Poets & Writers
Published on Poets & Writers (https://www.pw.org)

Home > Reshaping the Past

Reshaping the Past [1]

Creative Nonfiction [2]
9.3.15

In Mary Karr's new book, The Art of Memoir (Harper, 2015), she writes that "from the second you choose one event over another, you're shaping the past's meaning." Think of a significant event from your past that you've written about before. Make a list of three other events or changes that were occurring in your life around that same time. Write an essay about one of these "secondary" events, focusing on deriving personal or emotional meaning out of this seemingly less impactful event.


Source URL:https://www.pw.org/content/reshaping_the_past

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/content/reshaping_the_past [2] https://www.pw.org/genre/creativenonfiction