Lynn | The Family History Writing Studio

How to Fit Writing a Family History into Your LifeHow to Fit Writing a Family History into Your Life

May 15, 2017 0 Comments

Are you tired of saying some day?

The number one excuse that I hear when it comes to writing family history stories besides not knowing how to start is how to find the time in what is usually an already busy schedule. There are so many other things that are probably demanding your time and attention, and while you agree that writing a family history is something you want to do and need to get started on, still so many of you are waiting for some time to free up on your calendar.

Ha! Not going to happen. You have to make it happen. So let’s get started.

1.Establish a deadline for your stories or book. It is a well-known fact that without a target date, goals just don’t happen. You need to set yourself a deadline or you’ll not only never start you’ll also never finish. Make that deadline public, announce it to friends and family. Be accountable for it. If not it’s just too easy to keep moving the date. Plan your deadline around an event such as a family reunion or an anniversary or birthday, events that have a finite finish line.

2.Create a to-do list. Make a list of everything you need to accomplish between now and the deadline for your book or stories. Plan to write one story a month, or a book by your next reunion. I use a great app called Asana, for outlining all my projects. Asana allows me to create a project, add a list of tasks and subtasks in the project along with target dates.

3.Identify when you are available to write during the week. Let’s be real. The writer in me tells you to write every day, but I know that’s not realistic for many of you. Instead, try to write for a minimum of 3 days a week. Try to make them consecutive days. It allows you to establish a momentum you just can’t get from stopping and starting every couple of days.

4.Schedule writing days on your calendar. You have to make writing a priority just like any other appointment on the calendar. Establish a time to work on your family history stories and don’t let anything or anyone infringe on that time.

5.Schedule your other life tasks and responsibilities. The best way to settle into a few hours of writing without being distracted is to make sure your other duties are also scheduled. This is a big one for me. Schedule others tasks like, housework, shopping, paying the bills, research. If you know, there is time on your calendar for these other tasks it makes it so much easier to settle into writing. You won’t feel guilty and be distracted thinking you should be doing the laundry.

6.Turn off the distractions. Can’t stress this enough, turn them all off, TV, Facebook, your cellphone, and yes even the landline. Close the door and write. No interruptions during this time.

7.Have a plan when you sit down to write. I firmly believe in plotting out a storyline in advance. It provides you with an outline for what you need to write, no guess work involved. You know the beginning, middle and end of your story. Each day you should know exactly what you need to write next. This will make your writing time extremely productive and efficient.

8.Establish a workflow. Be organised, have a workflow in place, with research close by, don’t waste your writing time looking for a date and finding your sources.

9.Don’t think you have to write your entire family history. If you think in small ancestor profiles, and schedule one or two a month think what you’ll have accomplished in a year’s time. Enough to fill a book.

10.Find a writing partner or group. Writing groups will help keep you accountable to your schedule and deadlines. When you have someone like a partner or group you become committed to the process, you write more, your writing skills grow and you are more likely to meet your deadlines. Look at your local library or genealogical community to find a group. Or better yet, start a group with some of your genealogy buddies.

11.Believe that you deserve this in your life. Writing is an excellent expression of your creative side and personal development. Invest in yourself by giving yourself the time and skills to write. Think about it like exercise or planning nutritious meals, we make time for them because we know they are good for us. Writing is good for the soul and your family history. Don’t deny yourself this opportunity. When you make writing a family history a part of your life, it becomes equally about the journey as it does about the destination.

Bonus: Take a writing course.

Writing courses not only help you to develop your skills but through the exercises, you can finish a story or two and get some practice and feedback. Writing courses will offer the motivation to move your writing to a higher place on the priority list in your life. But we might be a little bias when it comes to that suggestion!

Ancestor Profiles: When there’s no time to write a bookAncestor Profiles: When there’s no time to write a book

April 14, 2017 0 Comments

How long does it take you to write 500 words? 1 hour? 2 hours? What if I told you that you could write your first ancestor story in the time it takes you to write 500 words. It’s true.

Too often we get caught up in the impression that writing our family history is going to be this big massive, overwhelming task. So we shy away from it and promise ourselves some day. But it doesn’t have to be that way because in 500 words you can write a story in the format of an Ancestor Profile.

Ancestor Profiles are the perfect place to begin. They are one ancestor, one story and they can take all the scary out of beginning to write your family history.

