How can you write memory stories effectively?Recalling your past as you write memory journals, stories, poems, or the like can bring you to a fuller realization of yourself. It can open up new doors, new ideas, and new interpretations for your writing. Click for Free Writer's Block Help E-Zine and Free E-Book You do not have to write your memories in the form of a memoir, but you are obviously able to do so. It is the form of writing that will probably lend itself most effectively to your memories. You would be telling the tale of various parts of your life, possibly in similar ways to my writing remembrances. Every moment in life is precious. Now, despite the word "precious" having a positive connotation, some people (the more optimistic ones, of course) consider every moment, however good or bad, a precious one, because they are living it, and they are grateful for whatever life throws at them. Whether or not you choose to interpret your own life in this way is up to you. However, the idea of remembering and sustaining interest in the large and small things that happen to you throughout your life can make great fodder for a story, poem, or other writing prompt that can skyrocket you out of your writer's block. Many a writer uses experience, whether it is his or her specific experience, or one he or she has learned about, within his or her writing. Writers may amplify how bad or good something truly was, or take something down a few notches when it really mattered a more substantial amount. They may change something around that was positive and make it negative because they prefer the conflict that will ensue by writing it that way. They do not have to use their recollections in the exact way that they remember them. They must merely craft their writing. When writers write memory journals, memory poems, or even a memory story or two, they are crafting their writing to their liking. They are honing their style and perfecting it in such a way that they feel it most reflective of what people want to read. Memories also provide a great source of imagery in writing. Take some of my first memories, for instance: I remember my dad flying me around the house like Mighty Mouse when I was only three or four years old. Now, every time I watch Stand By Me, and I see the part where Teddy and Vern are arguing over who would win a fight between Mighty Mouse and Superman, I am transported back to those times in my parents' bedroom when my daddy would allow me to fly around the room in his arms. I remember staying over at my grandparents' house when I was almost three years old. It was the night my brother was born, and my grandmother took me to the "Kiddieland" store that was about a mile from her house so that we could buy my new baby brother a present. We ended up buying him a bathtub toy; it was a white rabbit, and its head separated from the rest of its body so something could be put inside. I do not remember what was put inside, but I do remember taking it to the hospital and giving it to my brother. Every time I pass by the mall where this store used to be, I think of my brother, and mention the significance of the spot to whomever happens to be in the car with me. Even if they have heard it many times over, I still say it, without fail. I remember my dad picking me up from my grandparents' house when I was probably four years old, and taking me to White Castle for hamburgers while he was on his lunch break. Every time I pass a White Castle, I think of this. The ability to write memory stories and remembrances such as these proves the point that you can never necessarily forget something. You may think you have forgotten something, or even suppressed those bad thoughts and memories you once had, but they are most likely lingering somewhere within you. You are capable now of re-writing your memories. If something didn't go quite as planned at an event years ago, write it into a story where the opposite result occurs. A little bit of fantasy never hurt anyone, after all. Make a list and write memory journal entries of all the first memories you can remember, from when you were born till you were five or so. Then, add on to that list with memories from the next five or so years, and so on, and so on, and so on, until you have a gigantic concoction of memories that will serve as ideas that will lead off your wondering and contemplating about where your next story will come from. I bet that one of those memories will strike a chord within you, and you'll be writing memory poems, memory journals, or even memory stories before you know it.
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