Your Life As Story: Writing Narrative Nonfiction

The Stories That Photos Tell

". . . we sometimes resist the easy approach, thinking the writing of a story must be more complicated"
—NORTON

Where do you start when you sit down to write that book about your life that you’ve been dreaming of for so long?

I often start with a photo. It seems so simple—and we sometimes resist the easy approach, thinking the writing of a story must be more complicated, must rise from a more complex system of thought.

That isn’t true.

I’ve just begun the process of conjuring the thoughts and memories that need to find their way into my new book, and I have started with two photos actually, both of my Dad. In one he must be 18, maybe 20 at the oldest. He looks almost like a Beat with his horizontally striped t-shirt and his mutton chop sideburns. Although he came of age a good ten years before that social movement, I know he shared some of their rebelliousness.

The second photograph shows the same man later in life. His shoulders curl inward. Deep lines furrow is forehead. A lopsided smile curls one side of his mouth. Large glasses mask his eyes. He wears a suit and tie. He is just shy of 70 years old.

The first image is of a boy I never knew. The latter is my Dad. Somewhere between these two portraits is the man I want to reveal with my stories, and by pondering both pictures I find a jumping-off place for that task. The memories of moments we spent together blend with my speculation about the young man’s dreams, about the realities that ultimately stooped those shoulders.

This is a fine place to begin a story about your life. Pull out the box of family photos and see what stories come to life in your mind. Trust that the images-memories you see are just what need to be explored, and trust that you have the right to your interpretation of what you remember.

Herein lie two keys to writing successful stories about your life.