What is an Ancestor Profile?

An Ancestor Profile is a snapshot of a single ancestor. It can be an overview of an ancestor’s life, but more importantly, it should focus on something specific or unique about your ancestor. It can highlight an ancestor’s achievements or accomplishments or an event or critical aspect of your ancestor’s life. It’s not an autobiography or even a biography but more of a biography sketch. It’s not meant to convey every researched detail you have of an ancestor’s life but rather to shine a spotlight on a specific theme, or idea about that ancestor. It compliments a few pictures and a pedigree chart very nicely. Ancestor Profiles are quick and easy to read and that means our family will probably read them.

Ancestor profiles are not book-length they usually run about 500 to 2000 words with a snapshot profile tapping out at 500-600 words. In the time it takes you to write 500 words you can have completed your first Ancestor Profile. Then a little revision, polish and editing and your first ancestor profile is complete in no time at all.

To write an ancestor profile, you must have a good understanding of the ancestor either through your research, memory, observation, or a combination. Ancestor Profiles can be created out of an interview of the person or someone who knew the person, or your personal experiences and memory. You can create a profile by visiting the places where the person worked, lived and socialized.

For those earlier ancestors you might need to rely solely on your research but again focusing in on something that makes this ancestor stand out to you. Too many family history writers use ancestor profiles to create a mundane rundown of an ancestor’s life rather than a look at an aspect of the ancestor that gets to the heart of their character.

Just like family history narratives, profiles also rely on you to use some creative writing techniques to make your profile interesting and entertaining. In stories, we lean on description, details, action, structure and theme to create an enjoyable read. We also need to include all of these elements as part of an ancestor profile to make them entertaining and engaging.

Where to Use an Ancestor Profile

If you have gaps in your ancestor’s research and you can’t tell a birth to death tale, you may want to consider the Ancestor Profile. They allow you to write about a specific person and a specific time frame, event or accomplishment rather a birth to death chronology.
Ancestor Profiles are a great starting point for the beginner family history writer. I would encourage as you work through your research to create a profile for all of your direct ancestors, and those that are unique and have achievements in their life you would like to share. It’s a great way to start small, develop your writing skills and work your way up to a larger story.
Ancestor Profiles fit in wonderfully in legacy books, alongside pictures and documents or as sidebars to the main story.
Ancestor Profiles also make great blog posts, newsletter articles or even Facebook posts. You can even use them as the script to a short video or slideshow.
Ancestor Profiles can also be weaved into a larger story.

How Reading Can Improve Your Writing with 6 Actionable TipsHow Reading Can Improve Your Writing with 6 Actionable Tips

March 14, 2017 0 Comments

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” —Stephen King

I believe three things make you a better writer.

Learning the craft of writing.

Practice, practice, practice.

Reading books by other authors.

I can help you to learn the craft of writing. The practice, well, that’s on you. So today, let’s address the third item on the list, reading. Let’s first look at why reading can make you a better writer.

A good writer should read for pleasure but to also learn the craft of writing. When we read the books by other authors, styles, voices and other genres, we expand our knowledge. Most importantly, it presents us with writing that’s better than our own, and through osmosis, as well as applying the techniques it helps us to improve our own writing. Reading can help you to expand your vocabulary and to craft better sentences. It helps you to understand language better. Quite simply reading helps you to learn from the best and gain new knowledge.

Reading can help you to understand how others think and process information. This is an important skill to learn if you wish to express yourself through the written word to others. When you analyze what you read and share it with others, you learn to understand a book and in turn convey that understanding to others.

Reading reveals the secrets of a writer’s job in practice. And finally, you will find reading will offer inspiration.

6 Tips for Improving Your Reading Skills

Establish some good reading habits.

Dedicate a set amount of time each day for reading. I like a minimum of 60 minutes. Somedays, I will read more. But no less than 60 minutes every day. Carry your book with you to maximize your time. Consider making a book list and plan your reading for the year. I choose a minimum of 24 books each year. That’s 2 books a month. My goal is to improve on this each year. Choose your books wisely, plan your books, read from a variety of books from classics to trash to contemporary literature. Read outside your genre. Join a book club – it forces you to read books outside of your genre, to read with a deadline and to read with a critical eye.

Take notes.

