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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: clancam37 on Tuesday 27 November 18 01:28 GMT (UK)
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Not sure if this is the correct section to place this question.
I'm looking for a low cost alternative to writing my family history in book form.
have used WORD 7 to write one book, it was a learning curve, however made a presentable book
with much reference to" F1 HELP " and frequent visits to "You Tube". Was happy with the result, but making a TOC, Table of Contents was a nightmare. Creating an Index was OK
Have had a look at Scrivener Book Creator -- it seems involved.
Also another that works in conjunction with Family Tree Maker -- although I don't like some of
the results using this method. For example it gives a partial Family Tree diagram with each generation. Can you erase this section?
Any ideas for alternatives?
Regards
clancam37
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Word can create an automatic TOC ;D
You just need to ensure you have used the Styles properly (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Title, etc).
I use RootsMagic for my trees - it has a Book Generator (Publisher), in which I can choose the contents of each chapter.
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Agree - Word will do all you need. Table of contents, list of illustrations, index, all automated (but you do have to tell Word to update them - see the Help system).
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Slightly off Topic, but how do you write a family history without it just seeming to be like a long list of dates? My family tree program generates all sorts of reports that I'd like to incorporate, but it all seems so very clinical. I've considered slightly fictionalising it and changing black and white characters into coloured characters so to speak and possibly mentioning local and national contemporaneous events. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.
Martin
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We've written ours as a story of the family - certainly not just a long list of dates!
So, it would read a bit like this (this is fictional, but shows the sort of style) -
After having 7 boys John and Sarah must have been delighted when baby Sarah was born in 1877 in Stevenage. She was christened on 24th June 1877 at xxxx church (Fig 23). The family must have moved within a few years of Sarah's birth as they can be seen on the 1881 census on the south coast in Worthing, baby Sarah seems to be known as "Sallly", I guess to distinguish from her mother. By 1891 the family are still in Worthing, with Sally now aged 14. Sarah marries in July 1897 to William Bloggs, locally in Worthing - (the marriage cert can be seen at Fig 24) etc
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Slightly off Topic, but how do you write a family history without it just seeming to be like a long list of dates? My family tree program generates all sorts of reports that I'd like to incorporate, but it all seems so very clinical. I've considered slightly fictionalising it and changing black and white characters into coloured characters so to speak and possibly mentioning local and national contemporaneous events. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.
Martin
Some years ago I started writing my family history in book form, but I'm afraid it has been on hold for a couple of years with the occasional brief addition. I found it best to use a proper DTP package, Serif PagePlus in my case, because you see the layout on screen as you write and can re-position items, adjust fonts, and include photos, charts, etc all in the same program.
The only way I could make it readable was to pick the more interesting characters and make them the focus of a chapter each, along with their near relatives. For example, one ancestor had a shipyard, so I made him and his family the the subject of one chapter and researched some of the local history and padded out the story with events of the time, adding in some national or global events that filled out the bigger picture.
There are a few snippets from my book on my embryonic web site http://www.stuttle-ancestry.org/index.php . . . also work in progress ::)
[added] I have also included in the book the bare facts in the form of tree charts, etc. I will also include an index of names and, possibly, places which can be generated automatically in PagePlus.
Mike.
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Slightly off Topic, but how do you write a family history without it just seeming to be like a long list of dates? My family tree program generates all sorts of reports that I'd like to incorporate, but it all seems so very clinical. I've considered slightly fictionalising it and changing black and white characters into coloured characters so to speak and possibly mentioning local and national contemporaneous events. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.
Martin
I can appreciate the issue here - I use Family Historian and it will produce reports which can form the basis of writing, but they do need illustrating and developing, particularly when there is more documentary evidence or historical background to add. I've found that adding maps helps - and Google Maps allows you to add all sorts of things to the map, so for example I can show the places great-grandfather served in while in India. I've now accumulated so much that the book is enormous! I've attached a sample page here to show what I've been able to do.
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Good replies. I hope we get some more as I think they will be of greater interest.
Martin
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Hi Martin,
A good question. Before I wrote my first FT Book considered this question. I am only a novice, however, to solve this problem I looked at the history of the areas in which ancestors lived and reading History Books and the Web re Happenings, Wars, conflicts, health -- epidemics, plagues for example. Who were the leaders, PMs, Presidents, Kings/Queens of the period and where they lived. For example I found a British PM who was assassinated (shot) whilst in Office and this was mentioned in my Book. A very little known fact.
