But in my memory...

Memoirs are about memories, but memories can be unreliable. Partly because you were a different person when you experienced them. In the end, you can only tell your story as best you can, but you can talk about that memory from your present point of view.

In Boy, an almost 70 year old Roald Dahl talks about his old school headmaster. He points out that his childhood memories are just that—the point of view of someone who saw the world as a child.

It is possible that Mr Coombes was a perfectly normal being, but in my memory he was a giant, a tweed-suited giant who always wore a black gown over his tweeds and a waistcoat under his jacket.

Boy(1984)

From a story point of view, Dahl’s snippet is just as much about describing himself as a boy as it is about describing Mr Coombes. His assessment from the present is short and calm and reasonable. His memory, however, is anything but calm—it’s long and wildly descriptive, using exaggeration and uses lots of detail to paint a vivid picture.

Andre may well have been ‘paying homage’ to my cooking, but in my memory he was a thief, an unscrupulous recipe thief who got famous by ripping off the hard work and talent of others.

My Dad was probably not the smartest man in the world, but in my memory he was a genius, an advice-giving genius who had an opinion and information on any topic you’d bring up, whether it was politics, the environment, immigration, pop culture or how the trucking company he worked for could improve.

Write a passage that includes the phrase ‘but in my memory’ following the same pattern as the snippet. Reflect on a character from the present, followed by an exaggerated description of them from your memory.

Memoir Basics 2: Using memory to tell a story

But in my memory...