How to Write Your First Ancestor StoryHow to Write Your First Ancestor Story

December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 0 Comments

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It can be overwhelming writing that first ancestor story. Who do you start with, how do you start? How do you know what to write? The best way to relieve your anxiety is to have a plan in place before you begin to write. Preparation is key.

I encourage you to do some preliminary homework like mapping out your story,  or creating a scene guide before you start. I would also suggest gathering the details of your ancestor’s life in addition to some social history of the time and place to help build your story

Take some time before you begin to write your first draft and enlist these 4 steps. Together they will help you to pre-plan your first family history story

draft.

I encourage you to do some preliminary homework like mapping out your story,  or creating a scene guide before you start. I would also suggest gathering the details of your ancestor’s life in addition to some social history of the time and place to help build your story.

1.Choose one ancestor, one story

First and foremost, choose a single ancestor to write about. Don’t try to write four hundred years of history or about every ancestor in a single

new writers line in one story.   Break your family history down into small manageable chunks; consider one ancestor, one story at a time. Once you’ve chosen the ancestor writers first you wish to start with complete a character profile and develop a timeline of their life. Character profiles help you understand your ancestor intimately and provide you with essential details that will be necessary for bringing to life your ancestor on the page. Timelines help you to identify important moments and accomplishments in your ancestor’s life. Shape the narrative around a big accomplishment.

2. Take some time to outline your story.

Before you begin to write it’s beneficial to know where your story will start and where it will end along with everything in between. If you take some time upfront to plan your story map and outline the critical events in your ancestor’s life, it will go along way to eliminating writer’s block. With a well thought out story plan you’ll know exactly what you need to write each day.

3. Set a daily writing goal

Many first-time writers find themselves dragging out that first draft for weeks, months even sometimes years. Writing a first draft in a reasonable amount of time is about the numbers. Do the math in advance and decide how many words you plan to write daily, giving yourself a realistic deadline for your first draft. By writing daily and with a word count goal, you’ll keep yourself on track to complete your mission, whether it’s a 20,000-word short story for your legacy family history book or an 80,000-word epic family history novel.  Identify in advance your project and the wordcount. Do the math. Time yourself. Write a small scene about something you saw yesterday. Just write. Set the timer on your phone for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes how many words did you write? Multiply that by 4. That is how many words you can write in an hour. Now to complete a 20,000-word story in 30 days, do the math.  How long do you need to commit to writing each day? Now, the only thing left is clearing the time in your schedule.  

4.Develop a daily writing routine

A daily writing routine is essential to completing a first draft and making writing a part of your life.  This is usually where most new writers fall down. By finding the environment, tools, and time of day that works best for you, you can turn writing into a regular part of your everyday life. Habits will help you to center yourself in the writing process quickly and maintain your focus pushing away distractions. Turn off the TV, cell phones and all social media. Create a writing space in your home. If that’s not possible, find a quiet spot at the local library or head to the nearest coffee shop. If one place doesn’t work then try another. But find a space that allows you focused writing time, then commit to a specific time every day.

Remember first drafts are messy. Don’t look for perfection in your first draft. It just about getting the basic story down.

 

 

3 Things You MUST Know About Your Ancestor Before You Write3 Things You MUST Know About Your Ancestor Before You Write

November 5, 2018November 5, 2018 0 Comments

When we fall in love with an ancestor on the page,  we don’t fall in love with the fact that he is a 56-year-old farmer from Ireland with brown hair, a stalky build and always wears a hat. We don’t fall in love with the physical characteristics that we continuously get so caught up in knowing and inserting into our writing. (By the way, most readers will forget these facts.) What we tend to fall in love with is our ancestor’s motivations, their flaws, their vulnerabilities, their strengths. We don’t fall in love with their physical qualities, but with what’s at the core of them internally, what makes them real.

And yet, when we write about our ancestors to tend to only focus on their physical being. We also question if we don’t have a picture of them how can we possibly bring them to life on the page.

