Making Space for Honest, Authentic Storytelling & Kamala Harris
Challenging times make for terrific Six-Word Memoir challenges
Space in Six Words Contest
Space has different meaning depending on who you ask. Sometimes it can be self-care (“Space is my refuge from you”), and sometimes it’s sad (“Each death makes space for grief”). Space can protect us (“Margin of error is six feet”), or break our hearts (“Altair and Vega. Reaching, reaching, reaching...”). And sometimes, it’s just a space (“One space after a period, friends”).
Community member enginethatcould shared their thoughts on stepping into someone else’s thoughts with their memoir: “I yearn to experience his head-space.” In a backstory about their younger brother who has Fragile X Syndrome and is cognitively delayed, they write: “Most of the time I think I have him figured out, then he goes and does something remarkable that he probably shouldn't be capable of doing. I would give almost anything to be in his mind, that space between his ears, for even ten minutes.” Read more of this backstory here.
What’s your take on space? Our space contest ends March 30th, so submit your six-word take on space at sixwordmemoirs.com now!
Short Cuts: Six-Word Reviews
In each issue of our newsletter, we celebrate another Substack newsletter that shares our passion for storytelling. We also share a project from the wide world of culture.
From Substack:
Sunday Wisdom: a newsletter about challenging learned beliefs and habits about how the world works. Six-Word Memoir intern Danielle’s take on Sunday Wisdom in Six Words: “Demystifying invisible rules; revolutionizing the mundane.”
From the rest of the world:
In & Of Itself: Derek DelGaudio’s one-man show on Hulu combines magic, storytelling, and mind-blowing and heart-wrenching audience participation. Don’t Google, don’t ask friends, just dive in and watch this story unfold. My Six-Word Review: “An intimate, magical meditation on identity.”
Classroom of the Month: Six Words Meets The Glass Castle
For the last few years, Tabitha Cooper, an English teacher at Metamora Township High School in Illinois, has combined the power of short-form memoir with longer form narrative. After her students read memoirs like Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle and Cylin and John Philip Busby’s The Year We Disappeared, Cooper asks students to consider a significant event which shaped them in a powerful way and then write about it in the form of a Six-Word Memoir. Ms. Cooper’s students met the challenge, writing introspective memoirs about their challenges and consequent growth. “I really wanted to hit home this idea that a memoir is not your whole life,” says Cooper. “It’s an event that shapes you as a person. It can be positive, it can be negative, but it should be powerful.” Her students shared stories of self-actualization (“Doing things that my family isn’t”), empowerment (“Don’t believe what people tell you”), and a wisdom seemingly beyond their years (“Stay patient and trust the process”). Like Ms. Cooper’s students, Jeannette Walls, herself, has done this exercise and shares her six in our Best Advice in Six Words book: “Face your demons, then harness them.”
Read more about her classroom on our Six in School section, where you can also download free teacher’s guides.
The Craft of Storytelling Tip #2: Be Honest
Way back in the late ’90s, when I was living in NYC and starting to get assignments from national publications, I decided to take a class on personal narrative writing taught by Daphne Merkin. For eight Saturday mornings, my pal, Mark Boal, and I schlepped way up town with our latest revisions to whatever essays we were working on, knowing our teacher—whose candor was legendary—was going to let us have it. Mark was already writing for Rolling Stone and Playboy (where one of his stories inspired The Hurt Locker which launched him into the world of film). I had been published in The New York Times, which was a big deal to me, but neither of us were surprised that she didn’t care about our growing pedigrees and instead ripped apart our words. What I remember most is that she called me an “unreliable narrator.” She didn’t think I was a liar, but rather I was holding too much back when I wrote about personal issues. For better, and occasionally worse, Merkin inspired me to write as I live: with no filter. And here’s the thing, whether you’re writing a 60,000 word memoir, a 6,000 word essay, or a Six-Word Memoir, readers can always sniff out an unreliable narrator. In the same breath, when you reward readers with honesty, they will honor your words with their attention. Here are a few Six-Word Memoirs that exemplify Writing Tip #2: Be honest.
“Being a monk stunk; better gay.”
“I pretend to be a vegetarian.”
“Met wife at her bachelorette party.”
“So would you believe me anyway?” (from the writer, James Frey, pictured above.)
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Six Seconds of Fame: Six-Word Celebrity Memoir Challenge
Speaking of Jeannette Walls, I had the chance to meet her at a conference, where as fate would have it, we ended up skeet shooting together. Walls has had quite a life, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that she was such a good shot. “Something tells me you’ve shot a gun before,” I joked. To which she offered this six-word reply, “I’ve never shot anyone who’s nice” (which I think is a pretty great Six-Word Memoir). Even before I launched the Six-Word Memoir project, I loved coming up with autobiography titles for friends, family, and notable people I admired from afar.
Now it’s your turn to help us debut our first Six-Word Celebrity Challenge. Here’s how it works: We pick a celebrity, you come up with a Six-Word Memoir for that person. The winner will receive The Best Advice in Six Words.
First up: How do you think Kamala Harris would describe her life in six words?
Here’s some examples:
"Countermanding two centuries of historical conventions."
“Vice President. Wife. Momala. Auntie. Fighter.” (inspired by her Instagram bio)
Click through to our page on Substack to leave your Six Words for Vice President Harris in the comments. We’ll share our favorites in the next issue, and share one of our favorite books with our winner.
Long journey to be first. Next!
May be first. Won't be last.