Writers can learn how to develop their craft, but it’s much more difficult for them to learn how to develop their voice. A memorable voice is one of the main things I look for as I know that that’s something future readers can connect to.
In order to write THROUGH the story, I had to relive it. And in my case that meant reliving these specific things:
—the death of my daughter —the abuse I suffered from my father —the self destructions I inflicted on my self
—the longing for a mother drowned by alcoholism
In memoir the truth is a moving target. You can be as honest as you believe yourself to be but you may misremember events or your interpretation may skew the story.
Writing those first pages, it’s hard to have faith that anyone will suspend disbelief—that the world can be made real enough for even the writer to believe in it.
Every “realistic” short story I write is a betrayal. Perversely, the short stories which seem to engage most readers are indeed these more — forgive me — realistic ones.
