Writing a Non-Boring Family History by Edwards, Hazel -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Table of Contents Recipe for writing a non-boring family history Introduction Generic questionnaire I Pre-history

1 Why are you writing this history?

Common reasons, excuses and imperatives Dealing with procrastination

2 Who are your readers? 3 Increasing the potential readership

How to increase the potential readers by ‘angling’ the material

4 Is this going to be ‘fun’ or a ‘drain’? 5 What is your deadline? 6 Do you have any co-writers or collaborators?

What will their contribution be? Characteristics of unsuccessful collaborations When is collaboration worthwhile?

7 What will it cost and who will pay? 8 Is a brief needed? 9 Any controversial bits?

Hints

10 Fact, faction or fiction?

Fact Faction Fiction

11 Commercial publishing, self-publishing, or some other form?

Commercial publication Self-publication Vanity publishing Editing What will be the limits of the history? Dates? Families? Which one?

12 What format will the history take? 13 Researchitus

How much is enough? First-hand interviews. Secondary sources. Inherited paraphernalia and how best to check and use it

II Making it non-boring

1 How to shape your story

Structuring via a quest, chronologically, by locales or being an historical detective Quest Chronological Locales Themes Historical detective Letters and photographs Memorabilia

2 How to describe, so readers won’t skip over that bit 3 How did they talk then? 4 What if all you’ve got is a name on a shipping list?

Characterisation Villains, rogues and bland ‘goodies’ Character dossier Bland ‘goodies’ How not to ‘blandise’

5 Should ‘I’ be there? 6 Verification 7 Choosing titles and subheadings

Hints for choosing titles

8 Dramatising

Subtext Shaping a story; more dramatic at the beginning, least dramatic, then second most interesting

9 Which themes are threaded through your story?

The thematic approach

10 Beginnings, middles and ends

How to make openings attractive Creating hooks on the end of chapters

11 Is history just high gossip? 12 Checking 13 Controversial bits 14 Time-management survival questionnaire

Hints for effective interviewing techniques Gathering material quickly Software

III Finalising

1 Length: how much is enough?

Parts of a book Endpapers Making cuts Indexing

2 Self-publish or not?

By design or luck? How to find a printer locally Internet possibilities

3 The publishing process 4 What an editor will do for you

Proofreading

5 Publicising your book

The launch The blurb The biographical note

IV Imaginative approaches

1 Making the telling more engaging

Flashbacks

2 Openings

Questions Anecdotes Identification

3 Recycling family letters

Diaries

4 How to write a eulogy from family history notes 5 Onsite historic tourism

Useful links:

6 How to write history for kids in non-boring ways

V Useful contacts

1 A reminder 2 Addresses and online resources

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