Telling Your Family Stories
I first taught an Osher Class on self-publishing in 2018. This was a one-time lecture, focused on the mechanics of turning a manuscript into a book. Since then, I have taught this course a couple of times and have also incorporated it into presentations I have done to local genealogy societies. I want to tell you a little bit about this process.
This is my first slide. I present it a little tongue-in-cheek because I know each of these steps is difficult.
Then, of course, I spend some time talking about how to do each of these things.
Select a Topic
There are three ways to go about this:
Biographical: pick a person in your tree and write about him/her. This is not always possible – we don’t often know enough about a person to write a lot. But maybe you do. If you do, go for it.
Chronological: pick a branch of your family tree and tell their story from one generation to another. You might feel that this is boring, but I have found that actually trying to write a series of declarative sentences about my ancestors is challenging enough. By trying to write it down, I realize what I know and what I don’t know.
Topic: pick some common theme in your tree – Civil War ancestors, clergy, farmers, shopkeepers, soldiers – and write about the people who fit that category.
If you’re not sure what to write, read some genealogy blogs to get the creative juices flowing. Join some genealogy social media groups to get ideas. When you read what other people are writing, you can get ideas about how their approaches might work in your family tree.
And if all else fails – write about yourself! No one else knows you as well as you do, and your descendants will be delighted that they have your words explaining your life.
Write About It
This is sometimes the sticking point. We often don’t think that we’re “good” writers. Don’t worry about that at this point. Just start telling a story from the facts that are in front of you. It doesn’t have to be exciting – you can work on that later – but for now, get some sentences down. Don’t worry about writing the “perfect” introduction; that can get in the way of actually writing something. You can always write the introduction later, after you see what you’ve written. The writing often takes you in unexpected directions. Don’t worry about getting it right – just get it down on paper!
A few tips:
Write first, then edit. Don’t edit yourself as you go along. You’ll bog down on the perfect first page and never get further.
After you’ve written a few pages (or more than a few), have someone else read what you’ve written. This should be someone who likes you and who will be kind. You don’t need a grammar pedant at this point – you need someone who will tell you if you’re on track to tell a story worth telling. Encourage them to offer suggestions about how to tell this story. Don’t encourage them to take a blue pencil and edit closely for subject/verb agreement. That comes later.
When you’re done, stop. At the beginning of the writing project, you should have set yourself a time or page number goal. It might be one page or even one paragraph when you start out. When you reach that goal, stop writing new stuff and begin to edit and format what you’ve written. It’s important to have a limited topic or you’ll never feel like you’ve accomplished your writing goals. As you reread, edit, and format your manuscript, new ideas will probably emerge and you’ll want to start writing again. Make a note to yourself but don’t start writing new stuff right away. I sometimes will make a note in red ink to myself that says something like “Add more about grandpa’s time in the Navy here.”
Publish It
After you have done all of this – and it can take months or even years for a big project – figure out how you want to publish it. There is little point in writing something if you’re going to stick it in a file folder for your executor to throw away after you die.
Many writers stop at this point because they don’t know how to submit a manuscript to a commercial publisher. However, the internet has made self-publishing a viable way of producing a book from your manuscript. The platform I use is Lulu.com, but there are other platforms as well. Do some googling to find out the pros and cons of the various self-publishing options and join social media groups made up of people who are interested in this topic.
You may feel intimidated at this point – so this is when you ask around to find out if people in your community have been successful in self-publishing their manuscripts. I would bet a lot of money that there are people who live less than 5 miles from you who have been successful at self-publishing and could help you navigate this. You will undoubtedly do it wrong the first time you do it – but that’s true of most things, right? Do it wrong, fix what’s wrong (with the help of someone who has already figured out how to fix the same mistake you’re making), and then do it right. In pretty short order, your manuscript will be a book that you’re proud to have on your shelves.
What should you do with it then? Send copies to your family members. Donate a copy to your local genealogical society library, to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, and to the DAR Library in Washington, DC. These libraries maintain sections for “family histories” that may not meet the academic standards of commercial publishers but that contain useful information for genealogists.
Above all, enjoy the process of writing about your family tree. Your joy in the process will come through in your writing.