For Future Fiction Fun

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise:

Buy a notebook to use for just this one exercise. Then, on a regular basis, perhaps at the beginning of your writing time, or before you go to bed, write for ten to twenty minutes addressing each of the following subjects:

* List in detail all the places you have lived - one place per page. (This is a good way to begin because it gives the entire notebook a concrete grounding in time and place.) You might even want to get very specific, say by recounting all the kitchens or bedrooms.

* Next, recall if you were happy or unhappy in those places.

* Consider your parents' relationship, from their point of view.

*List important family members: brothers and sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins. What were the dynamics of your nuclear family, your extended family? (Some of these subjects may take several twenty-minute sessions. Leave space for unfinished business.)

Author's note: I have too many notebooks, so I didn't have to run out to buy a notebook. This will take me at least twenty minutes to reply to the first question above. It sounds like it could be boring to read, so I have enough information to finish the first writing, maybe!

I was born at the Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis, MN, and that is where we were living at the time. I was early, according to my mother. They were married in June, and I was born in January. I'm not sure where we were living.

I remember living in Minneapolis, in a duplex apartment above my grandparents. I know my grandmother worked downtown at a bakery, and she would bring home day-old pastries most every day.

My brother, 18 months younger, and my sister, 3 years younger than me, were living in this duplex apartment. In my grandma's apartment lived my grandparents and my uncle Ejjeck. He had epilepsy, so he wasn't out on his own just yet, even though his younger siblings were.

My cousin occasionally stayed with my grandparents, also, and she was six years older than me. Mom treated her like her younger sister, and she was helpful to my mother when we were small.

Next, I remember living a mile or so away from the grandparents. I was in kindergarten, and my dad got laid off from work, and I needed my tonsils out. We moved to Naytahwaush, MN, which is on the White Earth reservation. There, I could have my tonsils out while my dad was not working.

Mom had my baby brother before our move, and he is five years younger than me. So off we all went until Dad returned to work in the big city. I remember, other than my tonsils, I loved living in the house we were renting that had a playhouse, and we had two dogs, Pixie and Dixie.

When we returned to the big city, we moved to St. Paul, MN, and five years later, before my birthday, another brother was born, making five children for my parents. My siblings and I were attending Catholic school. Then, on my tenth birthday, with the baby only five months old, my dad died from falling off a building at work.

We moved back up north after my dad died to Cass Lake for the summer after my 4th grade, then to Bemidji, MN, to start the 5th grade. The most racist town I have lived in my life. My siblings entered Catholic school, and I went to public school.

My mother moved once more into my aunt and uncle's house they put up for sale. My mom's sister was living in Bemidji, and we had visited them once that I remember in the previous years.

My Mom said Dad missed us so much that we didn't go there again, even though we all enjoyed the train ride. With renovations, my mom lived in that house from the mid to late 60s until she died in 2009. Mom added on 3 more bedrooms. She wanted us each to have our own bed and bedroom when possible.

Mom had my Grandpa live in that house until his death, and uncles and various cousins stayed there over the years. I remember my parents were happy people, laughing and talking a lot. Even though Mom missed my Dad, she was always busy with someone or something.

There was always a large garden, and picking berries and hunting, canning and later freezing food from the garden, the berries and wild game became our food for the winter.

Mom always said that when you have a big family, it is important you have a big garden and a lot of canned/frozen foods to get you through the winter.

My mother had one more serious relationship but never remarried. Out of that relationship, my youngest brother was born.

Author's note: My attempt to cover (Skim through) the above exercise items. I only got to age 15 in the places I lived. I will attempt this again another day.