Guardian Masterclass 2014
The Guardian, as part of its Masterclass series, is to run a course ‘An introduction to writing family history’ next year.
The main features of this one day course are given as:
- The making of a family story – finding the universal in the particular
- Form and voice – the ‘I’ of autobiographical writing.
- What does it mean to be true to someone’s story?
- Research – how to do go about it and what to do with it
- Style – character description and representation; descriptive techniques
- Dialogue – using voices and quotations to create scenes
When Family Tree Genie presents its research to the client, it naturally features the sources and facts of family members.
To bring these dry facts to life, I always preface the report with a complete family story showing how the family grew in the context of their surroundings, the challenges they faced and the successes they enjoyed – it is for this reason, after all, that most of my clients come to me. They want to know where they are from … who doesn’t?