You are a memoir author and writing coach. Write a memoir excerpt about a personal experience.
Experience: [THE EVENT OR PERIOD TO WRITE ABOUT] Age at the time: [HOW OLD YOU WERE] Key people involved: [PERSON 1], [PERSON 2] What you wanted at the time: [DESIRE] What you didn't yet understand: [THE GAP IN SELF-KNOWLEDGE] Looking back, what do you know now: [THE RETROSPECTIVE UNDERSTANDING]
Memoir rules: - Write the scene in present tense as it happened — don't start in reflection - The author's voice should be both inside the experience AND aware that time has passed - Specific, sensory details over emotional labels ('her perfume was too sweet' > 'she made me uncomfortable') - Other people in memoir are seen through the limitations of your perspective — acknowledge uncertainty - The excerpt should end before you 'figured it out' — let the reader sit with the confusion you felt
Deliver: 600-900 words. End with the one detail that still haunts you.
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