Sometimes a memory to savor

[gurdonark]

Do you ever have the feeling that there are memories so delicious that you wish, but don't think, that you could put them on the page? It's not the ones in which particularly momentous things occur--for me, they're very little things indeed--a chaste night kissing a Canadian girl who roomed with my roommate's girlfriend (and whom I never saw again), or walking in my dress suit in London's Camden neighborhood on a rainy Sunday Summer early morning, with security alarms clanging all around, as if some movie cat burglar was going from store to store. When these things happen, they leave such a deep, atmospheric impression that just remembering them brings back a wave of nostalgia and pleasure. But they are moments whose meaning derives so much from my own inner workings, and how can that be placed on the page? I can tell you my stories, but how can I show why little things matter? Sometimes I journal the tiniest memories, and sometimes the memories even gain something for me once I put them in the journal. But sometimes the texture of the memory remains within me, and I wish I could share that texture with you.

Comments

[nacowafer.livejournal.com]

Those kinds of memories are so visceral, that it is very difficult to pin them down with words. You need smell and taste and a sense of the temperature. I suppose very good writers can do it, but it is difficult. Because you want others to feel it the same way you do.

I wanted to write about a something recently, the way I felt once, related to a particular time and place. But I gave up before I started.

This morning I wanted to write about a sense of the coming spring, but instead, I picked up two feathers and left it at that. But the sense of an imminent renewal is something we can all relate to right now. Something more personal is even more difficult to convey.

That said, I want to try, and I want everyone else to try, too.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're right. I want to try, too.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

I think it's a skill that can be developed to a certain extent. That's what creative writing classes tackle. After all, really good writing makes the reader FEEL those moments themselves, if not as deeply as if experienced, then pretty damned close.

It's a high mark to aim for. Affected also by innate talent.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

It does seem to vary a lot from writer to writer, that skill. I rarely try to write fiction largely because I have little of that skill. But it's a skill worth having.

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

something to work on, it seems

sense memory is so delicious

that is why there is art

and allegory

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

yes, it is delicious, and yes, it does spawn art :).

[nutmeggie.livejournal.com]

I do.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes.

lol You're fun!

[nutmeggie.livejournal.com]

It's just that sometimes you say everything there is to say on a subject, so there's nothing I could possibly add, but at the same time, I feel compelled to let you know.

Re: lol You're fun!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

and I appreciate it :). Thanks.

Re: lol You're fun!

[nutmeggie.livejournal.com]

you're welcome

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

The one that comes to the top of my head at the moment is driving home from the local Renaissance Festival into a classic Maxwell Parrish sunset - yellow and all!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I love those Texas sunsets, too, which never come out as radiant on the page :)! Sunsets are like these little gifts we sometimes receive.

[sapience.livejournal.com]

Even these little snippets you've offered conjure feelings of bittersweet nostalgia. I believe it's worth the attempt to convey.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes--bittersweet nostalgia...definitely worth the attempt.