For All Time: A Guide to Writing Your Family History

By: Charley Kempthorne

 
". . . adds an exciting new dimension to writing modern family history that seeks to place our ancestors in a larger framework of family, neighborhood, and history."--Library Journal

"Family history writing can take many forms--a short essay or narrative introduction to a collection of family letters, long captions comprising a family photo history, a biography of parents and a narrative of their life together, an autobiography, or even a family newsletter. This sensible and accessible book is for those who want to do a little writing as well as for those who want to do a lot. Kempthorne shows how easy it is to write family history and how much fun it can be. He illustrates in detail how to: write narratives and dialog, use physical details in a scene to make it come alive, create suspense, and to use many other techniques frequently employed by historians and novelists. By the end of the book, readers will not only gain a thorough understanding of how to write family history, but will have completed a number of sketches to entertain and enrich their families." --from the back of the book.

 
Table of Contents
1. Family History and Its Importance: History is a Story; Re-create Your Family's Experience; History Isn't Just Ancient History; History and Building a Sense of Family; Family History and the Professional Historian; Writing Family History and Personal Values
2. Techniques for Writing Family History: Exploring Narrative Writing; What You Already Know About Writing Narratives; Learning to Trust Yourself as a Writer; Don't Try to Sound "Educated" or Literary;" Getting Started Writing ; Writing as a Way of Remembering; The Importance of Being Specific; Engage the Reader's Senses; Mixing Summary and Scene; Writing a Composite Scene; Telling Narratives from a Specific Point of View; Making a Person Real with Words; Re-creating Conversations; Suspense Isn't Just for Thrillers; Use Your Imagination; the Narrative Mix: Place People, Action, and Narration; The Slice of Life Versus a Beginning, Middle and End; Enjoy What You're Writing; How to Get the Best Out of Yourself; Care About What You're Writing; A Refreshing Digression; Your Sense of Humor, The Role of Revision.
3. The Forms of Family History: The Narrative Journal; Interviews; Writing Captions; Letters; Occasional History; Cards and Letters; Cookbooks and Recipe Collections; Biography; Autobiography; The Family Newsletter; Fiction: Historical, Biographical and Autobiographical.
4. Printing and Publishing Your Family History: What Do You Do With What You've Written? Printing Your History Easily and Cheaply; Using Photos; Laying Out Your Book; The Types of Publication; Self-Published Family History Books.
Appendixes: A. Resources for the Family Historian B. Starting a Family History Writing Group C. Teaching Others to Write Family History
 
$15.95 plus $4.00 postage
To receive "For All Time" via priority mail: Phone 1-800-685-7330. 

 
 
 

 
 

 

back to the lifestory institute homepage