September 14, 2026
Start with the Sound: A Memoir Exercise for Recovering a Scene
Sound can be a practical doorway into memoir. Instead of beginning with a complete chronology, choose one remembered noise—a screen door, train, kettle, school bell, or familiar voice—and build a single scene around it. This guide offers questions for locating the moment, separating what you remember from what you later learned, and handling remembered dialogue honestly. It also explains how to interview someone without coaching them, document consent, preserve a voice recording, and leave genuine uncertainty visible. The takeaway is simple: start with one sound, one place, one change, and one reflection. A small, carefully labelled scene can become the beginning of a larger life story....