Writing the Memoir Cinematically: Last Part

Backstory Post-its on a Timeline

In God, the Devil, and Divorce, I've made an effort to write backstory chronologically. In real life, however, thoughts of the past often pop up according to subject matter. Consequently, I chose to group some of the backstory according to subject. For instance,

as I begin to recover from divorce, I'm confronted with problems involving my family. I've titled the chapter concerning those events, Hard Calls, and it deals with how I had to cope with some new and serious responsibilities. 

I mentioned in my last blog, that sometimes one memory triggers another memory, and that calls for writing a memory inside another memory. I tried this by visualizing a scene cinematically, showing a flashback of a counseling session in which I related how my husband and I finally solved our fights over my cooking. Instead of telling her, the scene in the counseling office fades. I began the flashback this way. "I closed my eyes, picturing the scene in my big beautiful kitchen.." I describe how I'm making guacamole with cucumber. My husband enters, makes a face, and an argument begins. Does it work? I think so.   

​That's it for backstory, a least for now. I hope you've enjoyed thinking how you might employ backstory in your own work.
​
Blessings,
Linda