Lastly I examined clothing for some generations and featured pictures/drawings of likely attire my ancestors may have worn given their occupation and position on the social ladder.
Others may have other aspects to make an interesting read.
All the best with your work.
clancam37
Slightly off Topic, but how do you write a family history without it just seeming to be like a long list of dates? My family tree program generates all sorts of reports that I'd like to incorporate, but it all seems so very clinical. I've considered slightly fictionalising it and changing black and white characters into coloured characters so to speak and possibly mentioning local and national contemporaneous events. I'd be interested to hear what other people have done.
Martin
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Hi KGarrard,
I believe that's where many problems were encountered -- Styles.
Your suggestion re RootsMagic for my trees -- their Book Generator (Publisher) is sound advice.
Will check this possibility today.
Thanks again
Regards
clancam37
Word can create an automatic TOC ;D
You just need to ensure you have used the Styles properly (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Title, etc).
I use RootsMagic for my trees - it has a Book Generator (Publisher), in which I can choose the contents of each chapter.
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Hi Graham, Thanks for your sound advice. Writing my Book was a huge learning curve, the "Styles" section for creating TOC was a challenge.
Nearly ready to create another Book will follow KGarrad's suggestion and see what RootsMagic Book Creator offers and also your suggestion to "see the Help system".
Regards
clancam37
Agree - Word will do all you need. Table of contents, list of illustrations, index, all automated (but you do have to tell Word to update them - see the Help system).
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Back again. Have watched a 14 minute video re RootsMagic Publisher. Question in my mind -- what sources can I use to create the Book? I have information/facts/dates/photos on FTM10 and FTM14 plus files of information pics/drawings and notes written on Word7.
Reading other users opinions posted in 2015 or before it appears "Legacy" or "Gedcom" can be used to extract and include in the written book. These opinions seem to suggest facts/photos can be lost in transmission.
Can sks suggest Legacy or Gedcom as the way to proceed or can I transmit directly from FTM and Word notes to RootsMagic Publisher as of 2018.
Regards
clancam37
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Notwithstaning my earlier comment, about avoiding a family history being just a list of dates, people and places, I had a go at embroidering the facts with some credible padding, if that isn't too much of a muddled metaphor. I'd welcome any comments or criticism.
"It was a cold morning in November 1882 as Annie Maria Ballard laid on her bed in Eden Street, Hartlepool, moaning and groaning with the gruelling pains of impending childbirth. Eventually a small girl came into the world, crying surprisingly lustily for her small size, soon followed by her twin brother, who was much quieter and didn't seem anywhere nearly as strong. The midwife looked sorrowfully, and turned to Elizabeth, and confided that '...that one looks as if it does not have long for this world'.
The girl was named Kate, after her mother’s favourite sister, and the boy was called John, after his father and grandfather, and took his grandmother's maiden name of Mowbray as a middle name. Little Kate seemed to take her new surroundings in her stride, little aware that she was the future matriarch of a diverse and widely spread dynasty. Her life would see two world wars, the invention of the hula-hoop, and men being fired into space.
The double birth was a great strain for young 20 year old Annie Maria, and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born, 6 weeks later, and never fully recovered before her own sad premature death less than a year later. Annie Maria's husband John, a local watchmaker of some repute looked proudly on his new daughter, but felt ill at the sight of his sickly little son.
He held his wife’s hand, although the effort of a double childbirth had left her exhausted and she slept for many hours. As days progressed the new mother was able to pay attention to her new twins, and she was very concerned about the sad sight of the younger child, John. Little John spent much time motionless, before finally passing on, aged only 41 days, just a week before his first Christmas. It was a heart-breaking time in the house."
I don't know whether it is good or not that I now almost believe that that is how it was!
Martin
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For my liking - too much fiction and too many assumptions! ;D
Do you know it was cold in November 1882?
How do you know that the girl "cried lustily" while her brother was "much quieter"?
I prefer facts ;D
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Interesting thread. I decided a couple of weeks ago I was going to write up my older daughter's family tree, get it bound for her 18th birthday. I haven't got very far though, ever since a teacher told me my English was the worst she'd ever seen or heard I've been wary of writing as I know what I produce will be badly written.