Break down the stories you read. Analyze character, plot and theme. Highlight passages, make notes of words or passages that stand out for you and the effects they create. Make notes throughout the reading process. I love Kindle for this reason. I can highlight passages and make notes right in the Kindle. After finishing the book write a one-page Keep a binder with your one-page summaries of each book you have read.Write reviews, Amazon, Goodreads, or consider a book review on your blog. It helps you to analyze the book and think about the story with a more critical eye.

Consider creating a reading journal.

A reading journal combines the skills of reading and writing. You record your impressions and ideas about a book you’ve read in your journal. A reading journal will help you record the not only the feelings it created within you as you journeyed with the characters but the writing lessons you learned. It is worth taking a few minutes after each book to record your thoughts in a reading journal. All these things can help you become a better, offer inspiration and build your confidence.

Try the techniques you’ve learned in your writing.

Experiment with what you discovered, and then give the techniques you’ve discovered a twist to make them your own.

Don’t read more than two books at a time

I recommend limiting the number of books that you read at once. If you do read two books at a time, read from two different genres, for example, read a fiction and nonfiction.

Enjoy your reading.

Don’t waste your time reading books you are not enjoying. Life is too short to read a book you dislike. But before you put it down learn from it. Identify why you are struggling. Write down your analysis of why the book is not landing for you before you move on. We can learn from the bad books as well as the good ones.

To learn more about how to read to write, I recommend. How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. For more books visit our Writers’ Resource Page. (affiliate links)

How to Use Index Cards to Plot a Family HistoryHow to Use Index Cards to Plot a Family History

January 12, 2017 0 Comments

I’m known as a plotter. This means I love to outline my stories in great detail before I begin to write. For me, it’s like creating a road map of a story from start to finish. It allows me to organize my story so that when I start to write I know exactly what I’m writing and where I’m going with the story. It eliminates sitting and staring at my computer screen in that deep dark hole known as writer’s block.

I use index cards to create this map. Each index card represents a scene or a summary. A creative nonfiction story is comprised of scenes and summaries and having those scenes carefully thought out in advance can help keep you organized and writing every day. Check out my scene building cards that I designed just for family history writers.

Once I have my story mapped out with my index cards, then I can begin to write my first draft.

While index cards may seem a rather old-fashioned method for outlining it is with good reason it’s still around, it works. Of course, just as technology has impressed itself on every aspect of our lives even the little old index card has not gone untouched by the digital world. You can still use paper index cards if you are tactile, and like the physical feel of a paper card in front of you. I love to lay out my index cards on a corkboard in my office it keeps my story in front of me and top of mind.

There are plenty of digital index cards available today that have replaced the paper card. For instance, Scrivener offers index cards on a corkboard so that you can storyboard your family history within the writing program. Check out this video to see how to use the Scrivener corkboard. Scrivener also offers the ability to print off those cards so you can still have those paper cards to shuffle around on a physical corkboard.

There are plenty of apps for index cards, the Corkboard Writing app, and the Index Card app are just a couple. Most are available for iPads and iPhones. Check the Apple App store for a selection.

Elements of an Index Card

An index card will record either a scene or a summary on the card. On each card, you will record bullet points to help you write that particular scene or summary. Here is an article that explains the difference between scene and summary.

Scene cards should contain a few basic elements that will help you to write the scene when it comes time to put pen to paper.

Who – the primary ancestor in the scene

Scene Goal – your ancestor hopes to accomplish an explicit goal with the scene. Read here about scene goals.

Action – what physically happens in the scene.

Setting – Where and when does it happen? Indoors? Outdoors? Time of year, day, place, etc.

Conflict – within the scene is conflict, tension or suspense.

Inner Journey– how is your ancestor emotionally affected by the outer journey or action happening in the scene.

Theme – Do the details in the scene support the theme you have created?

Index cards are another tool in our writer’s toolbox that helps us to break down our writing into manageable tasks, keeping us from becoming overwhelmed and hitting that all too familiar writer’s block.

Writing a Family History Scene (1)

Want to learn more about how to write to write a family history scene consider our upcoming class, Writing a Family History Scene.

To understand how to format a story using scene cards, consider joining us for our upcoming course Plotting a Family History Story or our e-workbook, Finding the Story. Also available on Amazon in paperback.

