure out where and how you will use your insights or reflections and/or how you will integrate them.

Give your story a title!

Revision (6 to 8 pages)

We will confer about your drafts during the week of 2/22 and you will also have a chance to meet with your pod. The verbal and written feedback you will receive, along with the comments and questions that will come up during our workshop discussions of drafts will give you plenty of ideas about how you can substantially strengthen your draft and make it more complete. To revise means “to see again,” to see your draft in a fresh light—to both edit and expand your narrative. This is the time to rethink your structure, to figure out where and how to begin and end your story, to add details or ideas, to sharpen your language. As always, proofread carefully before you hand this in.

Predraft 1.3

In class we have discussed the natural place of reflection and analysis in autobiographical writing.  As we have seen in the range of pieces we have read so far, telling the story of one’s personal experience often leads authors to think about the significance —or perhaps the strangeness or mystery— of this experience. For example, Patricia Hampl questions whether her memory of the details of a childhood event were accurate; this leads her to other reflections about what makes a memoir “true,” how writers and readers differ, why it is important to “question authority,” and why it is so crucial, personally and politically, that we tell and record our life stories

Your task for this predraft is to reflect on the narrative you have written. Here are some questions you might find relevant and/or useful. Is there anything in your story that you hadn’t realized before? Anything especially puzzling? What does your story express about your family? Your culture? Your sense of identity?  Is the place where the experience took place significant? If so, why?  Did the telling of this story lead you to remember other moments in your life, perhaps to even see a pattern of some sort?  For now, focus on asking questions of your narratives and offering insights and  tentative theories about the importance of the experience for you.  Please write your reflections in paragraphs but this is not yet an essay, so please resist the urge to sum up, generalize, or even to structure your piece with a conventional beginning, middle, and ending.