Genealogy
Hazel’s non-boring writing tips
This page is all about you, and how to help trace your family, write about in a way that will interest others and read the fantastic stories that other have to tell. Hazel Edwards shares with us her tips for writing in different genre’s and keeping it interesting! In this section she covers:
Non-boring family histories
Co-writing with family
Non-boring travel writing
Non-boring writing column
Non-boring autobiographies and memoirs
Choosing titles: committee-itis
Writing for and with grandkids
Hints for interviewing relatives
Writing eulogies
What is Faction?
Words as gifts
Gifts of words
2008: November - Words as Home-Made Gifts
Question: How can I write a gift for my family?
Answer: A Compliments Jar or a Family Funny Memories Gift
On sticky labels, write personalised, short compliments or facts about your family or the individual. Attach them to sweets or treats, and put in a large jar. Decoratethe jar.
This can be done for birthdays (with the correct number of compliments) or as a group activity, where all contribute as a celebratory or ‘thankyou’ end-of-year event. Great as a gift for coaches, treasurers or tutors. Of course, the reverse is an ‘Insults Jar.’
Historically this gift of words can be adapted as a family activity, to label, ‘Funny Family Memories’. All you need is a table at which participants can sit, pencils, sticky labels and memories to share. It can even be done on web-cam if one family member is elsewhere.
Or, compile a ‘Who are You?’ simple photo slip-in book, to explain to a child or new family member, who the relatives are. Add a family tree, with amusing facts on the branches
‘Keeping in Touch’ is vital for extended families, and especially if grand/parents are working or living in locations which are remote from the child, either geographically or emotionally.
Oil rig crews, prisoners, commuter parents who return home at weekends, night shift staff and those families which are split or blended, have limited face-to-face time. Mail, whether post cards, e-mail or just notes, jokes and funny pictures can bridge the gap. Writing and reading has a purpose.
YOUR TURN:
Create a compliment jar for a specific person in your family.
Or encourage a grandchild to write to a favourite character.
Hazel Edwards (www.hazeledwards.com) has recently added a Dear Hippo email where readers can write to her much loved rooftop, cake-eating hippo character. Sample questions and answers are updated monthly. You can email questions to Hippo at or find out what he has to say.
What is faction
Month: Sept 2008
Question: What is Faction?
There are differences between writing fact, faction and fiction.
A family history must be based on facts. If you change dates or names, it is no longer factual, nor can it be called a history.
Faction may have a factual setting or period, but details have been changed. It’s a dramatic or legal compromise, so you tell a better story or maybe re-use facts you have researched earlier for another history project.
Fiction is imaginative writing where you can ‘make up’ a setting, story and/or characters.
So, what are the reasons for choosing to write faction?
Legal: someone may be offended or sue
Dramatic: so you can tell a better story and increase the humour
Diplomacy: all families have secrets but not all members know ALL the secrets. Should you be the one to reveal illegitimacy or bigamy or even how bad tempered or criminal grandmother was?
You may decide to use the real setting of the period or setting but amalgamate a few of the brothers into one man because they didn’t do enough that was interesting. Or you may have large gaps of months when nothing much happened. Condensing the action will make a better story.
So maybe you’ll use the name of the real mayor or prime minister of the time but you’ll add extra events or characters. Or you’ll describe the bush terrain but make it worse for your characters, or have it all happen in one week rather than across a decade. You may change the names of the major families.
In my YA (Young Adult) novel ‘Fake ID’ (Hachette) recently translated into Tamil, the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the Melbourne Olympic Games facts are correct and some athletes did defect..My junior mystery ’Gang O Kids’ (Omotivo) is based on humorous facts about the sport of orienteering , which were researched by family participation, but the child sleuth characters are made up. These are fiction with a strong factual basis.
So decide whether you are writing fact, faction or fiction!
YOUR TURN: Choose a real period that you know about and make sure daily facts like ice chests and milk bottle usage is accurate. Turn it into faction by joining several characters and making more happen that is humorous.
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Gang-O Kids, Omotivo Publishing ISBN 978-0-646-48847-9 - Easy-to-read funny adventures by five resourceful kids who solve mysteries, while orienteering. Suit 6-9 year olds $11.95 Order online
Family health tree
Tracing your family tree and where you came from is fun and educational but it can also save the life of a loved one.
