I promised I’d write some dementia-friendly fiction, but I haven’t quite got there yet. However, my lovely sister Emma writes magazine short stories and children’s books (amongst other things!) and has always encouraged me in my memory-friendly writing. So a while ago, I asked if she would consider writing some short stories adapted for mild cognitive loss.

As I’m sure you know, people living with early brain changes often find that while they can still read, they get confused as they turn the page… Who am I reading about? What’s going on? They may still want to read a story with a plot (rather than description only), but they need a little unobtrusive support to stay with the story.

Now here’s the result of Emma’s work! Two collections of large print, ‘feel-good’ stories of everyday life, the kind you’d find in a magazine. However, each new spread has a small reminder at the top of the page of who the characters are and what the story is about. Then as you read down the page, there are more small, subtle reminders of what’s happening. Here’s an example from The Perfect Pie and other stories (by Cathy Emma Laybourn).

These memory-friendly stories feature relatable situations, for example:

The Perfect Pie – Brian has promised to cook a meal for his friend Larry. But Larry keeps changing his mind about his favourite food! What can Brian do?
The Beach Hunt – Moira and her grand-daughter Sophie are enjoying a day on the beach, when Sophie loses a shell bracelet. However, Moira has a solution.
The Lost List – Alec arrives at the supermarket without his shopping list. But thanks to his helpful nature, he ends up with a few new friends as well as all his shopping.
A Change of Garden – Jean is moving to a new flat. Although she’s looking forward to it, she will miss her garden, and especially its bird life. But her son has a surprise waiting at her new home.

Friends and family always feature, as Emma herself says:

When writing for various magazines, no matter what type of stories I wrote, the importance of friendships and family was always central – and that’s true of these stories as well.

She lives in the UK, so there are a few references to money as ‘pounds’ or to ‘thrushes and greenfinches’ in the garden, but the story themes are universal, featuring the challenges and successes of life, with a feel-good ending:

I’ve used simplified, linear storylines and straightforward but not childish language, as well as plenty of memory prompts within the story. I tried to avoid depicting the characters as elderly (although there are a couple of stories about grand-parents and their children) because not all people with memory loss are elderly, and not all elderly people think of themselves as old!

If you’d like to take a proper look, here are the links to The Perfect Pie and other stories and A Robin in the House and other stories. These are universal links to the Amazon store in your country.

All very exciting – and hopefully inspiring to me to do some of my own memory-friendly fiction writing … thanks, Emma!