Writing Up Your Research (without using genealogy software)

Learn how to conquer family history writer’s block with 50 fun and practical tips for getting words on the page.

This workshop will guide researchers through a series of steps and stops to find the history of buildings and places. Follow some case studies and learn how to find excellent records in MyHeritage, the steps to follow followed, and the ideal interplay between primary and secondary sources. Also, learn pro-tips for writing a compelling narrative. This presentation will inspire attendees with the power that the places of our ancestors have to draw us near and to strengthen a sense of community. 

We’ve learnt how to craft vivid sentences but how do we combine them to produce a vivid scene, especially when we have little information to work with? This webinar describes the process of doing so, using practical examples from Carol’s own writing. It shows how she began with very little information then followed one path after another in a desperate attempt to find something … anything … to make her description interesting. It shows how you too can apply the same strategies to your own research and writing, whatever the subject.

Financial planners advise that the best way to acquire more money is to make the most of what we already have – aka, don’t fritter away our money. The same can be said for writing. The simplest way to craft an interesting family history, or other piece of prose, is to make the most of the words in our language. There’s no need to send our readers to sleep when a simple word replacement or two can bring a sentence, a paragraph, a story to life. This webinar discusses the basic tools in our writing toolbox, the tools that were once monopolised by fiction writers but are now used by nonfiction writers to hook our readers.

Many researchers are daunted at the thought of publishing a family history or memoir or “how to” book because they lack knowledge about their publishing and marketing options. Carol has been associated with the publishing industry since the 1980s and her 24 books have been variously mainstream, boutique, indie, and self-published. In this webinar she discusses the editing processes that all works of prose should experience before they are published, whether it be in a journal article or a family history. She discusses publishing and printing options, along with marketing approaches to family members and the broader public. She also covers the practical aspects of self-publishing: writing and publishing programs, font choices, paragraph and column layouts, page sizes, book weight and postage requirements.

To write a family history, we must convert our ancestral information into paragraphs of prose. But how do we group the resulting paragraphs to produce a coherent structure? We start by asking ourselves what we wish to achieve. Are we writing a history that focuses on a surname line? Or one that covers all of our ancestors, or all of our descendants, or all of the ancestors and descendants of a particular person? And how do we craft an individual biography? Do we produce a family history that is a group of stand-alone biographies or one that has a narrative-style flow? These and other subjects are discussed in this simple guide to structuring a family history. Classes 2-4 will be part of our October 2022 conference on Saturday, October 29. Visit https://familytreewebinars.com/conference/ for the details.

Genealogy best practice is to start with you, and who better to introduce yourself to future generations than YOU? In this webinar, we will go beyond factual information typically found in family trees to include the essence of who you are. Using easy and fun writing prompts, you will learn to create a unique and revealing written portrait of yourself. You can also share these prompts with other family members, adding their written portraits to your family tree. Your future generations will get to know you, and thank you!

Being the recognized originator of the term "Writing as You Go" since 2009, Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL finds that people who adopt and adapt the process report that it really an efficient way to plan, record, and analyze research findings. Although the static concepts are standard, her recommendations on the placement and process order in which to work needs to be demonstrated and is often a "light bulb" moment for researchers.

Have you always wanted to write your family stories but have never gotten around to it or known where to begin? Perhaps you've started but are stuck or overwhelmed. Good news! Capturing your family stories can be easy and fun with Brenda Hudson's "story project" technique. In this webinar, you will learn three different story projects, each resulting in a different kind of family story that takes less than 30 minutes. Use this technique to build your family legacy one story at a time, capturing as many stories as you like, knowing your stories will help your family connect with each other, now and in the future, by spurring conversations and strengthening family bonds across generations.