Family Fiction-The Stories We Tell...Embellishments Lesson 23

 Embellishments-a detail, especially one that is not true, added to a statement or story to make it more interesting or entertaining...

Stripped of her embellishments, the essence of her story and actual facts were disappointing. She claimed to have run 4 marathons last year but actually only ran one marathon and 3 10K's.


saga: a long story of heroic achievement,  a long, involved story, account, or series of incidents

The saga of my mother and father's engagement began when my parents where three years old. They claimed that they fell in love when my father hit my mother with a rock at the age of three.  My father said the my mother's three brother's tried to beat him up after witnessing the incident.

(saga's are especially related to medieval prose narrative in Old Norse or Old Icelandic stories-Vikings)


"Humans are storytelling beings who personally and collectively, lead storied lives. The study of stories provides insight into how individuals and families experience the world. Storytelling takes place in families whenever they come together during ordinary activities such as mealtime and at special occasions such as holiday celebrations and funerals." (family.jrank.org)

1. What is a family story in your family that is told during a family members' birthday gathering? Does your family celebrate birthdays?

ie: A good friend of mine comes from a family that never celebrates birthdays.  He didn't feel it was unusual and was never comfortable with his friends making a fuss over his birthday.  He does come from a family of seven children but he didn't blame his large family for the lack of birthday celebrations. His family does gather for occasional family dinners and barbeques.

2. Memoirs: remembrance, based on a storyteller's personal memories.  Writers sometimes use their life experience as the seeds for a larger theme or idea. 

If you were going to write a memoir what would be the title of your story?

ie: My memoir: "Everything has Feathers" 

When I was a teenager, around 15 years old, I was in the dining room with my aunt Aida, my brother Bobby, age 13, and my younger brother Jaime, age 7.  Bobby had gotten a new pair of "Hush Puppies".  The box with the classic picture of a basset hound was on the dining room table.  My aunt Aida said: "what is the name of the dog on the box"? My little brother Jaime responded by saying "Hush". We all started laughing at his comment.   My aunt thought it was an Irish Setter.  I said: "no- Irish Setters have more feathering."

My aunt said: "dogs don't have feathers." I said: "Everything has feathers." And that is when that saying became a personal truth, because from time to time there are feathers where you least expect them. They remind me of this little batch of family life that was funny, sweet and innocent.

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