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pharmaT - BUT you're doing it for your daughter, who will appreciate your efforts. You're not doing it for publication to the outside world. Just do it ;D
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KG, Thank you for your honesty. I did ask for such. It is so difficult to know how to strike the right balance. If you read any book set in a time and place with which we are not familiar we do have to accept certain liberties. I'm trying to do something similar for a friend, who had two ancestors being born within a few months of the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. I use that event as a backdrop to the middle part of my friend's story. There are very few written records of the eruption, but it does create a good focus for the start of the story.
I know your two examples, of the weather conditions and the Infant's wailing, were just an example, but it is almost always cold in Hartlepool and my great grandmother was known to be outspoken. I suppose what it comes down to is who is my target audience, and basically it will be about 3 people. You have certainly given me something to think about, thank you.
Martin
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PharmaT, I also think you should go ahead and get on with it. Many of the stylistic beliefs of my school days have been blown away in the light of modern trends. Even going back to World War One, look at the work of e e cummings, who almost single-handedly tried to abolish the use of capital letters.
I often think of what I was taught in my years in the Cadet Force about making a presentation. I was told you should stand, almost to attention, with your hands clasped behind your back, and never gesticulate. These days presenters seem to try and communicate more by their gesticulations, than by their speech.
If you were really worried about what your daughter would think, you could always get a friend to proofread your Final Draft.
Martin
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PharmaT, I also think you should go ahead and get on with it. Many of the stylistic beliefs of my school days have been blown away in the light of modern trends. Even going back to World War One, look at the work of e e cummings, who almost single-handedly tried to abolish the use of capital letters.
I often think of what I was taught in my years in the Cadet Force about making a presentation. I was told you should stand, almost to attention, with your hands clasped behind your back, and never gesticulate. These days presenters seem to try and communicate more by their gesticulations, than by their speech.
If you were really worried about what your daughter would think, you could always get a friend to proofread your Final Draft.
Martin
I'm more worried her friends humiliate her if they see it. She has been bullied at school by a girl who delights in telling her she'll never succeed because of her background. She even told people that I was completely illiterate (the girl not my daughter) and I was offered literacy courses so I could help with homework.
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Friends don't humiliate you. Your daughter should compile a list of people from working class, or uneducated backgrounds who have made a great success of themselves. I went to a good school and got qualifications, and hardly excelled myself during a 40 year working career. I know many people who started as Barrow boys and ended up as millionaires.
Martin
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I set about 'writing' the family history about four years ago. I had researched for over fifteen years and wanted to find a way of presenting the information in a reasonably accessible form and to set it in some historical/social context.
I explored various prepublished programs but ended up using Word, producing a document for each family in the pedigree. I included maps, images of buildings (homes/churches/workplaces etc), newspaper articles, images cropped from census returns, parish registers etc.
I found Word to be pretty flexible in it's ability to arrange images and text. My contents page consists of a list of the family pages, followed by a 5 generation pedigree for that line which acts as a 'map' to the contents. It has taken many hours and I refined my approach as I went along (meaning that I have revisited the first line I tackled and revised the documents to reflect the final line) but I now have four 'books' for each main line which can be readily adapted to include information discovered in the future.
I have attached an image of what a family word document looks like.
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PharmaT, you're a university graduate which is more than I am :)
You writing style on here is an shining example of literacy and lucidity (especially when compared with the incoherent ramblings of some others, whose contributions I avoid).
The 'teacher' who said those cruel words to you should not have been in the profession. Maybe she couldn't accept that you were brighter than her. Whatever. Her problem, not yours.
Please do the book. Your daughter will love it and it's no-one else's business.
Carol
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Martin,
Since you asked, I am inclined to agree that your example is a little over-fictionalised for my taste. I try to stick to the facts as far as possible and where I do make assumptions I say so in the text. But it is a personal thing so really anything goes unless you plan to publish it as a factual account ;)
PharmaT,
I agree that you should carry on with the book. Your postings on RC would suggest you are far from illiterate: your spelling, grammar and punctuation are certainly better than most 8) and your posts are always easy to read and understand.
Mike.
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There are several topics on RootsChat about how to write a family chronicle.
Some of the topics are collected here:
RootsChat Topics: Organising and Presenting your Family History
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=158638.0
In ths topic,
Topic: Writing a book?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=777477.0
i mentioned a useful internet article about styles of writing
I once saw an interesting article about writing a family history, but unfortunately the web-link doesn't work any more.