Filling in the Details with Social HistoryFilling in the Details with Social History

December 14, 2016 0 Comments

When you write a family history story, you rely heavily on social history to fill in the descriptions and details of your ancestor’s life. Most likely the details we are talking about won’t be found in your genealogy research. We have to look outside of our genealogy research for these details. We have to turn our attention to social history along with the world, regional and local history of the day.

In our previous post, we began a discussion about social history and its importance in telling our family history stories, Writing a Family History When You Don’t Have All the Facts. This week let’s dig a little deeper into this subject and discuss the variety of topics that make up social history and where to find these social histories.

For Example

You have a marriage certificate, which gives you a lot of lovely facts about your great grandmother’s wedding. However, it doesn’t tell us anything about the ceremony itself. Social history can do that. History and social history studies can tell us what the church looked like, the wedding customs of the day, her dress, his attire, the religious ceremony and even the weather for the day.

Social history along with the world, regional and local history is a great tool for reconstructing your ancestor’s entire world.

Another Example

Suppose you don’t have a picture of your ancestor. You know he was a peasant farmer in the mid-west United States during 1850. Based on this information and by doing some social history research into farmers in that area, at that time, you can determine, the style of dress, hairstyles, facial hair. Look at his culture, religion, which also might add some insights into his appearance. Based on your social history research you can then surmise a brief description of his appearance. You know the expression a little goes a long way. In this case, it definitely applies. Give the reader just enough and let their imaginations fill in the rest.

Here is a list of some of the social history factors you can research when building your ancestor’s world.

Architecture	Geography	Time and Season
Dating and Marriage	Old Age and Death	Family
Education	Occupation	Economy
Childraising	Health and Medicine	Technology
Cuisine	Fashion	Entertainment
Ethnicity	Language	Social Ranking
Law and Society	Military and War	Migration
Politics	Religion	Architecture

Where to Find Social History Information

Social histories are found in a variety of places. And just like your genealogy research don’t limit yourself to online resources only.

Books Stores – Online stories and brick and mortar stores, particularly those second-hand bookstores will often offer books on local histories and custom of the time.

Libraries – Online libraries, local and regional libraries, college and university libraries all great places to look for social histories.

Local Archives and Museums – Connect with the local archives and museums in the area your ancestors lived. They often have books written by local authors that have never made it to the internet or a bookstore including letters, memoirs and diaries of locals.

Local Historians – Local historians are well read on the local history and social history of the area. Ask your local archives or museum for a meeting with a local historian.

Social Historians – There are social historian societies, reach out to them to find a social historian knowledgeable on the particular subject you are researching.

Living with the Locals – Immerse yourself in the hometown of your ancestors. Learn from the locals, visit the local tourist organizations, take a walking tour.

Newspapers – Newspapers are an incredible social history resource. They provide not only local politics and events but local businesses, gossip, family events, marriages, deaths alongside the world and regional events.

If you would like to learn more, we discuss social history in detail in Authentic Ancestors, Workbook #2. Learn to use social history to bring your ancestor and their world to life on the page.

Also, check out our Social History Resources page, it contains links to many online websites that can help you with the details you require to add description and detail to your stories. Make sure you bookmark it we are always adding more links.

Writing a Family History When You Don’t Have All the FactsWriting a Family History When You Don’t Have All the Facts

November 15, 2016 0 Comments

Probably the most commonly asked question throughout my online classes, speaking engagements, and workshops are how do I write my family history when I don’t have all the facts?

What do I do when I don’t have enough family history research?

What do I do if I’ve never met them; I don’t even have a picture of them?

How do I write their stories when my research just isn’t enough?

In my early days of writing my family history stories I wondered this myself. The answer is simple, and yet at the same time complicated; by placing your ancestor within the historical context of the time.

What does it mean to place your ancestor in historical context?

Historical context uses historical knowledge of people, events, trends, and cultures to shed some light on your ancestor. To get to know them on a more intimate level, to understand their actions and reactions to events in their life. When we take both the intimidate knowledge of our ancestors that we have acquired through our research and the understanding of the times in which they lived, we can interpret them and their actions. We can close in on those missing pieces of our stories.

It was a book called Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History by Katherine Scott Sturdevant that helped me to understand historical context on a deeper level.

The simple statement in Katherine’s book brought it home for me. “Social history is the study of ordinary people’s everyday lives. ”

It all starts with your research, the documents, pictures, and artefacts you have acquired over the years. You’re ready to shape that story, but there are some holes, somethings you just don’t know enough about your ancestor that you feel is necessary to write their story. You then must turn to understanding the social history of your ancestor’s life. Even if there are no holes in your research, social history can give you a greater depth of knowledge of their life and decisions.