Genetic research and medicine has made massive leaps in recent years, being able to pin-point factors that can increase your risk of diabetes, asthma, heart disease and mental illness, to name a few. A little knowledge about the ailments and illnesses suffered by your kin can lead to early diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening conditions.
Sharing this information with family is also important, so recording it in an easy to understand manner will increase the usefulness of the information to all involved. The Centre for Genetics Education has an easy to complete form, which records family members, their relationship to you, dates of birth and death and any health problems they suffered. Showing this to your family doctor can help him or her single out any specific genetic illnesses to which you may be susceptible and increase your chances of receiving successful treatment.
For more information on genetics and to complete your family health tree, visit the Centre for Genetics Education.
Writing eulogies
2008: Month: August
Question: How do I write a Eulogy?
Answer: Basically a ‘eulogy’ means saying nice things about the person who has died, and to celebrate their life. ’Eu’ means good.
Speaking in public is the greatest fear for many people. But this is where notes from existing family history research are often useful.
There are two parts to a eulogy; writing and then delivering it, usually at the funeral.
To write a eulogy, you need the facts of the person’s life quickly: dates of birth, years when people worked where and the correct names of colleagues.
Others may help, but the eulogy writer has to craft it. And it’s a more personal tribute, if you ‘profile’ the life of the person you knew well, rather than a stranger just reading it. Even if you do get upset.
Often a funeral celebrant will advise on compiling the short talk or will even talk at the ceremony around the notes you have provided. However, these hints may help in the writing.
Check if any family members are compiling a history. Copy the facts. Display dated and captioned family photos at the ceremony. Put on Powerpoint to show electronically. Gives people something to talk about. Anecdotes are mini stories, often humorous. Jot down 5-6 anecdotes or memories which typify that person for you because they symbolise attributes e.g. good organiser/ sense of humour/ persistent. Tell the best first, to set the tone. Keep the sentences short and number the points. Print it off in really large, dark font so you can read through tears or glasses.
Focus on the person, not only your relationship to them. Find a theme or linking idea e.g. A practical man who finished projects.
Consider your audience, some may not know all aspects of that life, so you need to tell stories in context and explain who Aunty Mary was.
The age of the person who died determines the type of audience. If they have out-lived their contemporaries, had little family and not belonged to organisations, the numbers may be small. But if well known and died young, there may be many contributing eulogies for various aspects of a life: family, work, sport, membership of organisations, community work.
Often some facts of a life are news at a funeral for some audience members. Be diplomatic. Allude to weaknesses, but with acceptance e.g. had a short fuse.
A spoken funeral eulogy is often used as the basis of a published obituary later. Sometimes there’s a mismatch and the eulogist does not really make appropriate tribute to the person’s life. Or the eulogist may be brilliant in the writing and delivery and make a hero out of someone who wasn’t.
The tone needs to be genuine and even if you break down, the audience will feel with you. Practice reading and keep to time limit. Send a copy afterwards to the family, for their family history.
Write with your heart, but you also need to craft it.
YOUR TURN:
Imagine you’ve been asked to write your own eulogy. Which five aspects of your life would you like covered?
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Australian Society of Authors National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets
Hints for interviewing relatives
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
2008: July Hints for interviewing relatives
Question: Any hints for interviewing my relatives?
Answer:
It’s easier to interview a stranger than a relative or friend.
Although you think you know each other, because you are extended family, an interview needs to be more formal with set questions.Otherwise, family tend to treat you as the 6 year old they remember rather than the adult interviewer.
Being taken into another’s life can be a great privilege as I found when interviewing across a year Choice Books for the ‘Healthy Women; Getting the Balance Right’ Some were famous women, but others just had genuine tales of how they coped with health threats such as cancer or even the cold of an Antarctic expedition.
Station leader Marilyn Boydell was one the best interviewees because she took the listener into an Antarctic world.
Hints:
Ask permission to use an audio recorder
Are you doing them a favour by listening or they are doing you a favour, by providing facts.
Is the purpose to find out facts or get a sense of this personality?
Limit interviewing to an hour.
List contact details in case you need to check facts later.
