Robert Gale Ongley

Month: January 2019

  • TEN ELEMENTS OF A POWERFUL MEMOIR

    Do you want to write a memoir, but don’t know where to start? Well, you’re not alone. Many people have a story to tell, but don’t know how to go about it. As a member and facilitator of a memoir writing group for a few years now, I’ve learned a lot about the basics of the genre and have gathered a good deal of information on what makes a high-quality memoir.

    Know Your Guidelines

    A memoir is not an autobiography. Its scope is usually a period of the writer’s life or covers a theme of particular significance. For example, “My Trip to Hell and Back” could cover a soldier’s part in a war operation that landed them in a world of hurt. A memoir theme for that same person may be titled, “Undercover–A Way of Life.”

    Another key ingredient of a memoir is truth. You can’t make it up. Not that every detail is guaranteed to be true, but you need to do your best to make it so.

    Structure it First

    There are writers who feel they must just start writing and not worry about where it’s going. I’ve heard them say an outline stifles their creativity. Conventional thinking is that you need to know where you’re going to be efficient in getting there. Doing an outline, noting your turning points along the way, helps prevent dead ends and pointless meanderings. Structuring your story at the beginning gives you a chance to organize your thinking and therefore be as comprehensible as possible.

    Research All You Can

    In the interest of providing the truth in your memoir, it would be advisable to not count on your memory alone. Facts fade over time and somehow new versions are provided by the brain. Research can be done by consulting journals, letters, newspaper clippings, other forms of documentation and other people when the facts aren’t available from any other source. Parents or other family members can be great when it comes to filling in the blanks for times when you weren’t around or old enough to remember.

    Lay It All Down

    Once you know how your memoir is going to be set up and you have your information together, you can concentrate on writing. It would be best to work on it every day until it’s done, but the most important thing is to write, write, write. Get your story on paper, not obsessing about form or details. You can edit later. Take pleasure in downloading this data from your mind to your document, especially if there’s a lot of emotion involved. It’s so therapeutic to let it go.

    It Doesn’t Have to Be All About You

    We tend to be wrapped up in our own lives, but I find it noble and appealing to tell the story of another person in your life. I can’t claim to have done it myself yet, but I hope to at some point. Honoring a deserving individual is a fine way of celebrating their legacy to humanity.

    Make It Read Like a Novel

    As a life unfolds or as a theme develops, there are twists and turns, comedy and drama, victories and losses. Lives lived without fanfare or in quiet desperation can be tapped as any award winning novel could be drafted. When structuring your memoir, be mindful of presenting it in an order that best tells the story for dramatic effect.

    Write in the First Person

    Telling the story from your viewpoint is straightforward and easily understood. I’ve heard writers toying with the idea of using the third person to write their memoir. While I can appreciate the artistic slant on this, I would find it potentially confusing and generally unnecessary.

    Be Yourself

    I think it would be safe to say you would be best served to write your memoir without trying to be someone else. Write as you speak, for the most part. Don’t play a role that doesn’t suit you. Just try to be natural and you will come across in the best possible light.

    Use Lots of Dialogue

    Dialogue brings life to a story. Endless narrative breeds boredom. We don’t want to be bored. “Don’t jump, my precious reader!” “Don’t try to stop me. I can’t take anymore narrative!”

    Keeping in mind our intention to adhere to the truth, we need to include conversations in our memoir. No one expects us to recall word for word quotes, but we can write these verbal exchanges according to our recollections and not violate the essential truth. Dialogue is vital. It’s fun when you become comfortable with it.

    Out With Your /Feelings

    Just giving the facts without letting the reader into your heart and mind can leave your manuscript cold. Relate important events of your life in your memoir, being sure to include how they affected you. The deeper, the better. If you’re not the type of person to do so, this is your chance to practice in the privacy of your writing space. You may find you evolve and purge yourself of some heavy baggage. And your writing will be more accessible.

    Writing a memoir is a golden opportunity to examine your life in a unique and effective way. Here’s to an illuminating experience!

  • FINDING YOUR TRUE VOICE

    Expressing yourself through any artistic medium can be most effectively done when you are being genuine and true to the spirit that moves you. Following a formula may produce a salable piece of art, but I doubt that it means much to anyone. Expression of a meaningful message should come from the real you, not just a manufactured image or the “should be” person.

    Voices Across the Arts

    When I use the term voice, I first think of that persona that comes through when writing. Of course, there are other uses of the term in the arts, the most obvious being an actual voice, as in singing. Finding the style of singing that best suits your vocal timbre is vital to success.

    But, hey, there’s voice involved in cinematography, in painting, and pantomime for that matter. Steven Spielberg’s voice comes through loud and clear through his films. Van Gogh spoke through his work, probably better than he could with speech. And who could think Marcel Marceau didn’t communicate to us through his silent voice?

    What a Writer’s Coach Has to Say

    In his acclaimed book, A Writer’s Coach, An Editor’s Guide to Words That Work, Jack Hart writes an interesting chapter on voice. He lists five ways to develop your voice. I quote here the headings for each way and paraphrase the content of each paragraph.

