Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, Life into Literature (review)

Book Reviews167 notjust in the telling ofthe life story, but he plumbs its meaning by revealing how he thinks—exploring not one, but several voices that relate this narrative. Hemley introduces his sister's story as though he were solving a mystery, offering clues from imagined scenes in her life, actual conversation, and excerpts from his mother's fiction. In executing this, he deftly borrows from the techniques offiction, but he also builds complexity by adding bits and pieces ofhis sister's memories, and setting these against his own and his mother's memories . He adds veracity by transcribing passages from Nola's memoir, quoting the text as his sister wrote it, but with light strike-overs revealing the cuts his mother made in her first and failed attempt to manage the material. In so doing, Hemley explores the formative relationship between his mother and himself. And as he ruminates about the reasons for the cuts, he carefully unfolds his own thinking about his sister and his connection to her. Couple this inventive method of examination with a sensibility that is deeply reflective and you have a provocative, richly textured memoir; one that will most certainly fascinate readers who are predisposed to Hemley's approach. For those who are looking for a book that displays the full range and possibilities of contemporary nonfiction, Nola is not to be missed. Reviewed by Anne Marie Oomen A portion of this review appeared in ForeWord, July 1998. Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, Life into Literature by Bill Roorbach Story Press, 1998 218 pages, cloth, $17.99 In Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, Life into Literature, Bill Roorbach encourages writers ofall levels to use daily writing exercises to change the way they write, to find writing material, and to access new stories to write about. The goal is to use the exercises to turn personal experiences into memoirs and personal essays; Roorbach writes that, "what may seem at first mere practice turns out to be writing of the most urgent kind. " Roorbach's exercises are interspersed in chapters with titles like: "Reaching Readers," "Memory,""Scenemaking." Few chapter titles are more than three words long. However, all of them include specific, illustrative examples and useful advice on writing memoir. Take chapter one, entitled "Getting Started," where Roorbach delves into the definition of memoir, 168Fourth Genre then introduces two former students (whom he returns to throughout the book), and gets readers started on the exercises (there are four in the first chapter). This pattern—theory, stories that illustrate the theory, and exercises that put theory to practice—repeats throughout the entire book. As a writer, teacher offreshmen comp classes, and MFA student, I am still referring back to Writing Life Stories many months since reading it. Someone who ordinarily distrusts exercises, I was surprised to discover how straightforward and productive Roorbach's writing prompts are. For example, in chapter one, he advises people to read widely, find a place to write (and, Roorbach tells readers, christen the place by saying out loud, "This is my office!" even if it's just the kitchen table), and to create a new writing schedule every week and stick to it. Simple?Yes. Almost immediately I had successfully completed three ofthe first four exercises, and that encouraged me to continue. In addition to doing the exercises myself, I tried some out on my students and classmates. For a presentation in one ofmy graduate classes, I used the "Map Making" exercise: "Draw a detailed, specific map of the earliest neighborhood you can remember, then write a story from the map." This activity wound up triggering old memories of grandparents' yards, bananaseated bicycles, neighborhood bullies, and so on. In yet another exercise later in the book, Roorbach speaks of"tweaking up the adumbration." During the revision stage, we're told to find an object or place in our essay and use it again in the essay, because, writes Roorbach, "in order to have objects take on metaphorical significance, you need to have objects around in the first place." I tried this exercise in a class with my freshman...