If We Could Only See Us Then: A Memoir

Abstract

“If We Could Only See Us Then: A Memoir” is a personal essay collection of my college experience that utilizes components of creative nonfiction. First, I use narrative prose with dialogue, setting, action, and enhanced characters to advance simple telling of events to a more complex level. Secondly, through segmentation, I use white space to delineate separate narratives or to illustrate themes by transitioning in time. Thirdly, I incorporate a thorough search for meaning, including the question of my authority to take authorship. Through these creative nonfiction techniques, I am taking memoir from recollections to creative art. Furthermore, as my personal essays progress, so does my persona, rising from a college freshman newly exposed to the world to a college senior engaged to be married and unafraid to act. Therefore, “If We Could Only See Us Then: A Memoir” displays the creative nonfiction genre by offering an explorative journey through a college student’s experiences.