Memoirs and their making were given particular attention at
Write Around the Murray 2016. Anson Cameron, author of ‘Boyhoodlum’ and Biff
Ward, author of ‘My Mother’s Hands’, helped to shed light on the process behind
the making of a memoir. A workshop with Cameron and a panel discussion with
Ward, also featuring Ben Law and Helena Pastor, gave a broad and varied view of
the process behind the decision to write a memoir and how to bring the content
to life.
During his workshop, Anson spoke about how memories change
ever so slightly upon each recollection, and noted that “as memories recede
into the past, they ultimately become more exotic”. This played a part in his
decision to write a memoir. Looking back over his life, he admits that while
his surroundings in the Victorian town/city of Shepparton didn’t seem so at the
time, he now – perhaps somewhat nostalgically – views them as exotic. Cameron
likens his childhood setting to that of Twain’s Tennessee, with a sense of
reverence that begs us to view the past and present as two separate worlds,
albeit connected through a string of memories. This string of memories doesn’t
go without knots, some series of events appearing as more of a flipbook in an
indeterminate order, similarly to the aforementioned blurring of the lines
between reality and fanciful recollection. Perhaps this too compelled Cameron
or other authors to document their life in such a way. Others attending the workshop
can attest to this. A lady in attendance shared with the workshop one of many
stories she had heard from her Uncle, who had fallen ill. As he was always
reluctant to be recorded sharing his life’s stories, and had a penchant for
being wise to a hidden recorder, she expressed her desire to document his many
tales and triumphs before she could no longer recall them herself. This was all
told as a lead-in to the question of: how do you decide what to include?
Cameron then goes on to describe a wedding, where the mother-in-law is seen
“waddling” alongside the pond, “what does the reader want? They probably want
me to walk over to her and push her in”. This was Anson’s own unique example of
what he calls “turning up the volume” on your retelling, finding the balance
between the unembellished version of events and the one the reader needs in
order to remain engaged with the content.
I would like to thank Anson for a wonderfully entertaining
workshop, my fellow attendees for their contributions to some fascinating
discussion on the topic of memoirs and of course the festival organisers that
made it all possible. The second part of my two part ‘Making of a Memoir’
series can be found in Blog 4 of the larger series covering WAM 2016 as a
student of the Writers in Action subject. This will cover the aforementioned
panel discussion between Biff Ward, Benjamin Law and Helena Pastor.