In the novella I am writing about my third great-grandfather I don’t know his physical description. I don’t have a picture of him. I don’t know the colour of his hair. It really is quite insignificant. It doesn’t progress the story forward. It doesn’t contribute to the plot, and it doesn’t allow my reader to see my ancestor more deeply.

Only a few physical details are available to me. But I’m not worried.

I do know his goals, his desires, his motivations. I know his fears, his vulnerabilities. I know his life story.  I know his actions and reactions to events in his life. And from his actions, the people he associates with and his past I can bring him to life for my reader.

So how do you make your ancestor real on the page? There are many questionnaires available to help you to get to know your ancestor better. But you’ve got to use one that doesn’t just address their physical attributes, but that gets to the heart of their internal selves. (Warning shameless plug – We’ve got a great one in workbook #2 Authentic Ancestors with lots of info on bringing your ancestor to life on the page)

To know your ancestor completely, you’ve got to know the emotional truths in their being, the relationships, and the history that influenced them, and the way they chose to act in the world and as a result how they were perceived.

Let’s address these 3 big things so you can get to know your ancestor before writing.

1. WHAT DID YOUR ANCESTOR WANT AND WHY DID THEY WANT IT? 

Figure out your ancestor’s primary goal. What is the one most urgent desire they have more than anything in the world? (Hint: This is probably the entire reason you’re writing this story. And it should be highly tied to your plot.

After identifying the goal, we have to dig deeper and discover the why behind it. For your ancestor to ring true, he can’t just want something arbitrary. It must have a higher meaning. Why do they want this thing so much?

Keep in mind, sometimes, what your character thinks they want and what they actually want are two different things entirely. Perhaps they believe they wish to conquer the world, but really they just want to make their father proud. Maybe they think they want to fall in love with someone, but what they need is to love themselves.

 

  1. WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUR ANCESTOR’S PAST THAT INFLUENCED HOW THEY BEHAVED?

Your ancestor’s actions did not happen in a void.  Things have happened in your ancestor’s past, and those things influenced their actions and choices.

If your ancestor watched her parents work as a peasant farmer never getting ahead, she might have a strong desire to own land or maybe get an education. If your ancestor lost a parent at a young age, he might feel strongly about becoming a doctor and healing the sick.  If your ancestor came from a long line of military men he may feel loyalty to do the same. Or perhaps he had a want to rebel against serving in a war. Their actions and choices show these thoughts. Their past experiences influenced their decisions.

Map out a historical timeline of your ancestor’s life. Record all the significant milestones, births, marriages, deaths, careers, military, etc. Identify the 5 most significant, most life-changing and influencing moments they’ve ever had.

Try to sum up your ancestor’s life with those 5 moments. What would those moments be? Why?

CONSIDER How RELATIONSHIPS Affected Your Ancestors

“Birds of a feather flock together.”

Like-minded people tend to hang together. But, it also works in the opposite direction. People who hang together become like-minded. It’s said that your thoughts and behaviors are a compilation of the 5 people you are most intimate with. Those you surround yourself with day-to-day influence you more than you realize. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not.

Who are the 5 people who your ancestor hangs out with? Friends? Family members? Coworkers? Spouse? Consider how these relationships shaped your ancestor’s perspective on the world. Their behavior? What does your ancestor’s relationship with their mother, wife, children look like? Who does your ancestor trust the most? Who would your ancestor call if they had a problem and needed advice? What does your ancestor’s relationship with their significant-other look like? Are these relationships positive or negative?

Of course, we’ve all experienced relationships that weren’t positive. We’ve all ran into someone we didn’t get along with for some reason. Your ancestor did too. Consider who that may have been. What happened to cause this bond to turn negative. How did this relationship shape them?

3. HOW DID YOUR ANCESTOR BEHAVE AND ACT IN THE WORLD?

Behavior may be aligned with your ancestor’s beliefs, or it may seem to be wholly misaligned with your ancestor’s beliefs. But this is the perception that your ancestor gives off to the world. This is how other people perceive your ancestor because they don’t have access to their innermost thoughts.

