Autobiographies, by definition are personal chronicles depicting the life of an individual, but what about truth? Is it acceptable to enhance reality and interweave a degree of creativity and imagination into the narrative to produce a more interesting and compelling story?
These are all essential elements I considered when drafting the narrative. After all this is not my own personal experience. However, it is a creative enactment of a genuine tragedy. Subsequently, I used a variety of ‘creative elements’ to coalesce intellect, truth, memory and imagination, to depict a semblance of verisimilitude to portray the emotions of every mother’s worst nightmare. The death of a child.
This critical commentary will reflect on the techniques used in …show more content…
A mother has carried her child for nine months, given birth to the child. There is a lifelong bond between them. A mother does not expect her child to die first. A mother wants her child to grow, mature. To see her offspring achieve his/her ambitions. She wants them to be happy, to fulfil their hopes and their dreams. So when the unthinkable happens, and their child is all of a sudden taken away from them. A mother (Or father) find themselves on an unthinkable path they didn’t walk to walk along.
‘Time to let go’, is a story about loss. ‘Rick’ was a friend of my son’s, and tells the story of how a mother coped with the loss of her only son, and the grieving process that followed. Albeit difficult, for me to write. I wanted this to be a story about the depth of despair and loneliness that parents face on such a desolate journey.
However, I did face reservations. Guilt being a major obstacle. As this is not my personal experience. I was concerned as to the ethics involved in creating this narrative. I did not want to encroach on another mother’s grief. Neither did I want to be intrusive or glorify such a tragic event. Therefore, I decided to tread with caution and use a degree of intuitive perception, and to craft the narrative as ‘creative fiction’ as opposed to a concise accurate account of a grieving mothers incapacitating …show more content…
I used a technique called ‘clustering’ developed by Gabriel Lusser Rico Writing the Natural Way (1983) I often use this as an organic way to develop writing ideas. Using this technique, I took the word ‘Accident’ as a nucleus and wrote an association of words. I find this process useful to stimulate thoughts to ‘flow’ and produce ideas, enabling me to begin write in a more lucid style. I then took the material I produced and did a Free write. This is a technique I use to produce a ‘mind dump’ of information. I write for six minutes in a complete unedited stream of consciousness, which, is instinctive and awakens the senses and releases an amass of my deepest memories, ideas, and feelings, which I can then develop into a
These are all essential elements I considered when drafting the narrative. After all this is not my own personal experience. However, it is a creative enactment of a genuine tragedy. Subsequently, I used a variety of ‘creative elements’ to coalesce intellect, truth, memory and imagination, to depict a semblance of verisimilitude to portray the emotions of every mother’s worst nightmare. The death of a child.
This critical commentary will reflect on the techniques used in …show more content…
A mother has carried her child for nine months, given birth to the child. There is a lifelong bond between them. A mother does not expect her child to die first. A mother wants her child to grow, mature. To see her offspring achieve his/her ambitions. She wants them to be happy, to fulfil their hopes and their dreams. So when the unthinkable happens, and their child is all of a sudden taken away from them. A mother (Or father) find themselves on an unthinkable path they didn’t walk to walk along.
‘Time to let go’, is a story about loss. ‘Rick’ was a friend of my son’s, and tells the story of how a mother coped with the loss of her only son, and the grieving process that followed. Albeit difficult, for me to write. I wanted this to be a story about the depth of despair and loneliness that parents face on such a desolate journey.
However, I did face reservations. Guilt being a major obstacle. As this is not my personal experience. I was concerned as to the ethics involved in creating this narrative. I did not want to encroach on another mother’s grief. Neither did I want to be intrusive or glorify such a tragic event. Therefore, I decided to tread with caution and use a degree of intuitive perception, and to craft the narrative as ‘creative fiction’ as opposed to a concise accurate account of a grieving mothers incapacitating …show more content…
I used a technique called ‘clustering’ developed by Gabriel Lusser Rico Writing the Natural Way (1983) I often use this as an organic way to develop writing ideas. Using this technique, I took the word ‘Accident’ as a nucleus and wrote an association of words. I find this process useful to stimulate thoughts to ‘flow’ and produce ideas, enabling me to begin write in a more lucid style. I then took the material I produced and did a Free write. This is a technique I use to produce a ‘mind dump’ of information. I write for six minutes in a complete unedited stream of consciousness, which, is instinctive and awakens the senses and releases an amass of my deepest memories, ideas, and feelings, which I can then develop into a