The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History

By Kris Spisak

The Family Story Workbook is a word to the wise for collecting the words of the wise.

 

Have you ever wanted to write down the story of your family but never known where to start? Have you ever wanted to write your memoir, but you weren't quite sure what tales of your life best fit the narrative you hoped to capture? Have you ever wanted to reflect on the moments that transformed you into the person that you are today? Have you ever wanted to have a shared project between family members? Have you ever wanted a unique gift idea for a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle who you know has a powerful life story to tell? 

 

This workbook is designed for all of these reasons and more.

 

Write it down because who else is going to? Write it down for you. Write it down for your family. Write it down for the historical record, whatever that means to you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Davro Press
• Release date: Nov 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734452440

Kris Spisak

Kris Spisak wrote her first book, Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused (Career Press, 2017), with a goal of helping writers of all kinds sharpen their craft and empower their communications. Her “Words You Should Know” podcast and “Grammartopia” events follow the same mission, as does her second book, The Novel Editing Workbook: 105 Tricks & Tips for Revising Your Fiction Manuscript (Davro Press, 2020). Her third book, dedicated to personal storytelling, is The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History (Davro Press, 2020). A former college writing instructor, having taught at institutions including the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, Kris is now an active speaker, workshop leader, and fiction editor. She is a member of James River Writers, the Women's Fiction Writers Association, and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Book preview

Why Should You Write It Down?

Once upon a time, a family changed the world, and maybe that family is yours. There are history books that tell famous tales, but there are so many more stories to be told. Why not yours? Why not now? Why not capture it for yourself and for future generations who will have questions about what life was like and where they come from? Moments both modest and monumental can so easily slip by forgotten if not recorded by someone who knows the tale.

No matter your story or your family history, there are memories to hold onto and lives to celebrate and remember. There are world-events, personal decisions made, lucky happenstances, and relationships forged in fire that shaped the present and that will reverberate into the future.

What is amazing about people is that every single one of us has a story to share. Maybe we tell them. Maybe we don’t. Maybe we express them around the dinner table or at a child’s bedtime. Maybe they are told in family histories or in memoirs or art or dance or poetry or recipes. Maybe we tell our stories in the traditions that we pass down from generation to generation. However we tell them, it’s important that we do. Knowing where we come from adds depth to our present-day reality. Sharing how we’ve become who we are allows for impactful self-reflection.

Write it down because who else is going to? Write it down for you. Write it down for your family. Write it down for the historical record, whatever that means to you. 

What if You’re Not a Writer?

W riter is a strange word. People are so hesitant to claim it. Sure, one might write, but to be a writer seems to be a more profound idea. But here’s the secret: if you are putting pen to paper or digital ink to your screen, using shapes and squiggles to capture your ideas, no matter how eloquent or simple, you are a writer. Own it. It’s absolutely true. You have a voice. You have opinions. You have ownership over your memories. Writers write. It’s what writers do. It’s your turn to begin, writer.

Storytelling is an ancient tradition. It goes back to hunts captured on cave walls and spoken tales passed down grandparent to child. The human race has always collected stories to preserve moments in time, to save them from being forgotten, to remember what it was like to live through a moment that transformed the course of people’s lives. Maybe you’re living through one of these moments. Write it down.

There is a time for deciding what to do with your collection of stories or perhaps for playing with the perfection of every single word, but that time doesn’t have to come until later. The essential call-to-action of this workbook is to write it down. Ask questions of family and friends if that makes it easier. That doesn’t make you any less of a writer. That journey of story-hunting, transcription, and capturing every single detail that you discover simply makes you an investigative reporter—diving into the story of a lifetime, your lifetime and your family members’ before you.

Publishing credentials do not make a writer. All you need is a story to tell. And you certainly have that. The right words to use shouldn’t be a stumbling block. Language can be your playground. Write whatever drives you forward on a project like this. There’s no race or competition here, simply a capturing of your truth, whatever that may be.

How Can You Use this Workbook?