Allow pauses as they think. Don’t jump in with another question.
Get them to spell any word you don’t understand & explain how a process works. If you don’t understand, your reader will have no hope.
If distance is a problem, get permission to record on the phone or maybe Skype which is electronic via the computer.
Take a photo
Arrange for them to read your edited transcript and make changes.
An hour’s interview will take over a day to write up, so keep to the topic.
Visit them so you learn more from their surroundings ( and you can leave when you wish)
Respect ‘off the record’ admissions.You can’t print them.
Be diplomatic in the way you write up ‘touchy’ issues or ‘secrets’
Respect the interviewee’s right to ‘not answer’ certain questions.
Send a thankyou note and acknowledge them in your final work.
The ‘killer question’ should only be used as a last resort.
‘What is the question you would least like to be asked and what is your answer?”
YOUR TURN:
Prepare 8 questions for an interview with a family member.
Conduct up to an hour interview and write it up.
Then check it with the interviewee.
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Australian Society Of Authors
www.asauthors.org National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Writing for and with grandkids
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
2008: April Writing For and With Grandkids
Got lots of photographs of your children? Want to share your family history with them, whatever their age or where they live?
Why not create a Home-Made story about an historic family anecdote? (Usually a funny but embarrassing moment) And either create it with or for the special child in your life. Each birthday I write a story for my grandson.
Both the giver and the recipient gain. And for split or blended families, stories explain where children fit.
Question: How can I shape a story for my grandkids?
Answer:
Most families have duplicate photos or vintage ones which can be scanned. Write the story around the photos rather than make the photos fit the story.
Decide on the format: electronic, dummy mini book, photos and pages slipped into a plastic folder, audio or ‘feelie’ book with textures, DVD, Auslan
signed, Braille , or bi-lingual ?
Trial the story aloud to practise ‘shaping’ the sequence and keeping a ‘twist’ for the end. (Check ‘The Business of Writing for Young People’ for hints on structuring)
Use simple sentences. One phrase per page with a picture or photo.
Question and answer works well. Or ‘Luckily’ and then ‘Unluckily.’ as a way of starting the alternate pages and providing tension in the story.
Repetition is important for a young child whether they read it alone or with you.
Create an ‘action’ story where there’s something for the child to do on each page.
Use a large but simple font and position words carefully on the page.
Try an e-story to email. Because I’d been on an Antarctic expedition and had many photographs of ice vehicles, we have an ‘Antarctic Hot Ice Pack’ story which works on the screen and is related to each picture in a sequence. This can also be e-mailed to the child.
A researched ‘Home-Made’ story can be an appropriate gift for older family members too.
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Australian Society Of Authors
www.asauthors.org National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Choosing titles: committee-itis
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
2008: May Choosing titles: Committee-itis
Question: What makes a good title?
Answer: A memorable word or witty phrase which gives a honest clue about what’s inside.
YOUR TURN:
Often professional authors have ‘working titles’ until they think of a better or more apt title. One of my novels had 39 ‘working titles’ until we settled on the ambiguous ‘Outback Ferals’ which covered the Northern Territory setting as well as the locals and the croc and chopper action.
Whether your book is print or e (electronically) published, it needs a memorable title in the ‘tone’ of your work. A funny book needs a funny title.
‘Committeeitis’ is a humorous ‘how to’ book about using committees strategically and surviving them. The humour is linked to a medical analogy that ‘Committee-itis’ is an infection which causes ‘rash decisions’, common complaints etc and that via diagnosis ,the book will provide the antidote. Cartoons illustrate this. But there’s also a sub heading…a light hearted look at the pleasures and pitfalls of sitting on a committee.’
Hints for your book title choice:
• Have an eye catching word or phrase, and then add a subtitle to explain the practicalities.
• Link three relevant words but make the last one unexpected.e.g. ‘Wool, Wheat and Whingers; Stories of the Brown Family
• Say it aloud. Could you say it after a few drinks?
• Does it sound like another word? e.g. More-ish food sounds like ‘Moorish’ Is that what you intended?
• Name your chapters, instead of just numbering. Borrow the best chapter heading for your eventual book title.
• Bribe your children to think of a title.
• Avoid using a common name like “Fred’ for the title, as it means nothing to an outsider.
