Author Topic: Making your story more reader-friendly  (Read 4027 times)

Offline Mart 'n' Al

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Making your story more reader-friendly
« on: Saturday 10 February 18 13:58 GMT (UK) »
Naturally I don't want to make my family history a work of fiction, but I want to try and make it more interesting than just a list of events. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.

Basically I start with all or part of an ahnentafel report, and then add things such as local and world events which my family might have experienced, descriptions of a hypothetical street corner pub perhaps, or a local sporting event. I have a nautical ancestor and I've added descriptions from the time of the ports which he visited. Adverts from local papers have also been added. If a child grew up in a seaport then I might add a description of how the quayside might have looked as a large ship came into Dock.

I'm sure there are purists here who would scorn my idea, but I would be interested in any and all suggestions on this theme.  I should add that I am writing this mainly for extended family both living and future, to read rather than having any hopes of a wider audience.

I like the idea of an ancestor looking in a shop window, or perhaps whistling a popular song of the day. I've even wondered whether one of my ancestors had a dog called Trump.

Martin

Offline BattyB

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 10 February 18 14:05 GMT (UK) »
What an interesting idea Mart
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Offline Mart 'n' Al

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 10 February 18 14:11 GMT (UK) »
Batty, thank you, better than my partner who is scoffing.

Martin

Offline DougTCanada

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 10 February 18 14:25 GMT (UK) »
I have done something similar and relate my family's history with the events going on in the world at the time and give some background as to what the norms were for the times. Most people are not to interested in the minute details of dates of baptism etc. so my family history is more of a narrative.
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Offline radstockjeff

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 10 February 18 14:58 GMT (UK) »
I think it depends on your target audience and the purpose of the exercise. For example my dad was in business with his father from 1930 to the beginning of WW2 as builders in the Midsomer Norton and Radstock area, and whilst there is scant documented evidence of the actual business side, just a few plans, a few scraps of financial details, but a complete record of all the houses which they built and their clients. So in this case my brother an I put together an account for publication by the local Museum Society.

On the other hand I tend to pick out certain parts of the family and their travels around the country, and beyond, looking at the reasons why perhaps they moved as they did.

And then my OH grandfather was a prominent businessman and one time Mayor of South Shields, and so he gets his own "monograph".

And perhaps one of the most interesting stories is that of OH family background in North Norfolk and their translation, for reasons principally of finding work, to the North East of England.

My aim is to provide some interesting and informative reading for my grandchildren, leaving them to explore further from the base which I have provided.

And no, I do not fill the stories up with all the dates and minutiae, where that can otherwise be covered in simple diagrams.
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Offline Mart 'n' Al

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 10 February 18 15:06 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for the comments so far.

The bit I'm having trouble with is fleshing out the following conversation between my great grandmother and my grandmother.

 "Look darling daughter,  you got yourself pregnant,  you got married,  he went off and left you,  and I'm quite happy to bring your baby up as my own, but you must agree that you never ever let the baby know."

 My grandmother and great-grandmother got away with their deception for the rest of their lives.

Then one day my father applied for a passport in the name of his grandfather rather than his father, and had endless administrative problems before he discovered the truth.

Martin

Offline radstockjeff

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 10 February 18 15:22 GMT (UK) »
We all have these "little local difficulties" to contend with and it will obviously depend on how far you wish to take this situation....it's now part of family lore and what's been done can't be undone. Do you want to put the best gloss on it or tell it as it really was?

My OH gt grandmother had a shady side to her; having produced 4 daughters she left her husband and set up with another chap a couple of streets away and started all over again, subsequently marrying her second bloke bigamously, declaring to the Registrar that she was a widow! Having taken on her new husband's name they then changed it presumably to avoid detection. That played havoc with my research in trying to trace her. But it makes a good story!

Unless there is a particular reason to be circumspect I have taken the general view that you cannot rewind the reel.
Nurse, Musther, Smith, Julnes, Rogers, Parsons,Grieves(Greaves,Greeves),Wood,Cray,Scrine,Shellard,Greenstock,

There's nothing wrong with being mediocre...as long as you're good at it!

Offline Rena

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 10 February 18 15:43 GMT (UK) »
  I do look into the background of occupations and all places each generation lived, but not every character in my tree has a narrative, just those that interested me at the time.  I've also related stories such as the mother who sent her boys down the street for a pint of blood from the slaughterhouse so she could make black puddings.  Still on the subject of food, there's a sentence or two about how one hard up man made a noose to catch birds for a meal.That man moved northward to get seasonal work at a large port and I've described how large groups of unskilled men crowded outside the dockyard gates hoping the tallyman would hire them and hand them a tally  (a metal disc).  As workers were often paid their wages in a local pub, I saw the harbour where my OHs ship's carpenter ancestor worked had a tavern named "Ship's Carpenter" and my imagination took hold.  I've also got newspaper adverts inserted by my commercial ancestors  and as one of OHs ancestors made and sold a patented object, I've got an image of that too.  From an 18th century ancestor's inventory listing the different sized metal rods he used in his occupation of a nailor, I then managed to find images and descriptions of handmade nails and what they were used for, readers can skip over that chapter but if they do theyll not know what an inkle factory was  ;D   
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Offline Josephine

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Re: Making your story more reader-friendly
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 10 February 18 17:41 GMT (UK) »
These are all great approaches. I'm going to have to work hard and incorporate some of them when I write up my family history.

Thanks!
Josephine
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