Sunday, November 27, 2011

A Memento Connection

The light bulb went off again last night.  My daughter suggested we watch Memento,  a movie written and directed by Christopher Nolan about a man suffering from short-term memory loss.  Nolan got the story idea from his brother, Jonathon.  This film propelled him to the top and he went on to write the original screenplay for Inception.

As I watched the movie, I found a connection to my own writing journey.  Memento garnered many awards for it's unique approach in story telling.  The viewer sees the final scene first, then a series of episodes in reverse chronological order, told from the perspective of the main character who can't remember what happened before he fell asleep.  The connection I found has to do with writing a book without knowledge of how the chapters fit together and sharing that book with you on this blog as it's being written in real time.   Since I've only been writing for a short while, I don't really know what all the rules are and I'm fairly certain I baffle my more experienced critique buddies; I'm some sort of an enigma, putting this book together the same way I build puzzles.

I feel a little bit like Leonard Shelby, the main character with anterograde amnesia.  He is trying to solve his wife's murder but doesn't have the sound mind to put the puzzle pieces together.  I'm seeking the connections we have to our Creator and I'm limited to a human brain.  There is an invisible force guiding me.  The trail we are on together is not linear, nor is it chronological.  I'm following bread crumbs and some days I have to wait for them to fall out of the sky in order to find the next chapter.  If you feel a little bit confused, welcome to my world, a world as far-fetched as the movie, Memento.  No wonder it's one of my daughter's favorites, she inherited her brain from the naked caveman.

Thanks for following me.  I do promise you that The Caveman in the Mirror will make sense once I find all the missing bread crumbs and put this puzzle together.  Meanwhile, why don't you rent Memento and enjoy a thriller?

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