By TRILBY BERESFORD | Reporter
Palisades Branch Library welcomed screenwriter (and Palisadian) Dana Stevens on Monday, July 9, to host a Palisades Alliance for Seniors’ program “Writing Your Personal History.”
Stevens has written many screenplays, including “City of Angels,” “Safe Haven” and “For Love of the Game,” and worked with renowned film directors such as Brad Silberling, Lasse Halström and Sam Raimi.
Stevens took a personal approach to the often-daunting task of sharing one’s life story by offering recollections from her life.
Each guest was asked to bring in a photograph from the first 20 years of his or her life, for the purpose of using it as a jumping off point to tell a story. Stevens, too, observed this instruction.
She showed a photo of her pioneering great-great-great-great grandmother, who lived from 1793–1883. As Stevens pointed out, most people do not have access to these historical archives unless they’ve utilized a service like ancestry.com.
It is due to the foresight of her extended family to anticipate such needs that Stevens was able to learn about her deceased relatives.
Stevens encouraged the audience to not only write their history, but also keep their history as photographic evidence for the next generations to discover (and write about).
Stevens expressed the idea that stories don’t have to encompass every event that took place over a multitude of decades—but rather, however big or small the memory, the most important thing is that it is punctuated by visceral observations.
“What makes writing fascinating are the small details,” Stevens said. “How clothing felt, the hot or cold weather, smells and sounds of the day and evening.”
She offered plenty of other tips to write effectively, such as using a visual stimulus, writing at a designated time, using the names of significant people, places and objects to jog memories, and writing conversationally.
Stevens then facilitated a group exercise in which everyone split into groups to talk about their stories and share them in the span of five minutes.
That time specification is based on The Moth nonprofit group in New York, which encourages short-form storytelling on a distinct theme.
Next on the Palisades Alliance for Seniors’ agenda is “Medical Cannabis Therapies” on July 23. All programs take place in the community room at the library with light refreshments.
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