Architecture of Memory--Creating a Storyteller's Archive

The Archive

I'm rather infamous in my family for my fact-retention.  My mother jokes that I can tell, down to the date, time and roadtrip, who got to sit in the coveted front seat in our Chrysler mini-van.  This is incorrect, but the principle that I can give details to my grudges is spot-on.  I can also create a world around my fond memories.

My family members think that this is an impossible skill to cultivate, but I can give you some ideas of how to prove them wrong.  When I was in training for interpreter duties, our instructor taught us a memory device called chaining.  He would give us a list of words to look at for fifteen seconds and then ask us to repeat the list of words in the same order without deviation.  The first time, it was a challenge.  Then he instructed us to find links that carried us from one word to the one that logically followed in the chain.

For example:

House
Table
Sun
Watermelon
Dog
Twenty-four

In chaining, you would come up with something along the lines of "We went into the House to carry a table outside so we could enjoy the sun.  We'd bought a watermelon, but the dog knocked it off the table before we could eat it.  24 hours later, we sold the dog."

It doesn't matter if the story is believable or cohesive as long as the list is faithful to the original.  In interpreting, where you will often have to hear someone say that they reached the corner of 24th and Pine St. at 6:07 p.m. and signaled a right-hand turn at the stop sign, you have to remember all of that with very few notes in front of you.

The Proof

Similar skills make a good storyteller's memory.  Let me illustrate with two examples that will perhaps reinforce my mother's impression of my memory.

1)  In 1993, I visited the Washington, D.C. temple for the first time.  Six young women and my mother carpooled in our mini-van and I sat in the front seat.  We were following Bishop Johnson and at one toll in New Jersey, we discovered that we were in the Exact Change Only lane without exact change.  Matt Foley jumped out of Bishop Johnson's car in front of us, ran back and handed me fifty cents for the toll booth before returning to the bishop's car.

Structure of this memory:  Details are 1993, Washington, D.C., six young women, Bishop Johnson, New Jersey and Matt Foley.  I remember it was 1993  because we only went to the temple once a year due to the long drive from Massachusetts and I turned twelve in November of 1992.  We had room for six people besides the driver and it was not a co-ed car.  Bishop Johnson reminded me of Harrison Ford, so I remember him perfectly.  Also, he was the bishop who drove so fast that we got there 3 hours before the rest of the caravan and were in the hotel hot tub by the time everyone arrived.  New Jersey was the only state where we didn't have exact change.  Matt Foley's sister, Shauna, was in the car with us, so I remember her brother giving us the change for the toll booth.

2)  I have a Latin puzzles book that I got for my 16th birthday.  It's inscribed as being given on November 26, 1996, but I know that it wasn't.  It was given to me at a surprise family birthday dinner on November 29, 1996, along with a recording of Leonard Bernstein playing Rhapsody in Blue.

Structure of this memory:  Details are Latin, 16th birthday, November 26, family dinner and Rhapsody in Blue.  I remember it being Latin because I was taking Greek at the time and hadn't studied Latin for two years, but still enjoyed it.  I know that it was my 16th birthday because it was the day before my first date.  The surprise was the family thinking my birthday was November 29, not November 26.  They do this a lot, with dates ranging from November 24 to November 30, and this was the first of three years in a row that they missed the date.  And I remember it being with Rhapsody in Blue because I had a tape recording of that, but this was a CD.

You can already see the world of details that I described previously.  I remember that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang a concert on February 1, 2005 because I attended the concert before the joint birthday party for my aunt and father, who were both born on February 1.  I know that in 1993, my best friend's birthday party was delayed one day because I played the solo in the Brandnburg Concerto #5 on her birthday, December 5, and was still able to go to her birthday party the following day.

Three Tricks of the Trade

It doesn't take much to have an excellent memory for details.  It's all in what details you choose.  I recommend one of the following ways:

1.  A specific date.

I can tell you that I got my mission call on November 1 because it arrived the day after Halloween. I went to divorce court on May 19, 2005, because it was the same day that Revenge of the Sith came out and I was still tired from the midnight showing when the judge granted the annulment that I request.  The Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series on October 27.  Can I tell you other details about these dates?  Absolutely.

The story about my mission call can be expanded to talk about how I got it at 7 a.m. and my family wasn't ready on the conference call until 7 p.m.  When people would ask me how I was doing, I would hold up my white envelope from church headquarters.

May 19 is the day that I became single again and that the last Star Wars movie came out.  It's also now my sister's wedding anniversary and I grit my teeth every year at everyone celebrating such a happy day for her when I'm still single 11 years later.

I remember October 27 because it was my husband's birthday.  He was picking up his sisters for the birthday dinner while I anxiously watched Game 4 of the World Series.  When he returned with his sisters and the cake, I had an amazing story to tell about the moment that my team reversed the Curse of the Bambino after 86 years.

You can frame your entire life around dates like these.  I hear it when my clients say "When did I go to Dr. _______?  It was about two days before my sister's birthday, so June 12."  You can even simplify it and say "In spring of 2014" or "At the beginning of last June" and go from there.

2.  A specific habit

Every January 30, my mother sends out a mass text reminding us to eat a piece of peanut-butter toast in memory of my grandfather's passing.  I have many memories of visiting Grandpa Leo and he would carry a little red tray of toast and a jar of peanut butter to wherever Grandma was sitting every night before bed.  This was usually around the time that they played the last game of cards for the day.

Alternatively, I have a friend who tells painstaking stories.  The summer that we were roommates, she would tell me every detail of getting out of bed and getting ready for school and walking to campus...all so she could tell me that she fell asleep in her Psychology class.  I can sum her up as my friend who falls asleep in public and this is important because she's also the friend whose companion had permission to carry a water gun in case this friend needed to be woken up suddenly.

If someone told a story about your habits, what would be included?  For me, people would probably remember that every afternoon, I walk into my apartment and tell my roommate about my day from the comfort of my beanbag chair.  I can tell that any conversation with my mother happened after 6 p.m. because she teaches piano until 5:30.

3.  A specific object

I have a silver-and-mother-of-pearl necklace in the shape of a swan.  I started collecting swan things in 2012, when I found a 14k gold antique pendant in a shop in San Diego, CA.  Since then, I have gotten black swan earrings, a black-and-gold swan pendant, a swan Christmas ornament and two glass swans.  (My debut novel is a retelling of Swan Lake.)  The silver necklace, though, was one that my roommate and I debated the origin of.

Why?  Because she told me she got it at the same place where I got my glass swans.  That was Las Palmas, Spain.  When I told her that, she insisted that I was forgetting where I bought my swans.  This was the same place that I bought a hand-worked leather purse, so I know it was on Las Palmas.  It wasn't until months later that she realized that she bought it at the same market where I bought my nephews terra cotta bird whistles and that was several days later in Portugal.

Regardless of whether you remember the date or not, you can build an entire memory around something that was there at the time.  I remember my 6th birthday because it was the day that Grandma taught me how to use her typewriter.  I  remember getting a porcelain Christmas cottage on December 24, 2014, because my family exchanges gifts on Christmas Eve and it's what my mother gave me the year before last.

Conclusion

This may sound absurd, but developing these skills can improve your memory retention.  It can lend authenticity and intrigue to your life experiences.  And it will make you a better writer.