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How to Write Your First Ancestor StoryHow to Write Your First Ancestor Story
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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
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.
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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
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.
What is a Plot and Why Your Story Needs One?What is a Plot and Why Your Story Needs One?
If you’re not a member of our Facebook Family History Writer’s Group, then you’re missing out on our Facebook Live videos. Every other week, I offer a small writing lesson on writing your family history stories. We have an awesome group of writers from beginners to those who have been writing for a while. It’s a supportive and nurturing place to meet up and ask your questions and seek advice.
This week I thought I would share with you last week’s lesson. What is a Plot and Why Your Story Needs One?
https://facebook-live-videos-1.wistia.com/medias/hxs5q8lpq8?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640
Join Us For Upcoming Online Course Plotting a Family History Story
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Sharing Family History in a Children’s BookSharing Family History in a Children’s Book
It goes without saying all the benefits of reading to your children and grandchildren. The more you read to your children the more you set them up to succeed. They develop language skills, exercise their brains and enhance their concentration through reading. Reading encourages their thirst for knowledge, it teaches them about different topics and promotes imagination and creativity. If that wasn’t enough reading books with children helps them to develop empathy. When a child can put himself into the story, it helps them to build understanding. They identify with the character, and they feel what the child is feeling. Children begin to understand and relate to the emotions expressed in the story.
The characters in children’s books are often remembered for a lifetime because they are fundamental moments in a child’s development. Did you know that children who know stories about relatives who came before them show higher levels of emotional well-being, this according to a research report at Emory University. Family stories provide a sense of identity and help children understand who they are in the world.
Now allow their favourite hero to be a great-grandfather or great-great grandmother and your children will grow to appreciate their family story and develop what the professionals call an ‘intergenerational self.” The intergenerational self as interpreted by Emory University is defined as understanding one’s place in a familial history. They determined “the development of an intergenerational self, becomes a significant factor as children approach adolescence.
So, it occurred to me that instead of trying to force family history upon our relatives it might be easier to introduce it a little more subtlety when they are young through children’s books.
Having I just finished my first family history children’s book early this year I thought I would share with you some information to help you consider if you have a children’s book lurking in your research.
Children’s books are divided into 3 categories:
Pictures Books
0 to 3 years – board books, novelty books
3 to 5 years – picture books, ABC books
5 to 7 years – picture books, reading primers, colour storybooks
Middle Grade
8-12 years old
Young Adult
12 and up
Getting Acquainted with Children’s Books
Before you decide to write a children’s book, I urge you to get acquainted with children’s books, especially if you been away from children’s book for a while.
- Consult children’s section of the library/bookstore
- Notice the books your children/grandchildren or friend’s children are reading and enjoying
- Read reviews of children’s books
Classic Children’s Themes
Next, you want to familiarize yourself with children’s themes. Most children’s book will address one of the topics listed below. Understanding these themes, it will make it easier to help find stories within your research. Now, there certainly are other themes, but these are the major ones and are a great place to start.
- Courage – adventure, overcoming fears, immigration and migration are great examples in a family history.
- Friendship – sharing and helping each other
- Loss – loss parent or grandparent – through toy or something they value such as a pet.
- Growing up – accepting change, learning a lesson from life that allows you to mature.
- Belonging – stories about belonging to a group, not fitting in, helpful way of promoting tolerance and understanding.
- Anger – reassurance to children that they are not alone in their feelings.
- Jealousy – related to the theme of anger, a great example is the arrival of a new baby.
- Love – affirming love for someone and feeling love in return is the cornerstone of a happy childhood
Consider the themes listed about match them with events in your family history research. Think about your own childhood – list memories from your childhood, including favourite food, sweets, clothes, board games, toys trips, adults, holidays or particular incidents. Consider the journey of a family history artifact.
To find further inspiration for writing a children’s book consider reading what others have written.
Examples of Family History Children’s Books
Seven Brave Women by Betsy Hearne, 1997 for age 4-8 years old
This book is about the author’s unique female ancestors, including her grandmother who was a harpist-architectural-historian who passed on many of the stories in the book. The first page says that history books often marks time by the wars that men fought. Then each spread tells about an ancestor in the author’s family who made history by not fighting in wars. We read about a Mennonite woman who immigrated to Philadelphia, a hardworking homemaker, a horse-riding painter, a missionary doctor, a single mother working as a secretary, and a storyteller. The storyteller is the author’s mother. Seven brave women who left their imprints on the past and on her. Beginning with the great-great-great-grandmother who came to America on a wooden sailboat, these women were devout and determined and tireless and beloved.