Here is a short summary.
The author (Margaret Anne Storey) listed 5 ways of writing a book:
- 1. Standard Data:
Example: "William Smith was born in 1652 in Little Dribbling" - Absolute Minimum => BORING !!!
- 2. Expanded:
you will need to do a lot of research into your ancestor’s occupation, the village he lives in, his neighbours, the climate etc. It is probably the most acceptable as far as what most people expect a family history to be.
"The old stone church sat high on the hill. The gravestones all around showed evidence of it's past, and of that of the villagers who had once lived in Little Dribbling"
- 3. Very expanded: like 2. plus a bit of imagination !
Example: The Smith family approached the old church, high on the hill. The baby, wrapped in an old christening dress, lay cradled in her mother's arms. It was 1652.
- 4. From the author's point of view: (as if you were there)
"I slowly climbed the hill, to the old stone church. The gravestone nearby told me a tale of a byegone age, that of my ancestors".
- 5. Fiction + Fact = Faction: Facts + Imagination in the form of a novel. This is probably the most difficult: you are leaving the path of the proven facts and adding a lot of imagination and speculation.
- will the relatives like this ?
- more important: will it be fun for you ?
As a "technician" I can write reports fairly easily but I find it hard to write about non-technical subjects. My website/family chronicle is written mainly in style 1 - standard data - with occaisional excursions into style 4 - "I .." where I also include information about the search itself for information. Now and again I'll add some of my speculations as well (style 5)
A useful help here (for style 3-5) are "biographies as novels". The authors will often take known utterances of 'public' people (from diaries, letters, and other publications) and weave them into (fictitious) dialogues. i.e. they did actually say this, but in another setting ! If you have diaries, letters and other documents of your ancesters, you could build them into your narritive here.
Martin is definitely doing style number 5, but as i also said there,
- will the relatives like this ?
- more important: will it be fun for you ?
Bob
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My plan was to discuss how I came to conclusions and background to their lives. For example: the McCorgrays first appear on Scottish records in 1851 giving birthplace in Ireland. A marriage in 1855 specifies a birthplace of Donaghmore parish Donegal which helped me find land records which gave me the townland. Year of birth is estimated based on ages in census, marriage and death. As the move coincides with the famine and increase in emigration from Ireland and their arrival in Scotland coincided with new pits being sunk in the town and new rows being built, I was planning to discuss the likely causes of them leaving Ireland and likely reasons for their choice of place to move to.
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Martin, we might have a family link here as my father's families (Sedgwick/Sidgwick and Shadforth) came from Co Durham and more recently from Hartlepool and later, Middlesbrough. My great uncle Walter Sedgwick (1880-1961) married Mary Mowbray James, daughter of William E James and Lavinia Mowbray of Hartlepool.
Regards
GS
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GS, I'm only on my small tablet at present, but my great grandmother, Kate Loughborough was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Mowbray & George Loughborough. Elizabeth had a brother, James, who had a daughter by Mary Butcher, who I seem to have, recorded as Levina Mowbray, b1862. Could that be your Lavinia? I haven't followed her family down. More tomorrow.
Martin
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Notwithstaning my earlier comment, about avoiding a family history being just a list of dates, people and places, I had a go at embroidering the facts with some credible padding, if that isn't too much of a muddled metaphor. I'd welcome any comments or criticism.
Mart since you ask I will note the points that jar with me.
"It was a cold morning in November 1882 as Annie Maria Ballard laid on her bed in Eden Street, Hartlepool, moaning and groaning with the gruelling pains of impending childbirth. Eventually a small girl came into the world, crying surprisingly lustily for her small size, soon followed by her twin brother, who was much quieter and didn't seem anywhere nearly as strong. The midwife looked sorrowfully, and turned to Elizabeth, and confided that '...that one looks as if it does not have long for this world'.
“Eventually a small girl came into the world” I have never given birth but this sounds to me as if Annie Maria Ballard did not have much to do with the birth apart from having labour pains prior to it. Perhaps a little more emphasis the effort of delivery.
The girl was named Kate, after her mother’s favourite sister, and the boy was called John, after his father and grandfather, and took his grandmother's maiden name of Mowbray as a middle name. Little Kate seemed to take her new surroundings in her stride, little aware that she was the future matriarch of a diverse and widely spread dynasty. Her life would see two world wars, the invention of the hula-hoop, and men being fired into space.
