What’s Your Message?




How you tell your story depends on what is important to you.

How you write it, the message you wish it to leave with your reader is your unique decision as the author of your family history story.  How you frame this story compared to how I would frame the same story is what sets us apart. It’s what you as the writer; the artist brings to the story and the page.

There are three concepts you can consider when it comes to shaping the message of your family history story.

As you begin to develop your family history story plot, get to know your ancestors as characters. Consider plotting their conflict and obstacles on a story map so that you will start to see beyond just the structure of your story. You acquire some ideas, thoughts and messages that will help you to develop your story and offer a deeper meaning for your reader.

While it’s important to understand the story question, and the theme behind your story it’s also important to comprehend why you are writing this story. Why are you willing to take time away from another area of your life to develop this story? What is it you want to say and why? Where is this story  coming from inside you? If you understand the answers to those questions not only  will you have a stronger story, you’ll find the discipline to stay focused and complete your story.

Keep revisiting and refining the theme and the dramatic question until you know the point, the message you are trying to make. Bear in mind, you may not recognize this right away, but as you write your first draft and even through your revisions you’ll begin to see the message of your  family history story.

Let’s look at each of these three important concepts.

Theme

The theme is the first concept you’ll look to in relaying a message in your family history story. We touched on it briefly when we discussed focus and the 6-word family history. The theme is what you are trying to say about your family history, a particular ancestor or family unit. It may reflect your perspective on life, humanity, the world, or whatever is important to you. It is the message you want to convey to your readers.

Story Question

The  story question is the question the reader wants answered. How are you going to resolve this question for the reader?  What is the dilemma, the challenge the ancestor wants to have resolved.  How is the ancestor’s problem going to be resolved?  The question you choose to spotlight and  subsequently answer is again one of those unique choices you get to make as the author. One of those choices  you make about what you want to focus on in  your family history story and the larger message you are delivering to the reader. Consider the story question you have chosen and why you have chosen it.

Your Story Motivation

Your story motivation is not to be confused with your ancestor’s motivation. Rather we are considering  what is motivating you, the author to write this story. Where is your story coming from?  Consider why is this story important to you? What are you trying to say? Why did you choose this particular ancestor, this particular story? What was your motivation to tell this story?  Why does it resonate with you? By taking a few minutes to address your motivation, you’ll help to understand both the story question and theme that you wish to convey to your reader.

By considering theme, the story question, and the motivations behind your decisions and subsequently their relationship to one another, you place yourself on the path to developing  a stronger, in-depth and resonating story for your readers. You not only build a story but you deliver a message to your reader that will stay long after the last page.

 

Related Post

Putting Words in their MouthsPutting Words in their Mouths

We now know that dialogue is an important element to good scene writing.

However, it doesn’t remove our apprehension about using it in our family history stories. It becomes a scary proposition for family historians and often stops many from writing scenes because they don’t want to put words in their ancestor’s mouths.  Instead, they settle for dry narrative summary rather than writing an engaging story built on scene and summary.

Dialogue for family historians falls into two camps, which I will refer to  as recalled conversations and re-created conversations. First let me start by saying, how you handle dialogue in your family history is a personal decision. Some nonfiction writers believe in no fabrication, while others believe you can put words in your character’s mouth within guidelines. There seems to be a broad range of interpretations on the subject.

 

Recalled Conversations

My definition of a recalled conversation is when the person or persons were present for the discussion but do not recall the exact words that were exchanged.  This could be you writing a memoir or interviewing a relative recalling a conversation. Here’s a few guidelines for recalled conversations.

  1. You are not expected to remember verbatim what was said, but instead convey the essence of the discussion. If your grandmother is recalling a conversation to you, it is not expected that she would remember the exact words that transpired. However,  through your interview she would remember the conversation to the best of her knowledge, capturing the tone and essence of the exchange.
  2. If you are privy to a conversation, don’t transcribe the conversations word for word. Separate out the important parts. What part is memorable and reveals character and is relevant to the story?
  3. Conversations do not need to be complete sentences, nor does it need to contain every verbal tic a person might say. You know all those ands, umms and buts, we insert into our vocabulary. The reader does not need to read these.
  4. Also don’t forget to include setting and body language, which help add to the characterizations behind the words.

