Finding a Voice

I'm working on the last of four personal narratives. I carried it around with a red pen this morning, editing phrases and paragraphs between delivering singing telegrams.

I have really struggled with knowing how to edit the interview transcripts, especially regarding the question of voice and authenticity. My goal is to create documents that can be accessible to anybody who's interested in Briercrest history, so I'll write a little introductory paragraph for each narrative. But how to convey the stories in a way that honours the narrators? Then I discovered an extremely helpful article -- a lifesaver, really. Here's a key paragraph:

"The dilemma for the writer of a published text is to what degree is it appropriate to edit the words of the narrator? ... While faithfully reproducing the spoken word in a textual form may be desirable in the transcribing phase, and appropriate for certain oral histories that are not published or are aimed at an academic audience or a particular cultural group, I argue that this is inappropriate for interviews or extracts that are published for general readership. When publishing for a general audience, extensive editing is necessary to create a document that is not only readable and accessible, but also conveys th flavor of the experiences." (Rebecca Jones, "Blended Voices: Crafting Narrative from Oral History Interviews" in The Oral History Review, vol. 31, no. 1, p. 25-26).

This fourth narrative is based on an interview with two women together, which makes voicing especially tricky because their stories are so intertwined that it's hard to separate them. I'm not sure I should separate their voices, but then the question is how to differentiate when necessary. Should I maintain some (or much) of the dialogue from the interview, or integrate it for a more seamless story? I am reticent to use third person, at least not too much; perhaps for "connective tissue." The key right now is to spend time with the event, reading, re-reading, becoming familiar with the themes, editing little bit by little bit, rearranging material, and gradually letting a coherent and faithful story emerge. This is a valid and important process, as demonstrated on page 41 of a U of S thesis.

So now -- to that very process ...