The double birth was a great strain for young 20 year old Annie Maria, and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born, 6 weeks later, and never fully recovered before her own sad premature death less than a year later. Annie Maria's husband John, a local watchmaker of some repute looked proudly on his new daughter, but felt ill at the sight of his sickly little son.
“and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born,”
Here I would suggest moving the “vaguely” to before the aware “vaguely aware”
He held his wife’s hand, although the effort of a double childbirth had left her exhausted and she slept for many hours. As days progressed the new mother was able to pay attention to her new twins, and she was very concerned about the sad sight of the younger child, John. Little John spent much time motionless, before finally passing on, aged only 41 days, just a week before his first Christmas. It was a heart-breaking time in the house."
I don't know whether it is good or not that I now almost believe that that is how it was!
Martin
My final comment is about the use of “It was a heart-breaking time in the house.” I would suggest this is more of a 20th or 21st century view of the death of an infant in the 19th century such losses were common and though the parents would be saddened by such a death I very much doubt if a working class family could spare the time an effort to be heart-broken by it, I suggest they would be more driven by the struggle to survive than being able to afford the luxury of dwelling on the death.
Cheers
Guy
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Thanks Guy. That's all very useful. It is sad as we all discover how many of our ancestors did died in infancy, childhood or childbirth. But you are right, I am sure it was half accepted and they were prepared for it. And yet it is amazing how many of our ancestors had 10 or 12 siblings, often born 18 to 24 months apart.
Martin
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Almost certainly due to a lack of contraception?! ;D
Also a state of mind? If we have 12 pregnancies, surely some of them will survive childhood.
I am very wary of applying modern day standards to days past - life was very different back then.
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Almost certainly due to a lack of contraception?! ;D
Also a state of mind? If we have 12 pregnancies, surely some of them will survive childhood.
I am very wary of applying modern day standards to days past - life was very different back then.
Definitely lack of contraception and women weren't legally allowed to deny their husbands either. Men were legally allowed to force their wives here until 1989. I'm actually more amazed at the families who only had a couple or have larger gaps between children when we go back to earlier generations.
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Whilst I accept that it happened often, I find it hard to believe that my g/g/grandparents were not heartbroken when they lost their 4-year old son and 2-year old daughter within days of each other from scarlatina, and they must have been very anxious when their third child (my g/grandfather) was born a few months later. Obviously he survived, and they had two more daughters as well. The mother must have been a strong woman because they had a few other problems but she died at the age of 96 from "old age and exhaustion"
Of course people generally accepted what life threw at them, they had little choice so they just got on and made the best of it in most cases, but you only have to read some of the literature of past centuries to realise they experienced the same sort of feelings that any of us do now.
Mike.
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My aforementioned great-grandmother Kate had, from memory, 20 aunts and uncles, 9 related to her father and 11 to her mother.
Roll on birthdays and Christmas!
Martin
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Thanks for your reply Martin. I think we do have a match.
I have James Mowbray, born 1822, Hartlepool, married Mary Butcher, born 1822 Lowestoft Suffolk. They have a large number of children including James born 1856, Elizabeth 1857, Marianna 1858, Lavinia 1862 and Mary, 1864. Lavinia married William E James b. 1860 Great Yarmouth, and their daughter, Mary Mowbray James, married my great uncle!
Regards
GS
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GS,
Elizabeth Mowbray, 1836-1902 was the grandmother of Kate Loughborough, my great grandmother. Elizabeth and her husband George Loughborough brought up Kate as their own daughter, after Kate's mother died (and her father remarried), as you read above. Elizabeth Mowbray, 1836-1902, is the sister of your James Mowbray, born 1822-1888.
Their parents as you may know where John Mowbray 1786-1863 and Jane Chapman.
I will check my records for the Levina possible mis-spelling. Also, I have Elizabeth Jr as 1847, but that might well be my mistake. I will contact you privately to discuss more, but I am busy this weekend.
James Mowbray, born 1822-1888, had a sister, who married a Thomas Pounder, and I keep meaning to dig deeper to see if he had a grandson, who, obviously, would have been...wait for it... a Quarter Pounder...!
We visited Hartlepool and many ancestral sites last year, so I have many photos that might interest you. We must work our our exact relationship! Mowbrays and Loughboroughs ran a shop together.