When we study social history, we place our ancestors in groups and understand and learn how these groups behaved. We can then begin to fill in some of those behaviours and thought patterns of our ancestors. When we place our ancestors into social groups based on their culture, religion, age, sex, social status (the list is plentiful), we begin to fill in the missing pieces. We start understanding our ancestor on a deeper level, have knowledge of their actions and reactions and the influences that shaped their decisions. We get inside their head.

As an example, if I wanted to write the story of my three times great-grandfather, I need to understand the social history of his day. What was life like for an Irish man in Kilkenny in 1820’s? What was it like to be a Catholic at that time? To be a peasant farmer? To be an immigrant during that period? How did he cope as an early settler in the rugged unchartered land known as Upper Canada? When I study these groups, I can help to understand what my ancestor experienced, put him in those experiences and ultimately understand his actions and reactions. Social history can help me to shed some light on who my ancestor was, on how and why he made the decisions that he made.

When we understand the historical context of our ancestor’s time, we can make some inferences about their lives.

An inference is an art of drawing from evidence to recognise the relevant results of something. It is the act of drawing conclusions based on a premise and accumulated facts. It is speculation. Genealogists speculate all the time. We draw assumptions based on what we suspect might be true scenarios based on the research we have acquired. An inference is the same. We can speculate on our ancestor’s lives not only based on our research but in addition to the historical and social history influences of the day.

By researching social history, the study of ordinary, similar people to your ancestors, and blending that information with the specific research of your ancestors you can paint a fuller story of your ancestor’s life.

Your inference is then based on solid social history research that you can in fact source and cite.

You will also state your conclusions directly never implying them and misleading the reader. When you write a statement of fact, you have a document that backs up your claim. If you do not then, you need to reword what you’ve written and make it clear that you are inferring or speculating.

Using Tag Words

You can use tag words such as ‘almost certainly,’ ‘probably,’ or ‘perhaps’ to indicate that you are speculating and to not mislead the reader.

In the article “Perhapsing”: The Use of Speculation in Creative Nonfiction, author Lisa Knopp explains,

In order to write the essay, Kingston needed a deeper, fuller understanding of her aunt’s life and a clearer picture of what happened the night she drowned. Since the only information Kingston had was the bare-bones story that her mother had told her, Kingston chose to speculate an interior life for her aunt. I call this technique “perhapsing.”

Using an Introduction

Your speculation can also come in the form of an introduction at the beginning of your story, such as in the case of Only a Few Bones by John Phillip Colletta. John lays out clearly to the reader that he is recreating the setting, that there are no fictional characters, and he depicts no action that is not suggested by documented circumstances. John goes on to state that he labels supposition. He also goes on to elaborate how he handles dialogue.

John states, “For family historians, therefore, this book represents a case study of how to build historical context around an ancestral event.”

When we infer or speculate we do so from evidence; evidence that we have accumulated through our genealogical data and social history research. We must have sufficient enough historical knowledge to infer, knowledge that can be cited and sourced. We can then conclude or deduce a conclusion based on a premise and our accumulated facts. We can interpret the peoples and or their actions. We can close in on those missing pieces and ultimately write a family history narrative that will satisfy the reader and that we trust is based on sound research, historical context and speculation.

Watch for part 2 in Writing a Family History When You Don’t Have All the Facts, as we delve into the study of social history research – the various topics we can research and where to find them.

Where Do I Begin and End My Ancestor’s StoryWhere Do I Begin and End My Ancestor’s Story

October 17, 2016 0 Comments

Often we are held back from writing our family history stories because we just don’t know where to start and in turn, where to end it.

If we’ve managed to find a starting point, we often find ourselves in the middle, floundering, being pulled in different directions. This is often because we’ve picked our starting pointing out of midair giving little thought to why we chose that starting point and how we are going to proceed. That’s why it’s important to have a plan.

Identify a Goal

Sometimes we immediately think that our ancestor’s stories begin with their birth and naturally should end with their death. While you can take that approach, a far more interesting and engaging way to tell your ancestor’s story is to highlight a period, an event, a day or a pivotal moment in your ancestor’s life. This time-period should show when he or she has overcome significant obstacles in obtaining this want or a goal in their life.

