8 Easy Steps to Writing Your Story

Maya Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Everyone has a story to tell. When you have a dissociative disorder, multiply that story by many. In my opinion, the world needs to hear our stories. The world needs to hear your stories.

Journaling

My insiders started telling me their stories through my journals many years ago. Today, I have a large plastic container under my bed with nigh onto 30 journals, loose leaf binders, essay booklets, scraps of paper, and more. They contain the raw material of my story, uncut and uncensored. 

A Story

Today, thirty years later, I have used those precious glimpses of my life-within to craft my story into a memoir, Crazy: In Search of a Narrative. My editor signed off on it, and I’m looking for an agent. Who woulda thunk?!

Hints

You can begin to write your story too. There’s no one way to do it so don’t let anyone tell you there is, including me! What I share here are just hints. You’ll find your own way.

1.     Journal: Keep a journal. Don’t censure it. Write what comes.

2.     Expand a Passage: After you’ve done a bit of journal writing, take it a step further. Work with one thought or entry in your journal. Expand on it. 

3.     Setting: When did it happen? Where were you when you thought what you thought? What was the weather like? Were you in an old beat-up apartment ? Out in the country? In your living room, basement, bedroom?

4.     Character: You’re the star. How did this incident change you? Who else is there? How did they change? Did they change you or did you change them?

5.     Dialogue: Add some dialogue. Is it you talking? You thinking? Is anyone else saying anything? You don’t have to remember the words exactly. Put down what you imagine in quotation marks.

6.     Feelings: Can you describe how you felt? Were you angry as a hornet? Timid as a mouse? Stretched to your limit like a skyscraper?

7.     Support: Find a writers’ group who will  support you and your stories. Take classes to help you learn more ways to express yourself. 

8.     Read: Read the writing submitted to your writers’ group. Read other people’s memoirs. Learn from their stories. One memoir I especially recommend is The Sum of My Parts by Olga Trujillo. It’s pretty powerful and a must-read for multiples. 

Remembering

Remembering our past often brings up difficult feelings. Take those feelings to your therapist, or make sure you have a good support system.

If you’re like me, you won’t remember the answers to all the questions I’ve posed, but you will remember some. Use these details to expand on one paragraph in your journal and you’ll have a page or more of story before you know it!

Invitation

Check out my website at www.lynbarrett.com where you can download the free ebook called DID Unpacked. You can also sign up for notification of the release of my memoir, Crazy: In Search of a Narrative and learn more about writing opportunities.

What questions do you have about DID? Any topics you’d like me to cover? I’ll look forward to hearing from you! 

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8: 32

Lyn