It is odd that you saw my fiction history. You possible saw a current thread about faded newspaper articles. I read that, think that it would be odd if the sample news article gave anyone an unexpected clue, then this happened.
Most of my heritage is Hartlepool and Bedlington, with a bit of Corton near Lowestoft(!), although I have always lived in Greater London.
I liked my fictionalised account, and, while I am grateful for the many constructive comments, perhaps my writing style kept your attention until you made this connection.
A private message will follow.
Martin
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Hi, an interesting thread. Have spent 4 years since retirement researching and writing on a regular basis. Began with my parents then worked down through their parents, their parents and so on. Wrote up chapters in Word.
Beside documentation tried to include as many primary materials and their detail as possible to tell the story of family members with the hope of approaching vanished lives and their times that remain unknowable in their essence.
Now transcribing details and rewriting in a biographical potboiler format without the many references previously included by allocating a chapter to selected eras or events and intersecting lives of family.
Both writing processes - the chapters centred on parents and the potboiler - are of course ongoing as more is discovered about family. But whatever approach our writing takes we must be respectful of family because their lives were not ours although at times we feel drawn to them as moths to a flame.
Cheers,
Col :)
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Col, it's interesting what you say about respecting family, and also your reference to a pot boiler. A little over 2 years ago through my research, a very long story, I found out that my father's sister with whom we had many lovely holidays, was actually his birth mother although he didn't find that out until many years after she died. She had a bit of a wild life in the 1930s, not thinking about respecting her descendants. I only found all this out when a lady in Melbourne contacted me to say that she had found my research on my website and said that Kate, who I mentioned earlier, was also HER great grandmother. We've been in contact almost daily ever since, and met up in London earlier in the summer. It's only through my aunt, well, grandmother, and her wild life that I found out about the child of her third relationship in the 1930s, and the subsequent Next Generation, my first cousin in Melbourne.. You probably could make it up but it did come as a bit of a shock to us.
Martin
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Hi Martin, ain't it the way with families over time. Uncovered a few life incidents in my research that were a tad hair curling. Probably "respectful" was the wrong word used by me. Was trying to say that we simply don't know the half of it researching from a distance and we should bear this in mind when writing it all up. Their lives, not ours.
Cheers,
Col :)
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I have been researching my family for a number of years and have tried a number of ways to complete a book to reflect my research. Originally I would type everything up in a word document and I did this for each generation. I used factual information from each census and other things that had been found through research. Using Word is quite frustrating as when you add
photographs/images everything jumps around and you really have to know the program well to use it.
Later I copied my material to a Desktop Publishing program, InDesign. The program is a professional DTP program so you do have to have some expertise in using the program. As I find new information I add to my book.
I am fortunate that I am a trained teacher who does have expertise in using Word and InDesign, and also am reasonable with English, having taught this at Junior High School and also taking Senior High School students for various subjects. This has helped considerably with putting my material together.
Have added a couple of pages as an attachment.
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Martin,
Since you asked, I am inclined to agree that your example is a little over-fictionalised for my taste. I try to stick to the facts as far as possible and where I do make assumptions I say so in the text. But it is a personal thing so really anything goes unless you plan to publish it as a factual account ;)
PharmaT,
I agree that you should carry on with the book. Your postings on RC would suggest you are far from illiterate: your spelling, grammar and punctuation are certainly better than most 8) and your posts are always easy to read and understand.
Mike.
I do so agree, on both counts. Definitely do write the book for your daughter PharmaT .
Martin , trying to be helpful here.... I know there are sites on google which give meteorological data e.g. > http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/geography/weather.html < so you should be able to research it, and you could then be more factual to write, e.g. "during an unusually mild winter," or "after a very damp summer".
And, personally, I would not put words as a quote,"...that one looks as if it does not have long for this world", unless you have it from a surviving letter perhaps? Rather, I would pad with something like,.... delivering the second twin she must have been aware/may have been concerned he was less robust than his sister.
BUT the writer's style of choice is very individual, and Elizabeth Chadwick, (for one,) is a popular author of fictionalised history.
Any family history collated into book form for others surely MUST be preferable to a plan which never materialises.
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There are a lot of interesting ideas, tips and suggestions here.
So it doesn't get 'lost', I've added this topic to the list :)
There are several topics on RootsChat about how to write a family chronicle.
Some of the topics are collected here:
RootsChat Topics: Organising and Presenting your Family History
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=158638.0