We can discover these goals by looking at the events that played out in your ancestor’s lives, immigration, marriage, land owner, business owner, education, children, freedom, the list goes on. Start by identifying a goal your ancestor pursued in their life and structure your story around it.

Once you’ve identified that goal, you should easily be able to find the obstacles your ancestor overcame in pursuit of his goal. Click here to learn how to find the conflicts and obstacles in your story.

Where to Start Your Story

Start your story just before your ancestor made a change in his life in seeking the identified goal. When did he make a conscious change in his life to pursue his goal?

Show us your ancestor in his normal life before he made that change before he began to reach for that goal. Let us see the motivation for this goal. What in his history drives him to achieve this goal. This helps your reader to understand your ancestor’s state of mind, and why this objective is so important to him.

As you proceed through your story, you can share the struggles he overcame, one after another, all while also sharing some insight into his decisions, his motivations and what is at stake should he fail. Click here to learn more about goals, motivations and stakes.

There was always plenty at stake if our ancestor failed, poverty, freedom, jail, poorhouses, conscription are just a few. Allow the reader to see the possible risks it keeps them tuned into your story.

Where to End Your Story

Your story ends when your ancestor achieves his goal. In the conclusion of your story, you can show your reader how his ambition changed him and his life. While it will be natural to show us how his life changed physically, don’t forget to tell us how he changed emotionally. In your resolution, you want to demonstrate not only how the outward circumstances of his life altered but how does he perceive his life and the world around him after achieving his goal.

Structuring your ancestor’s story around a particular event, a monumental moment or an achievement helps you to write an engaging tale with highs and lows, rather than a linear plot of birth to death. Give your reader a reason to root for your ancestor, engage in the story, all the while delivering the information and facts of your research.

When you take some time to share your ancestor’s story around a goal, with obstacles, you give your readers an ancestor they can relate to, and when they can relate they will be more inclined to absorb your story and take away its meaning and importance in their life.

Ultimately isn’t that what we want from our stories to affect how our readers think about their ancestors and ultimately themselves.

To learn more about structuring your ancestor’s story pick up a copy of Finding the Story in our shop or learn more about our upcoming course Plotting a Family History Story.

Creating a Legacy Family History BookCreating a Legacy Family History Book

August 5, 2016 0 Comments

It’s time to stop procrastinating and start pulling your research into a family history book. Is the thought a little overwhelming? Not sure where to start?

Here at The Family History Writing Studio, we believe in helping you preserve your family history in a sharable and entertaining format. We want your family history book to be a book your family wants to read and pass down for generations to come.

It’s time to stop procrastinating and start pulling your research into a family history book. Is the thought a little overwhelming? Not sure where to start? We are here to help.

We have a brand new course starting in just a few weeks. We are excited to be delivering Creating a Legacy Family History Book. Take a look at our video, it’s just 6 minutes long and we’ll take you inside a Legacy Family History Book created with the MyCanvas software.

Your book could look like this! Watch the video!

Here’s What You’ll Learn

Week 1 – Introductions

MyCanvas Tour
Your First Decisions

Week 2 – Getting Ready to Build and Write

Importing Files from Ancestry and Beyond
Creating a Workflow

Week 3 – Handling Pictures and Documents

Prepping Your Pictures and Documents
Copyright and Permissions

Week 4 – Structuring Your Book and Stories

Structuring Your Book
Structuring Your Stories

Week 5 – Assembling a Page

Basics of Assembling a Page
Creating a Story Framework

Week 6 – More Pages, More Writing

Creating a Variety of Pages
Bringing Your Ancestors to Life on the Page

Week 7 – Polishing Your Book

Revision and Editing

Week 8 – Final Product, Now What?

Ordering Your Book
Recap and Final Questions

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How the Class Works

Each week you will have access to one or two videos, each helping you to understand how to build a book using the MyCanvas software but also you’ll learn about structuring your book and your stories. We won’t just talk about the book we will talk about the skills you’ll need to write entertaining stories.

You can download the videos each week and watch them when they are convenient to you. If you have any questions over the course of the 8 weeks you’ll have to two teachers in the forum to help you with your project.

The homework is completely optional but we hope you’ll complete the homework so that we can help you with any questions you may have along the way.

Here are a few comments from some students who have already taken some of our classes, so you can be sure we will deliver quality and value for your money.