    1. Write the way you talk. He’s telling us not to try sounding like a writer when we write. Be yourself. Your writing will come across as more natural that way.
    2. Execute the worst offenders. Mr. Hart doesn’t care for pomposity, so he suggests finding the three stuffiest words you’ve written and execute them. Remove them and don’t use them again unless they are justified.
    3. Think small. By small he means precise. We should not muddy the waters when we’re trying to convey an idea clearly. He gives the example of calling a Dachshund a canine. Choose your words to give the reader concrete images rather than some fancy string of words that don’t really say anything.
    4. Start with the subject. Hart wants sentences to state who’s doing what to whom. For the sake of scoring points stylistically, writers may fall into the trap of structuring sentences with long phrases at the beginning and making the reader wait for the real action.
    5. Let ‘er rip. In your first draft, get the words on paper without worrying about how it sounds. He says you should be loose, fast, and accepting. Don’t worry about cliches. You can find fresh, creative ways of saying what you have to say when you come back for revision.

    How I See It

    Hart’s ideas on this are totally valid as far as they go. I mean no disrespect. He is far more accomplished as a writer and editor than I am. Most importantly, I take from his chapter on voice that we need to use our words in our most straightforward form with no pretense that could cloud our message with unnecessary complexity. Just say it. Readers will appreciate it.

    Still, I sense there is more to it. When we write a sentence or sing a melody or draw an image, we want it to make a strong impression. We want it to make an impact. Creative writing suggests being innovative. It isn’t reporting. Our voice can be genuine and ingenious simultaneously. It strikes me that Kurt Vonnegut was such an author. Bobby McFerrin fits into this category as a singer. Following Hart’s guidelines is advisable. Listening to your own heart is crucial.

    One other point I want to make–I believe you could have more than one voice. I find I can write an article in an informational style, do fiction in a whimsical style or write a script of imaginative comedy. They all feel like different aspects of my true self. Woody Allen comes to mind. From Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask to Interiors was such a range it was hard to believe these films both came from the mind of the same person.

    Voice of Wisdom

    English writer Neil Gaiman tells us, “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.”

    Look within with sincerity, honesty and intensity. Your voice will be revealed. But follow those practical rules of thumb from a coach who knows how to write like a professional.


  • HOPE IN TIMES OF DESPAIR

    I attended a church service yesterday that inspired this post. Jordinn Nelson Long conducted the service as a guest minister this week and it had to do with hope, which I find to be an excellent topic as we head into the new year known as 2019. She gave us statistics, as a small part of the message, that would help us see there is reason for hope. She shared stories, poetry and images which were so uplifting, even exciting. So, I’m going to follow the model with different content.

    In spite of the political arena, where observers on both sides of the issues find reasons for despair, there are many positives to encourage us as we start another year around the sun. Wal Van Lierop, a venture capitalist whose career has focused on “sourcing, investing in and helping to commercialize breakthrough innovations for energy intensive industries” writes for Forbes that cleantech investors such as himself have good reason to be optimistic about the future of the planet and humanity. He cites gains in clean energy technology and increased financial commitment around the world by private companies and governments to making these a practical reality. Also, he says 60% to 75% of students at top engineering schools are showing interest in getting involved with startups instead of giving their services to Silicon Valley businesses so dedicated to consumer apps. Venture capitalists are investing in those types of students and “increase the odds of funding meaningful projects in industrial innovation and cleantech.”

    The polarization of our country is truly disturbing to me. The right, the left…the religious zealots, the non-believers…the young, the old…the upper class, the lower class…the corporations, the workers…on and on it goes. Our civilization could unravel if we don’t start finding common ground. It’s not just the commercial media that stirs the pot, though they may have been the culprits to get the pot boiling in the first place. The anger and hate have spread to the breeding ground called social media. Facebook and Twitter are the greatest examples. There’s a lot of love exchanged on them, but far too much outrage over others’ opinions. But, as Jonathan Rauch wrote in an latimes.com op-ed piece last week, signs of change for the better are coming to view. He is a member of Better Angels, where he sits on the board. It’s a national organization which is fostering unity among our divided citizens.

    Rauch writes that Better Angels is “a national grassroots movement to depolarize the country, one community at a time. Committed conservatives and progressives — Donald Trump Republicans and Hillary Clinton Democrats — meet in structured workshops, not to change one another’s minds but to relearn how to communicate and connect as fellow citizens. After only a few hours, participants emerge able to see the humanity and positive intentions on the other side. Those angry partisans often become neighbors and friends.”

    He goes on to describe how the concept they’re promoting is spreading across the country. Groups have popped up in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Almost 300 people have been trained to be moderators and they are able to train others. They’re doing this as it needs to be done, from a grassroots level. Rauch observes astutely, “Each new workshop not only plants seeds of local bipartisanship, but also broadcasts the empowering message that ordinary people can take action against our would-be dividers.” He mentions other similar groups, so I want to make sure their names are seen as well. They are Bridge the Divide and Living Room Conversations. Let us reach out to those who are doing the vital work of bringing us together. Perhaps the most encouraging development is the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group in Congress that is promoting an honest intention to work together for the common good.

    By many measures, the world and the people in it are improving. Crime rates are very low at this time. According to the Huffington Post, we are in the most peaceful time in world history. Wars are less frequent, less devastating and less violent. Teen pregnancy rates are way down. Poverty rates are still too high, but trending downward over the last 11 years. High school dropout rates are down to 6.1 percent, much better than 10.9 percent in 2000. The worldwide life expectancy rate in 1900 was 31 years. In 2014, it was 71.5.

    There are many who are suffering and struggling mightily in this world. Even those who have all the advantages may be in depression, but I hope to have shown conditions can change. We can lend a hand to those who need it. We can live in gratitude and be the change we want to see in ourselves (a nod to Gandhi there). And we can spark the unity we need to have going forward in this country and across the world.