Ask Shannon Huffman Polson discussion

Alexandra, this is a terrific question. I think the assumption about memoir sometimes is that the greatest difficulty is dredging up difficult experiences, etc. For me the difficulty was in shaping the story. Along the way I had to learn that I needed enough distance to write about this experience with some ability to be objective in one sense, but still allow myself the proximity to it to access real experience.

In North of Hope, I'm including a number of pretty disparate themes from one perspective, and I needed to figure out how to best incorporate them all without losing the reader. I ended up choosing a braided narrative to do that, a form I'm particularly fond of (though it has its detractors). I wanted the idea of the Requiem to be present throughout the story-- I think of the book itself as a Requiem--and initially had included it as one chapter, but decided to instead include it throughout the narrative as short excerpts.

In many ways I think that is likely the same regardless of the genre in which a person might be writing. In memoir that challenge is exacerbated by the need to cut and shape events from one's own life, so something that might feel important to you personally might not fit in the context of what ends up as the book.

Interesting.
As a reporter for more than 21 years, I've always found that no matter how difficult the circumstances, telling another person's story always came fairly easily to me. It was really hard to tell my own story in Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey because I struggled to find the objectivity that was essential in my "day job."

Objectivity is really impossible in memoir, isn't it? And tough in other writing. I've thought of it as finding the right amount of distance, the right amount of connection, trying to find that balance to make the writing good.

Mine is a mindful book, My Soul's Passion Intellect Memory (2014).

I started drafting upon retirement and published seven years later. I was willing and able to take the reader on a personal journey with me at the deepest level and through my integration process with the soul and centering in God.

My difficult experiences were re-living fear and pain together with story shaping.