Re-Created Conversations

My definition of a re-created dialogue applies to those discussions that took place well in the past, and no one who was present is alive to interview. You  may wish to re-create this conversation but here are a few guidelines I follow.

1. Turn to your research to re-create dialogue. I believe you can re-create dialogue that is based on your research and can be summarized and hypothesized base on your ancestor’s actions.  I’ve covered the possible resources for re-creating dialogue in a previous  post, Re-Creating Dialogue and in Authentic Ancestors.

2. Remain faithful to the essence of what the character would have said and the nature of the conversation.

3. Be honest with the readers, acknowledge when you are re-creating dialogue and when you are recalling.

I’ll also include a link here for those of you who are just learning to write dialogue, 7 Tips to Formatting Dialogue.

I’ve grabbed a couple of books from by bookshelf to offer examples of how other authors have handled the situation.

For example in the memoir , The StovePipe by Bonnie Virag, in her author’s notes she addresses the topic:

I set forth each incident as I remember it, occasionally relying on my sisters to fill in some of the gaps – bearing in mind that each of us saw through a different set of eyes and may have perceived things differently. Some of the dialogue I remember clearly and recount verbatim. Where memory fails me, I created dialogue based on the way my sisters expressed themselves. The rest is as accurate as I can make it. It is the story of my life, and I have tried to be true to my thoughts and memories.

Another example,

Jeannette Walls, Author of Half-Broke Horses

In telling my grandmother’s story, I never aspired to that sort of historical accuracy. I saw the book more in the vein of oral history, a retelling of stories handed down by my family through the years, and undertaken with the storyteller’s traditional liberties. ….she goes on to say

I don’t have the words from Lily herself, and since I have also drawn on my imagination to fill in details that are hazy or missing- and I ‘ve changed a few names to protect people’s privacy – the only honest thing to do is call the book a novel.

Regardless of whether you are recalling dialogue or recreating dialogue the important thing to remember is to  be honest with the reader.

Lee Gutkind, creative nonfiction teacher and author of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, expresses his thoughts and I’ll end with his words

“The idea is to replicate the conversation vividly and to mirror memory and speculation with trust and good judgement.”

 

Finding the FocusFinding the Focus

To write a good quality family history story, one must be able to take a lot of information, research and reduce it into a focused narrative.

William Zinsser reminds us to think small.

He writes, “Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop.”

This is an especially important lesson for family history writers. We often want to include it all, every morsel of research we have uncovered in our travels. We want to write about every ancestor, every event. One of the most difficult tasks we face comes in reducing the wealth of information we have uncovered down to what is essential.

Ask yourself,

What do I want my family to remember most about their family history?” and

What point do I really want to make?”

How do we focus our story?

Ask questions

Asking questions helps us concentrate on the big picture topic. If you’ve chosen to write about your grandfather, ask yourself, what do I want my readers to know about my grandfather? What legacy did he leave to his family, what lesson can we find in his life?

Ask what really interests you about your grandfather? What do you find fascinating about him?

It’s one thing to write about family history because it is your passion, but consider which ancestors you are most passionate about? What about their lives will readers find most interesting. We all have ancestors that intrigue us.  Ask yourself why? The focus of your story may be in the answer.

Understanding Your Audience

What is the purpose of your story? Who is your reader? Are you are writing for your family, a larger audience or yourself? The purpose can directly affect your story.

Identify a Specific Event or Time Frame

There may be many aspects of your ancestor’s life that may not make it to the page because it has no bearing on the story you are writing. A difficult thing for family historians to grasp. For instance, perhaps your writing about your grandfather’s life as a railroad conductor. While his family life may garner some small part of the story, the story may not focus on his married life, and children, etc. Perhaps that was a part of his life before his family. If they don’t support the focus of your story, don’t include them.

Family history stories do not have to be entire birth to death history of an ancestor. A story may span one day,  2-years or 10 years. It could even cover a single event in a life. Regardless, narrow the scope of the story. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself pulled in any number of directions.

Sift through the abundance of information you have on any given ancestor. Find those gems that will be the focus.  When you find the focus, hold on to all the supporting facts and let the rest go. If we treat all the research equally, we give every fact and detail the same importance then our story will  feel diffused and unfocused.