Was your ancestor outgoing? Did they talk a lot because they’re internally nervous? Maybe your ancestor always acted out of spontaneity, or carefully planned every move ahead of time. Perhaps your ancestor planned their words before they said them. Was your ancestor action-heavy and continually going places and doing things. Or was your ancestor shy and locked inside their own head?  Did they speak quickly or slowly? Perhaps they felt the need to be proper and ladylike all the time. Maybe they felt the need to show dominance. Maybe they worried so much about what other people thought, or they didn’t care at all and did their own thing against social norms.

How did your ancestor behave in public? How did they present themselves? How did they act? What is the vibe they gave off to the world? How does the world view them?

Here’s An Exercise For You

Now here’s an exercise to help you flesh out your most authentic ancestor. Imagine you met your ancestor at a party and you asked them the classic question, “Tell me about yourself.”

What would they say? What aspects of their life would they choose to highlight? What successes would they bring up? What interests might they want to talk about? What basic facts do they feel they need to share with you? What positive things do they think they need to convey for this person (who doesn’t know them) to perceive them accurately?

 

 

An Ancestor Profile vs. A Family History NarrativeAn Ancestor Profile vs. A Family History Narrative

September 3, 2018September 3, 2018 2 Comments

I recently received an email from a reader about the structure of stories vs. profiles. She was wondereing how a profile was different from writing a family history narrative.

Whenever someone asks me a question like this, it generally means there are more of you out there with the same issue.

So let’s tackle this question and break down how an ancestor profile and a family history narrative are like apples and oranges. They are similar yet different.

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. For example, it could focus on an accomplishment like an award, or educational achievement or sporting success. It could focus on a career achievement or military history. You may wish to focus on some aspect of the person’s character, or particular interest. Maybe they were they an artist of some kind, or a did volunteer work. The possibilities are endless. It’s not an autobiography or even a biography but more of a biographical 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 they are more likely to engage your family.

Key Points of a Profile

  • Run anywhere from 500 to 2000 words with a snapshot profile tapping out at 500-600 words
  • Use description, details, action, structure, and theme to create an enjoyable and stimulating sketch of an ancestor
  • Told from the third person point of view
  • Ideal for when there are gaps in your research, and you can’t tell a complete story about an ancestor but do have fascinating facts or events you wish to convey.
  • A good starting point for the beginner writer
  • Fit wonderfully into legacy books, alongside pictures and documents or as a sidebar to the main story.
  • Ideal for newsletters and blog or Facebook posts.
  • Can be weaved into a larger story

A Family History Narrative 

A narrative’s primary purpose is to tell a story.  Don’t let the word ‘narrative’ confuse you. It means nothing more than story. Therefore a family history narrative is in the most basic terms a family history story.

A narrative tells a story using characters (ancestors). Often the story is told from the point of view of one ancestor.  Just like profiles, narratives also rely on creative writing techniques to make them fascinating and entertaining.  In stories, we lean on description, details, action, dialogue, and theme to create an enjoyable read.

The one fundamental difference between a profile and a narrative is the use of plot.  What does plot mean? The plot is the storyline. The writer puts together a series of events to create a story. The sequence or structure of those events is the plot. Typically, an author develops a plot in such a way to pique the reader’s interest. That said, the storyline is not usually resolved until or near the end of the narrative. Plot is fundamental to writing a story. This is why if you want to learn to write a family history story our plotting class is so important.

A family history narrative can fall into the narrative writing style of a novel, short story, novella, poetry or biography.

Key Points:

  • Tells a story or event about an ancestor.
  • Told from 3rd person POV
  • Includes, description, detail, and dialogue.
  • Has a definite and logical plot with a beginning, middle, and
  • Has situations like actions, motivational events, and conflicts or obstacles with their eventual solutions.
  • Narrative writing answers the question “What happened then?”

When it comes to writing about your ancestors, you don’t need to choose between profiles or narratives. You want to employ both styles. They are equally important in sharing your research and have their place. Some ancestor’s lives may be more suitable for one over the other. And of course, if you’re writing a family history legacy book, there is nothing wrong with using a combination of both profiles and narratives.