At last! Here is a clear, concise, and highly readable explanation of how to write your family history. This book was written for the genealogist who has compiled scores of pedigree charts and family group sheets, has spent years poring over forgotten manuscripts and staring into dimly-lit microfilm readers, and who now wants to bring it all together into a final narrative form. In a timely and interesting manner, the author shows how you can compose a controlled and focused rendition of your family's story.

Anyone who has ever tried to write a family history knows that it can be overwhelming. Writing the Family Narrative offers a clear and concise explanation of how to write your history in a way that entertains as well as informs. Using his experience teaching creative writing, Lawrence P. Gouldrup, has outlined a process that is tailored not for the serious novel writer, biographer, or essayist, but for the serious genealogist who wants to record his or her family story. He uses solid examples from both amateur and professional writers, making it easy for you to learn the process. The companion workbook to Writing the Family Narrative (ISBN #0916489418) goes further, taking you through each step of the writing process. You'll learn how to organize your records for writing, develop characters, include point of view, use dialogue, create an effective setting, and even edit and design your family history.

This is a companion to the best-selling book, Writing the Family Narrative. This fun workbook takes you step-by-step through the family history writing process, providing plenty of room for collecting data, brainstorming, trying out new writing techniques, and more! Examples from skilled writers like James Herriott, A.L. Rowse, Willa Cather, and John Egerton will assist you in the learning process. Explore how to organize your records before you even begin writing! Now you can produce a quality written family history that will be treasured forever! This workbook's companion, Writing the Family Narrative (ISBN #0916489272) offers a clear and concise explanation of how to write your history in a way that entertains as well as informs. This companion to the workbook teaches a process that is tailored not for the serious novel writer, biographer, or essayist, but for the serious genealogist who wants to record his or her family story. He uses solid examples from both amateur and professional writers, making it easy for you to learn the process. This workbook to Writing the Family Narrative is not complete without its companion book Writing the Family Narrative (ISBN #0916489272).

A memoir-writing guide offers writing lessons and examples for those interested in putting their memories down on paper, explains the difference between remembering and imagining, and describes the language of truth.

Making Memories That Last a Lifetime The Story of You: A Guide for Writing Your Personal Stories and Family History is a practical guide for the novice writer about how to chronicle the stories of his or her life. The book encourages the reader to write the classic stories that everyone has, whether just for themselves, or for their family and friends or the future. Chapters include: "What is a Family Story?" "Finding the Right Format," "Conducting an Interview," "Revising and Editing Your Family Stories," and "How to Present and Publish Your Stories." As a bonus, the book includes: "219 Questions to Prime the Pump," "22 Ways to Stir up Memories," and a list of Resources that include over 100 books and websites to help the reader get started. The Story of You is written in a conversational tone that shows everyone the value and importance in writing the stories of their life, whether funny or heartwarming and everything in between. The book is a quick way to get started on turning memories into written stories that will last a lifetime

Who are we with—and without—families? How do we relate as children to our parents, as parents to our children? How are parent-child relationships—and familial relationships in general—made and (not) maintained? Informed by narrative, performance studies, poststructuralism, critical theory, and queer theory, contributors to this collection use autoethnography—a method that uses the personal to examine the cultural—to interrogate these questions. The essays write about/around issues of interpersonal distance and closeness, gratitude and disdain, courage and fear, doubt and certainty, openness and secrecy, remembering and forgetting, accountability and forgiveness, life and death. Throughout, family relationships are framed as relationships that inspire and inform, bind and scar—relationships replete with presence and absence, love and loss. An essential text for anyone interested in autoethnography, personal narrative, identity, relationships, and family communication.