Face it. With decades in the rearview mirror, we all have a deep well of material to draw stories from. First, decide which decade is the richest. Then, pick your favorite memory—the one in which you can still feel the breeze on your face as the emotions come flooding back. Your memory may help you choose the story before you even have a chance to protest.
It’s good to have a comfortable place to begin. It’s also nice to choose a time that seems right for you. Over the years, that time has changed for me. In the beginning, it was between 4 and 4:30 am. But as the years have passed, I’ve found that 3 pm is a hot spot. Change up the time and place until you find just the right fit.
Write that story as YOU remember it. Not as a brother, sister, mother, or father remembers it. Just you. As you experienced it.
Then, remember Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Start with one-word answers. Write them down. When all of those things are on the page, you’ve got the beginning of something. One of those answers may be the place your story starts.
Our senses are a wonderful source of questions, and questions help uncover the words. Think about sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Try to remember three things about each one. What could you hear beyond the conversation? What did the air smell like? Was something sweet or bitter lingering on your tongue? Give yourself time. Put those details together, and you can deliver the reader to that moment.
If you have photographs from that time, get them out and gaze upon them. They hold clues to unlock more memories. Look beyond the people. Notice the curtains, the car in the driveway, the dishes on the table. Something small may bring back a detail you haven’t thought about in years.
If you have favorite songs from that time, play them. Then, just enjoy the richness of the memories for a moment. You don’t have to catch every word immediately. Let yourself remember.
As I work on my second book, The Dark Side of the Curtain – Coming of Age in the USSR, a certain Joni Mitchell song unlocks memories of a day almost 50 years ago. Things I thought were lost all start coming back. Asking myself a few questions has opened the floodgates to sights and smells that have been waiting for their turn. And so come the words.
My sweet mother-in-law was wondering just how writers find their words. That’s a tough question, and it’s specific to each person. For me, I just know I need to write. Because to me, writing is life.
Stories.
Everyone has such wonderful stories to tell.
Just where does yours begin?