The Power of a Story: Musings on Personal Narrative and Truth

One of my favorite kinds of writing to teach was the personal narrative. In fact, when I had to prepare a project for the Greater Kansas City Writing Project Summer Institute, I chose “Personal Narratives in the Classroom.” There is just something about reading someone’s story. Hearing someone’s story. Rare is the person who does not enjoy hearing a good story.

The disturbance in the publishing world and blogosphere over James Frey’s lies in his book A Million Little Pieces has given me much to ponder.  What makes a good story? Why embellish the truth to make it more sensational, when the truth itself is itself sensational?

I was reminded of the power of a story recently, during a funeral. My husband and I traveled north to our previous town of residence to attend the funeral of a church member who had perished very suddenly and unexpectedly in an accident on his farm. The church and community were reeling from shock and grief. His family, understandably, were devastated. My husband was asked to co-officiate the service, and he delivered the funeral message. Two powerful moments in this message were stories. One was the story of Enoch in the Old Testament. It is said that Enoch walked with God, and then was no more. My husband said it this way:

It is as if Enoch and God were walking and talking one day, and God said, “Enoch, we’re closer to my house than we are to yours. Wouldn’t you like to come to my house?” And Enoch did. He walked from this world into eternity. It’s the same with George. He walked with God, and on Friday, God said, “George, we’re closer to my house than we are to yours. Wouldn’t you like to come to my house?” All things considered, I think George wanted to say no. But it was his time, and on Friday George walked into eternity with God.

The entire church was in tears. Not a few moments later, he told a story about George that had everyone chuckling and nodding, when he said, “We stopped at Casey’s [a convenience store] for coffee. We always went to Casey’s. Casey’s is a part of all of my stories!”  He told the story of how George was willing to drive in an ice storm to deliver food, and how he was always helping others. Everyone had a story to tell about George. All of them were good.

The power of story. To help, to heal, to grieve, to move on.

One of my favorite singer-songwriters is Sara Groves. Her song “All Right Here” from her album of the same name includes these intriguing words:

                        Every heart has so much history
                        It's my favorite place to start
                        Sit down awhile and share your narrative with me
                        I'm not afraid of who you are

I love that! Sharing stories, narratives, memories. This is what we do as writers, every day. This is also where I often lose sight of what it is I love about writing. When it becomes a chore or a burden, perhaps I need to listen more. 

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Pattie Reitz is a writer and a teacher. She received her B.A. in English Education in 1991 and her MSEd in English in 1995. Pattie has experience teaching several age groups: middle school for one year, high school for eight and a half years, and college for five semesters.  She received training in 1997 as an Advanced Placement instructor in English and in 2002 as a teacher-consultant with the Greater Kansas City Writing Project.  

In addition to her work at Writers Remember as Assistant Editor and Journaling & Writing Prompts Guru, Pattie is a book reviewer for Armchair Reviews (one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Web Sites for Writers, 2006), and blogs about books at Bookworm's Nook, a blog on Dot Com Women's network of blogs. She is also a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She considers journaling and personal narratives her passions in terms of writing genres, and she loves to encourage others to record their stories.  Pattie has had a few pieces published, both in print and online, and her current goal is to write more for publication in 2006. Online, Pattie is a moderator on the Women at Home message board and up until recently worked as a community leader on iVillage's former Journaling board.  

She is wife to a chaplain and mother of two girls, ages 9 and 6. Her blog is found at www.xanga.com/pattierwr.