My Mother’s Pearls by Catherine Myler Fruisen, 1995 Preschool-Grade 3
My Mother’s Pearls is geared toward little girls. It taps into their love for jewelry, beautiful dresses, and getting ready with mom. Going back in time through seven generations, the young narrator shares short anecdotes from her grandmothers and great-grandmothers who once wore (or played dress up with) the pearls. Little girl relates the story of her mother’s heirloom pearls, handed down each generation from mother to daughter on her wedding day. Readers glimpse a day in 1968 when the unnamed protagonist’s grandmother wore the pearls; a day in 1938, when her great-grandmother wore them; and so on, all the way back to 1788, when the young girl’s 6th great grandmother first received the necklace as a wedding gift from her husband.
Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O’Connor, 2010
Nancy introduces readers to the fancy term “ancestors.” She wishes she had famous ancestors like her classmates. Instead, she learns about her great-grandpa who was plain and hardworking. She exaggerates his life in her school report but has a change of heart when she realizes she has something in common with her great grandpa.
Maman’s Special Job, by Lynn Palermo and illustrated by Josiane Vlitos, 2018, age 5-8.
Maman’
5 Ways to Describe Your Ancestor in a Story5 Ways to Describe Your Ancestor in a Story
When we write our family history stories one of our primary goals is to bring our reader and our ancestors closer together. Our goal is to help our reader to emotionally connect with our ancestor. There are five ways we can help make this happen in our family history stories.
The 5 ways we are going to cover involve both interior and exterior characterization. If you try to merge all five into your story when describing an ancestor, you’ll have a three-dimensional ancestor.
What is a three-dimensional ancestor? This is an ancestor that comes to life on the page for your reader. It is an ancestor that appears alive and real and standing in front of us and not lifeless and flat. It is an ancestor that your reader can connect with, through physically being able to see them in their mind’s eye, but all being able to connect with them emotionally. It involves using both interior and exterior characterization to bring our ancestor to the page.
Exterior characterization is achieved by showing your ancestor’s behaviour towards other people, their attitude to their surroundings and their physical characteristics.
Interior characterization involves using their thoughts about themselves and other people to help us to understand who they are.
We can tell or show the reader about aspects of our ancestors’ personalities and lives. We want both. We do this by showing them interacting with their surroundings, their body language and with dialogue.
1. Telling: Tell the reader who your ancestor is and what he or she does.
Example: Henry loved to wear a cowboy hat.
2. Showing: Allow your ancestor’s actions to show the reader their character.
Example: Henry headed out the door of his 5th Avenue Manhattan apartment. He grabbed his white cowboy hat from the table by the door. Pushing his sandy brown hair from his forehead, he eased the hat on his head and checked his reflection in the mirror.
3.Thinking: You can show an ancestor by allowing the reader to see the thoughts behind their actions and words. What an ancestor thinks about can help explain a great deal about them.
Example: Pushing his sandy brown hair from his forehead, Henry eased the hat on his head and checked his reflection in the mirror. Although he had been in the city for more than a year, he just couldn’t part with his cowboy hat. Besides, the ladies loved it.
4.Others: You can show us who your ancestor is by how he or she treats other people and the way others treat him.
Example: Your ancestor may be treated with reverence, fear or even hate. She may be treated with gentleness or insignificance. His or her prejudices and beliefs will also affect the way he or she handles others. Perhaps they show hatred for others different from themselves, religion, appearance, their class in society.
5.The Outside World: We can use the way our ancestor looks at the world around them to allow us a glimpse into their state of mind.
Example: A content ancestor sees the first winter’s snowfall as beautiful. An unhappy ancestor may be depressed by the freezing cold temperatures and being confined to indoors. The images and words you choose to create the world around your ancestor can help shape your ancestor’s mood according to his or her viewpoint.
When you incorporate showing, telling, thinking, how your ancestor treats others and how they act and react to the outside world you have a better chance of bringing your ancestor to the page. As a result, your reader is more likely able to get to know your ancestor, seeing them in their mind’s eye but also emotionally connecting with them.
Painting a Picture with Characterization
Authentic Ancestors Workbook – Bringing Your Ancestors to Life through Characterization