• Maybe use a question mark?
• A one word, ambiguous title where all the meanings apply is best.
• However a very long title, may stick in the mind or catch the eye.
• Shorter is better because you may have to write it many times in the future.
• Often the title in a catalogue is the only clue for a potential reader. Make it work for you.
• Check there is some implied conflict, or something going wrong, to create the drama of your title.
Choose three titles for your current writing project. Trial them with some readers. Which do they prefer and why? Now make your final choice.
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Australian Society Of Authors
www.asauthors.org National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Non-boring autobiographies and memoirs
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
2008: June Autobiographies
Question: How do I write my autobiography without boring my readers?
Answer:
Memoirs are in fashion. But who are you writing it for?
A memoir is one person’s version of events. The memoir concentrates on extracts whereas an autobiography may cover a whole life. You write your own autobiography. If someone else writes your life history then it’s a biography.
So a memoir may be a good way to start an autobiography. Concentrate on the short, interesting bits first.
‘Antarctic Writer on ice’ is my closest to autobiography and it’s based on the emails sent and interviews done while I was beset in the Antarctic polar ice with 34 blokes and three other women expeditioners. But it was the candid day-to-day details of an older woman coping in Antarctica which interested readers most.
Some memoirs are based on diaries because this captures the immediacy of all senses. But even travel diaries still require editing for diplomacy and for readability.
Some autobiographies are egotistical exercises in chronological boredom. For the reader, not the writer! Avoid this.
Consider:
Who might want to read about your life?
Why? Are you especially candid or funny? Is your life typical of a group?
Is the story just about you or insightful of the period, setting or culture in which you grew up?
Start at the most dramatic point, and flashback. Use anecdotes which are mini stories, not lists of dates. Put these into charts or sidebars.
Don’t over-use ‘I’.
If several versions exist, admit this. ‘Questions remain unanswered….is a great start …’
Trial stories by telling them aloud first.
Don’t sanitise, be honest, but aware of legalities
What happened? What was the significance of this?
Is this a secret? Who might be hurt by publishing this?
Is the ‘voice’ genuine? Or is the tone offputting to a reader.
What is the underlying conflict or drama?
What makes this story different from others? Humour?
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
Australian Society Of Authors
www.asauthors.org National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Non-boring travel writing
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
2008: March Non Boring Travel Writing
Question: How can I use family travel destinations?
Three generational travel for specific purposes, such as sport or genealogy, is increasing. Family may all travel together, but have different interests, goals and ages.
A travel log, diary or even e-mails home retained by the armchair traveller can save memories or become research for later writing, especially if containing family history facts. Or the intransit backpacker can seek answers or take photos of family- significant buildings to help with genealogical research by older relatives back home.
Friends are always interested in WHAT WENT WRONG?
Instead of just personal re-telling (which can be boring for others) can you shape the information to evaluate the significance.for those contemplating a similar experience. E.g. How do you find the right named street? Or cope intransit with young ones who want to party at night and elders who want to go to bed to be up in time to check an historic cemetery?
How can you make your travel writing non-boring? Here are some tips.
Answer:
• Look for the quirky, not what all others write about common destinations such as Paris. Check ‘Paris at a Blistering
Pace’ in ‘Non Boring Travel Writing’ book) about researching with blisters.
• Have you included the facts about
• WHEN,
• WHERE,
• WHY,
• WHAT
• AND HOW MUCH? e.g. Distances? Prices? Hours or dates open?
• Knowing you will write about it later, intensifies experiences and makes you more observant. This is participant-
observation research.
• Remember some readers will be only armchair travellers, so include all senses and give them vicarious experience via
your well chosen examples of smells, sights, sounds, textures and tastes.
• Keep a diary or a blog for immediacy, but craft it later for specific audiences. Maybe add a collage of memorabilia
such as tickets, programs etc
• Include what might interest a cross-age readership. E.g. 6 year old will be more interested in games played by local
kids than historic buildings.
• Craft hints for travellers who follow you in this new experience. E.g. If You’re Going On a Quest for Great Grandfather?
• What might go wrong around here? That provides the real or imagined drama or conflict.