What Students Have Said about The Family History Writing Studio

Kim Said:

I thoroughly enjoyed completing this course in “Writing a Family History Scene” and would recommend it to all aspiring family history writers. It is inspiring when you can see yourself and your fellow students improve so much by the end of the course. Lynn’s teachings have given us the tools to carefully craft our stories for the enjoyment by our families. I have learned so much.

Denise Said:

This course opened my eyes to scene structure. My writing improved immensely once I had the right tools and guidance to build a scene properly. This is my second Family History Writing Studio course, and it will not be my last. Between Lynn’s excellent guidance and the input from the other students, it was an interactive learning experience I highly recommend to anyone who is thinking of writing a family history narrative. In order to do any job properly, you need the right tools and, in my opinion, this is the place to build your toolbox.

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Now that we’ve answered all your questions click the link, add the course to the shopping cart and checkout. After checkout, you’ll receive an email welcoming you to the class. Closer to the date of the first class you’ll receive and email and some instruction for finding your way around the website and getting acquainted with the forum.

We look forward to seeing you in the classroom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Why Your Relatives Hate Reading Their Family HistoryWhy Your Relatives Hate Reading Their Family History

August 2, 2016 0 Comments

Does your family object to reading their family history? Do you get the big eye roll when you offer them a story you wrote or an opportunity to preview a book your writing? Our families are completely uninterested in reading their family history. Many of us struggle with this. I know I did. Then I learned about writing scenes and about how the right balance of scene and summary can bring an ancestor to life on the page. When you learn the skill of writing scenes your stories become entertaining and compelling all the things necessary to engage your family and hold their interest.

What is a Scene?

Scenes are action, they usually include dialogue, description, conflict, thoughts, and feelings. When we read them, they are meant to play out like a movie in our brain. When we write nonfiction stories, we intermingle scenes with summary.

What is Summary?

Summary is just as it states it is an account of an event or time. The reader is given information in a brief format to move the story along. Sometimes summary will cover a span of years to speed up a story or fill in background information to add depth to a story. As family historians, we fall into the trap of writing everything, our entire story, in a summary format. This why our stories are boring.

We need to learn the skill of writing scenes and then to find the right balance of scene and summary to lay out a story.

How do we take a document like a passenger list or a marriage certificate or the birth of a child and bring it to like on the page? How do we but our reader there and allow them to experience the event as if it is playing out before their eyes – using scene.

When we combine scene with narrative summaries, we are writing creative nonfiction. That term creative nonfiction tends to scare many. They feel they are moving away from the facts and making things up. But that is entirely wrong. Creative nonfiction is taking the facts and laying them out on the page using scene and summary – using the tools of fiction writers while writing true stories.

Regardless of whether you are writing a family history narrative in third person or a memoir in first person scenes should be a part of your writing formula. Irrespective of whether you are writing a family history in a short story format or an epic novel you need to be using scene and summary to capture and hold the attention of your readers.

What is a family history scene?

How does a scene that you read in a novel differ from a family history scene you would read in a family history story? A family history scene takes an event in your ancestor’s life, getting on a ship to America, voting for the first time, giving birth, getting married, proposing to their spouse or signing the documents to own their first acre of land and then using action, dialogue, description, conflict, and emotion bring it to life on the page.

As family historians, we collect information about this event, information that we garnered from our research, our documents, information from interviewing those who were present at the event or have heard stories of the event. With those facts in hand, we take it one step further, we put the event within a social context of the place and time –we do some social history research. We set the stage by painting a setting of where the event was held. We describe it in detail giving it life.

Next, we put the characters into that setting, our ancestors. How did they look and act? Human nature, diaries, interviews and the actions of our ancestors will give us plenty of insight into the behaviours and motivations.

As I have suggested, a family history scene is born out of the records we have acquired in our research. Research we have identified and analysed and then interpreted into a scene in our story. We make it clear to the reader the facts versus our speculation.

Sounds easy right? Well for some it does come easy and for others, it takes some practice, actually, for most, it takes some time to learn the skills and then to practice those skills. But once you have the knowledge of scene writing you’ll never turn back to strictly writing a dry narrative summary.

Do you want to learn the skill of scene writing?

