{"id":141126642,"date":"2024-01-30T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T07:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/"},"modified":"2024-01-30T07:00:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T07:00:20","slug":"on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/","title":{"rendered":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing to remember<\/h2>

If you don\u2019t already, subscribe to Strayed\u2019s Substack<\/a><\/p><\/div>

This interview originally appeared on the excellent but now defunct Ideas Tap website. The organization, which was dedicated to supporting young people pursuing creative careers, closed in 2015 due to lack of funding. Plus ca change.<\/em><\/p>

Strayed was a warm, thoughtful and inquisitive subject. A rare working class hero and, rarer still, someone whose giddy ascent to Oprah-adjacent fame hadn\u2019t uncalibrated her ethical compass.<\/p>

It was a privilege to speak to her, and a pleasure to republish her timeless wisdom.<\/p>

<\/figure>

After writing her first novel, Cheryl Strayed<\/a> turned to memoir and wrote her New York Times bestselling\u00a0book Wild, about her\u00a01,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of her mother\u2019s death.\u00a0Here, Cheryl talks about\u00a0mining memory and shares a writing exercise.<\/em><\/p>

How does the emotional experience differ between writing fiction and memoir?<\/h3>

It doesn\u2019t. To write fiction well you have to inhabit the consciousness of the characters you\u2019ve created. With non-fiction there\u2019s an extra layer of intensity because the character you\u2019re building is yourself.<\/p>

In memoir, how do you build yourself as a character?<\/h3>

The only way you can build yourself is to dismantle yourself. To take apart who you are, what your assumptions have been, what you hope people think of you. You can\u2019t write: \u201cI\u2019m pretty and cool and awesome and interesting\u201d because everyone would hate you. You have to say: \u201cI\u2019m human. Here are positive things about me. Here are negative things about me. And here are things that don\u2019t make sense, don\u2019t add up, and I\u2019m going to present them to you\u201d. Writing is like the deep work you do in the course of therapy where you take yourself apart.<\/p>

\"a<\/figure>

What memory aids do you use?<\/h3>

I naturally have a very good memory \u2013 I think a lot of writers do. I kept a journal through my 20s and 30s. That helped me a lot in writing Wild. I do research where I can, going back and looking at pictures for example. When most people imagine what a memoirist does, they think: \u201cI don\u2019t remember anything from high school, from 20 years ago\u201d. But they do remember \u2013 they just think they don\u2019t.<\/p>

How can writers elicit those memories?<\/h3>

The process of writing is re-conjuring memories. It\u2019s doing things so more memories come to you. Even looking at a photo can allow you to remember something accurately. The process is like running into an old friend from back in the day, somebody you knew 20 years ago. When you first start talking you only know a few things about each other. But as you talk and go deeper into your lives you remember things you thought you had forgotten. Just because you haven\u2019t thought of something for years doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t remember it, it just means it takes a little work to access it. When I was writing Wild<\/em> I\u2019d think, \u201cI don\u2019t remember, I just walked\u201d but once I started writing my mind would open up to specific memories.<\/p>

Do you draw heavily on your own life for your fiction?<\/h3>

You\u2019ll see a lot of details from my life. My next novel is set in Portland [where I live]. None of the characters in the book are me but there are all these little tendrils of the story that you can trace back to me.<\/p>

How do you deal with writer\u2019s block?<\/h3>

I never call it \u201cwriter\u2019s block\u201d but I always have trouble beginning. Writing is hard. I resist writing. I run from it. If I am left alone with a laptop I flounder for an hour or two, then I sink in and I\u2019m in the zone. When I get stuck I go for a walk, come back and try again. I don\u2019t force it. If something isn\u2019t coming, I move on; that\u2019s a good strategy for me.<\/p>

\"Apple<\/figure>

How long did it take to write your first book, Torch<\/em>?<\/h3>

Your first book is so hard because you don\u2019t know how to write a book and there is no way for anyone to tell you. It turns out the only way to learn how to write a book is to write a book. I avoided finishing [Torch] for fear of failure, until the point where the fear of failing to finish was bigger than the fear of finishing a book that was terrible. I worked on it for about ten years in total, three years really diligently.<\/p>

How did you overcome that fear of failure?<\/h3>

Once I let go of the idea that I was going to write a great book, I was able to write a book. I let go of any ego or fear or shame. That was an important moment in my writing life. None of us really knows what kind of book we\u2019re writing. A lot of people think they\u2019re writing brilliant books and they\u2019re terrible. And the reverse is true too. It isn\u2019t up to us to judge our books; it\u2019s up to the people who read them.<\/p>

Writing exercise using objects<\/em><\/h3>

I take random objects out of my handbag like lipstick, a ten-euro note, and a pair of sunglasses, and tell my students to pick one and write a story about it.<\/p>

To begin writing you begin with an image. You begin with a feeling. I encourage people to start writing and not think about it too much. Even if you have a good idea, usually once you start writing it will become something else.<\/p>

I could do that same exercise with the world\u2019s Nobel Literature Prize winners and something would come of it. Perhaps what came of it would be better than what comes to my students, but that\u2019s how the [Nobel Prize winners] do it too \u2013 they begin with something then they make something else.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing to remember<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141126642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing to remember\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Write To Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ersun Warncke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ersun Warncke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 \u5206\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ersun Warncke\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450\"},\"headline\":\"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1012,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/public\\\/images\\\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/\",\"name\":\"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/public\\\/images\\\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/public\\\/images\\\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/public\\\/images\\\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"Write To Success\",\"description\":\"Holistic education for exceptional students\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450\",\"name\":\"Ersun Warncke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ersun Warncke\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/writetosuccess.net\\\/zh\\\/author\\\/warncke\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/","og_locale":"zh_CN","og_type":"article","og_title":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success","og_description":"Writing to remember","og_url":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/","og_site_name":"Write To Success","article_published_time":"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Ersun Warncke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u4f5c\u8005":"Ersun Warncke","\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4":"5 \u5206"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/"},"author":{"name":"Ersun Warncke","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/#\/schema\/person\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450"},"headline":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed","datePublished":"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/"},"wordCount":1012,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png","articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"zh-Hans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/","url":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/","name":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed - Write To Success","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png","datePublished":"2024-01-30T07:00:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/#\/schema\/person\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"zh-Hans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-Hans","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3c390b8-b833-457d-affe-17a012f19be9_324x500.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/on-memoir-with-cheryl-strayed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On Memoir with Cheryl Strayed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/","name":"Write To Success","description":"Holistic education for exceptional students","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"zh-Hans"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/#\/schema\/person\/553b403c5955e10f57a174d7b4044450","name":"Ersun Warncke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-Hans","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/663f7a135f009997a242a00d65a3d727b65be3018401271d9c7c511ce10ee5d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ersun Warncke"},"url":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/author\/warncke\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141126642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141126642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141126642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141126642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141126642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writetosuccess.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141126642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}