{"id":700,"date":"2011-09-23T08:41:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T15:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=700"},"modified":"2016-10-14T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T23:52:05","slug":"truth-and-fiction-in-the-writing-of-memoirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/truth-and-fiction-in-the-writing-of-memoirs\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth and Fiction in the Writing of Memoirs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Art by Mimi<\/p><\/div>\n

My mother is a born storyteller. When I was young, I paid little attention; but when I became a mother myself, I began to jot down her anecdotes. I am so glad I did, as now when I visit, her memory at 96 isn\u2019t what it used to be. But is anyone\u2019s? The older we get, the more we have to store. And what we store is affected by time and other experiences. My mother has had to store 96 years of memories, some bad, some good. All of them coloured by her journey in life. Others may block their pain, but my mother passed down the horror her family experienced during wartime. Some are her memories, but others are her mother\u2019s, memories once removed.<\/p>\n

So, now that I\u2019ve set out to write my mother\u2019s and grandmother\u2019s story, I am challenged as to how to piece these detailed remembrances together. What is truth, what is fiction? I am like that weaver of tapestries, who sets out to create a richly coloured and complicated tapestry design, but is missing some much needed threads.<\/p>\n

In a recent issue of MORE magazine<\/a>, Michael Ondaatje discussed his latest novel, The Cat\\’s Table<\/a>, a story ignited by a fragment from his childhood. As a child, he had a journey on a ship, and as he didn\u2019t remember it well, he says, \u201cI had to fictionalize it\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u2014a memory expanded by time.\u201d\u00a0 By choosing to play with memory, he created a fascinating story.<\/p>\n

In my mother\u2019s case, I\u2019m playing with many fragments. It\u2019s the pieces in between her harrowing accounts that I have to fill in. Linking her anecdotes means research like reading A Whole Empire Walking<\/a>. It also means using my imagination. As Michael Ondaatje found, it\u2019s exhilarating and freeing to dive in and see what happens. I\u2019m looking forward to the ride.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on memoirs? How much fiction can a writer weave in and still keep the scales tipped in favour of memoir?\u00a0 50-50? 60-40? At what point does a memoir become a fictional story? Or should we even care, as long as it\u2019s a good story? I\u2019d love your thoughts on the subject.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mother is a born storyteller. When I was young, I paid little attention; but when I became a mother myself, I began to jot down her anecdotes. I am… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[147,19,36,171,173,151,172,5],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-a-whole-empire-walking","tag-fiction","tag-memoir","tag-michael-ondaatje","tag-more","tag-storyteller","tag-the-cats-table","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-bi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1432,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-power-of-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":0},"title":"The Power of Memory","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember when I was counseling others, one of the things that came up was the power of memory. Whatever happens to us, our body doesn\u2019t forget. The joys, the sorrows\u2014they\u2019re all tucked away only to emerge at the most surprising times. To recall what once was can help us\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Baba, Lukia Mazurec","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/P1090283-300x297.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":638,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/a-whole-empire-walking\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":1},"title":"A Whole Empire Walking","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"16 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I was old enough to comprehend, my mother has bent my ear with stories of how awful it was in the old country, before she immigrated to Canada when she was 14.\u00a0 Although my mother is a born storyteller, she can only remember so far back. She also passed\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/A-Whole-Empire-Walking.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6847,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/writing\/folding-memories-into-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":2},"title":"Folding Memories into Story","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing What You Know Ernest Hemingway, the wonderful author of great works such as\u00a0The Sun Also Rises\u00a0and\u00a0For Whom the Bell Tolls,\u00a0was a master of folding memories into story. After he had received another bout of shock treatments, he said to a friend, \u201cWhat is the sense of ruining my head\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Folding memories into story","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DSCN4546b-2020_02_01-15_54_38-UTC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":3},"title":"My Mother’s Stories","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm visiting my 95 year old mother in a personal care home. My mother was a wonderful storyteller but now her mind is failing.\u00a0 She can no longer remember details, but when I mention a slice of a narrative she gave me many years ago, her mind clicks in and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6400,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2024\/uncategorized\/mother-an-unheralded-heroine\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":4},"title":"Mother: An Unheralded Heroine","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Mothers, unheralded heroines, deserve our attention. They're the ones whose tireless efforts to raise a child in our increasingly complex world are often overlooked. To honour her mother who had just died, Anna Jarvis, an American peace activist, started Mother's Day in the USA in 1905. In her work with\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"unheralded heroine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/babd-1-scaled.jpg?fit=677%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2721,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/writing\/what-makes-a-father\/","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":5},"title":"What Makes For A Good Father?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"18 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What makes for a good father? Because I\u2019ve been blessed with having one who did not disappoint, I can shed some light on the subject. A Few Key Points He\u2019s a man you can count on to pay attention to your smallest concern. He\u2019s a man who\u2019ll inspire you and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Father","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_5667-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}