It’s not enough for me just to tell you what constitutes a scene and how it will transform your boring stories into entertaining stories. The real learning comes in building scenes. I wanted to help writers acquire those practical skills of scene writing so I created an online workshop, Writing a Family History Scene. In this 6-week course, we work through each element building a robust scene one you will be excited to say you wrote.

Here’s what some past students have said about this course.

Kim Said:

I thoroughly enjoyed completing this course in “Writing a Family History Scene” and would recommend it to all aspiring family history writers. It is inspiring when you can see yourself and your fellow students improve so much by the end of the course. Lynn’s teachings have given us the tools to carefully craft our stories for the enjoyment by our families. I have learned so much.

Denise Said:

This course opened my eyes to scene structure. My writing improved immensely once I had the right tools and guidance to build a scene properly. This is my second Family History Writing Studio course, and it will not be my last. Between Lynn’s excellent guidance and the input from the other students, it was an interactive learning experience I highly recommend to anyone who is thinking of writing a family history narrative. In order to do any job properly, you need the right tools and, in my opinion, this is the place to build your toolbox.

If you’re ready to write a non-boring family history story, then join us for Writing a Family History Scene.

When Another Necktie Just Won’t Do! (Gift Idea)When Another Necktie Just Won’t Do! (Gift Idea)

June 13, 2016 0 Comments

This Father’s Day the best gift you could offer your father is the commitment to write his story.

Ok, before I hear a big collective sigh out there because you thought you were going to get way with a golf shirt again this year, let me explain. It doesn’t have to be big and take you the next five years. You don’t have to have it completed for Father’s Day. In fact, I’ve done a lot of the work for you. I designed a beautiful gift certificate, Father’s Day Gift Certificate, you can download and give to him, and I’ve prepared 11 questions that will help you to get the information you need to start writing. These questions are built around the necessary elements you need to create a great story.

These 11 questions will help you to interview your father while at the same time focusing in on the key elements needed to tell an entertaining, compelling story.

Set up some interviews, maybe a couple of hours each week and ask the questions. You could do it in one sitting but don’t wear the poor man out. Each of these questions will help you to set up a story, with a setting, a goal, conflict, obstacles, motivation, and theme, all key to writing a compelling and engaging story. I’ve noted beside each question what story element they may contribute to.

Story Questions

1. Start with the basics – if you don’t already know them, where he was born, lived, went to school, married. Your genealogists you know the stuff I’m talking about. You most likely have all this information, but it never hurts to confirm it again. Setting

2. Get some accurate descriptions of the principal places in his life. What did his house look like? His bedroom, his place of work, etc.? Get very detailed. What was on the walls, the furniture? Use your five senses, how did sound, smell, touch, see and taste? Setting

3. What was life like growing up for him? Was it carefree? Stressful? What kinds of things influenced his growing up years? Money, War, Depression, Friends. Social History

4. Who were the key people in his life besides his parents? Individuals who supported him and influenced him along the way. Main Characters

5. His thoughts on his parents. How were they as parents, what did they teach him? What didn’t they teach him? What kind of parents were they, strict, lenient, fair? What did he learn from them? Does he emulate them? How did he hope not to be like them? What skills, morals, and values did they stress on him? Backstory/conflict/motivation

6. What were your father’s dreams and aspirations? What did he want to achieve in his life? Did he or didn’t he achieve those goals and why? Goals

7. What obstacles did he have to overcome to meet his goals? At any point did he change his path on his way to his goal or change his target completely somewhere along the way. Obstacles

8. Did anyone in his life object or hold him back from his goals? Antagonist/Conflict

9. What motivated him in his life and goals? Did he fear not meeting these goals? Why? Motivation

10. What life lesson would your father like to pass on to his descendants? Theme

11. How have his choices changed him and his outlook on life and what he wants for his children and grandchildren? Inner Journey

With these 11 questions in hand, you now have the key ingredients of a great story. Not a chronological tale of a life but a story with depth, meaning and purpose. A story shaped around goals and aspirations that were met with conflicts and obstacles.

Use Workbook #3 Finding the Story, Plotting Your Ancestor’s Journey to structure your answers into a compelling story format. Add some pictures and you will have a nice little book in honour of your father. You’ll likely move up to favourite child status very quickly.

Take advantage of our June Special. Get Workbooks, 1, 2, and 3 in downloadable PDF format for $17.00.

Consider interviewing your father using the above questions and then joining us this fall for our online course, Plotting a Family History Story. Now open for registration. Limited spaces.