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Photos and Poems and Quotes, Oh My! How Other Creative Works Can Add to Your Writing

December 1, 2020 by Story Circle Network 5 Comments


One of the first reviewers of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, said, "...The poetry and photographs add an extra dimension that is missing from most memoirs like this since as a reader you get much closer to the reality
of what is being described on the page..." (Mark Shelmerdine, CEO, Jeffers Press). Another reviewer said my book is "poetically visceral." Those statements helped validate any misgivings I had in adding other creative works into my manuscript.

I really hadn't thought of putting photos in my book until my publisher, suggested it. And of course I was delighted. At first she suggested photos interspersed within the chapters, but my book didn't lend itself to that. So I picked out photos in groups: of my son Paul--the main subject of the book, of him and his brother, family photos, views of my office, garden, and one of the memorials to Paul--a bench dedicated to him on the greenbelt outside our home. At the time I had no idea what an impact these photos would have on the message of the book. However, I am currently reading Keith Richard's memoir, Life. It has two photo sections. And I keep going back to these photos as I get to know more about the characters in his book.

Inserting my poems was another story. I never considered leaving them out. They were instrumental in my book's organization. I had journal entries and other writings to draw from and a poetry manuscript, and I arranged my
book's chapters according the order of the poems in my poetry manuscript. However, I still worried about what others would think. So many agents state that they don't look at poetry. A memoir workshop instructor wasn't keen on the idea. However, one of the people who had read my poems several years ago now says he can relate to them better because of their context in the story. The bottom line is: I was fortunate to find a publisher who not only liked the poems I initially had in the book, but asked for more.

Because I collect quotes--I usually note them down when I read, and I continually post them on my Facebook author page--I decided to insert three quotes in my book--two from books and one from a song. And that turned out to be the biggest problem in finally getting my book to print. Since I felt they were integral to my story I was adamant, but it took months to get the necessary permissions. The main lesson is: if you want to include other authors' words in your book, start getting permission early.

All in all, I felt it was well worth the extra time it took to include other works in my memoir. My writing is very personal and I feel the photos, poems, and quotes helped deepen the personal message of my words.


For more from Madeline Sharples, visit her blog.

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who is passionate about nature, books, art and writing. A native Texan, and longtime Utah resident, she spent nine years traveling this country in an RV. She now lives in Tucson with her canine companion Pepper. Her book, Travels with Maggie, was published in September, 2017. Pat is a staff writer for the Story Circle Journal, is the co-mom of the Writer2Writer Roundtable, and manages SCN's tweets. Visit her blog.

Filed Under: StoryCraft: Writers Write About Writing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet Grace Riehl says

    October 17, 2016 at 7:18 am

    Good for you! Poetry is a good channel for memoir!

    On Oct 17, 2016 7:03 AM, “Telling HerStories: The Broad View” wrote:

    > SCN Blogger posted: ” One of the first reviewers of my memoir, Leaving the > Hall Light On, said, “…The poetry and photographs add an extra dimension > that is missing from most memoirs like this since as a reader you get much > closer to the reality of what is being described ” >

    Reply
  2. madeline40 says

    October 17, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    Thanks so much, Janet. All best, Madeline

    Reply
  3. Linda Thomas says

    October 18, 2016 at 7:16 pm

    I enjoyed your post and, like you, am inserting photos and quotes in my memoir. This part of your post caught my eye: “I decided to insert three quotes in my book–two from books and one from a song. And that turned out to be the biggest problem in finally getting my book to print. Since I felt they were integral to my story I was adamant, but it took months to get the necessary permissions.” Are they long quotes? I’m including brief quotes and have been told that according to fair use, it’s okay for me to use them without obtaining (and paying for) permissions. But sometimes fair use is difficult to pin down. Thanks for your help.

    Reply
  4. madeline40 says

    October 19, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    Thanks, Linda. Alll three of my quotes were quite short. However, I found out that two out of the three needed permission. One was considered fair use. I went to the publishers of all three well in advance – that’s how I found one was fair use. I’ve written some blog posts about what I went through to obtain permissions. Go to my website and and search on permissions. Maybe that will help. http://madelinesharples.com. I wish you huge success on your memoir.

    Reply
  5. Linda Thomas says

    October 20, 2016 at 10:42 am

    Many thanks, Madeline.

    Reply

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