• Include humour. ‘My Most Embarrassing Moment? about a common problem, e.g. lost luggage, common surnames or finding
toilets, and quote fellow travellers
• An underlying conflict or contrast such as ideal versus reality is needed to provide drama. What did you expect and
what was really there?
YOUR TURN:
Write a humorous, one page article based on observations about your form of transport e.g. coach, train or backpacker travel and your purpose in travelling. Include a photo. Try it out on your family.
www.hazeledwards.com has useful links to writing sites and publishers.
including www.commonground.com publishers of Non Boring Travel Writing.
Australian Society Of Authors
www.asauthors.org National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Local history
A great way of meeting people is by having something in common and you can also benefit from experiences they’ve had and are willing to share. Why not try your local genealogy society?
With Australia having a history of people emigrating from other countries and travelling around to follow work in industries such as mining, many of us don’t have instant access to our family backgrounds. Genealogy societies are a useful starting point if you’re looking for information on how to trace your family history or trying to find out what databases are useful for tracking down individuals. As the common goal of all members is to trace their family history, there’s a wealth of knowledge to tap into.
For details of Family History and Historical Societies in your area, click here.
Convicts Ahoy
Like it or not, Australia is a nation born from the transportation of convicts from the British Empire. The good thing about this is that it makes for interesting family histories!
Researching your family history is an interesting, exciting and sometimes disappointing task to undertake but anything you can find out about where you came from and recording this information for future generations is invaluable. The internet is an excellent place to start but other than performing a Google search, and this is as good a place to start as any, what sites are out there to help? Some of our favourites are;
www.convictcentral.com – find out if your ancestors were one of the first, colourful characters to set foot on the sunny shores of Australia, with convict lists to search and tales to entertain!
www.findmypast.com – gives access to passenger lists from the UK between 1890 and 1960 and allows you to create your family tree, free.
www.searchwhateveraustralia.com.au – search engine that also allows you to search Australian and international genealogy sites.
An invaluable source of information is registers of births, marriages and deaths for more information, click here.
Co-writing with family
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
Question: How can I write WITH my relatives?
Answer: To enjoy the benefits of co-writing, which include splitting the
workload and having fun together, you should decide upfront:
• Is it the end product or the process of working together which matters more?
• Who has which skills? When should you defer to the other?
• How long should the work sessions be?
• Can you collaborate electronically even if you are geographically apart?
• If allocating a chapter of the family history to different relatives, agree on editorial policy before you start. Who
has final word? (The one paying, usually.)
• Learn ‘tracking’ to help editing on computer or between geographically distant writers.
• Any big book is the sum of small parts or extracts, so start now.
• If one can’t spell, use diplomatic editing or spell check.
• To concentrate on what has been written, rather than who wrote it.
• If possible, use the same computer programs. This means the e-mail works instead of getting gobbledegook. Have a Skype
link up for free interstate chatting.
Co-writing, which is also known as a collaboration, is also a way of recording significant family events and may include one person writing and the other having the computer skills to enter the story in a suitable electronic format. Maybe the family photographer working with a writer? Grandparent and child? Travel blogger with the person at home? Or in the case of my son Trevelyan Quest, he wrote the bike blog and I helped structure it into a published book but he did all the 5 months cycling solo from Ireland to Istanbul. We’re still talking to each other!
Q. How did you collaborate on the book Cycling Solo?
A. He did ALL the cycling, camped out and wrote the blog in internet cafes. I
helped with editing it into a book and providing the family reflection. (Reversed
section at end of book)
Q. Why did you co-write?
A. So many were enjoying his quirky observations that the ex-blog had
wider, longterm appeal. Since he’s a cartographer, it was also a kind of mind-mapping.
YOUR TURN:
Co-write a family story in any format. Include photos.
MORE BOX:
1. www.hazeledwards.com has notes and links for the mother-son co-writing of Cycling Solo Ireland to Istanbul, a crafted ex-blog which is the new style electronic autobiography of a 9,000km quest.
2. www.fasttrackwriting.com
Offers online writing courses, including Creating Stories for Your Family’
3. www.asauthors.org Australian Society Of Authors
National organisation which has self publishing and writing family histories pamphlets.
Cycling Solo Ireland to Istanbul
Publisher: Brolga Publishing.
RRP $19.95
Why genealogy
Mym came to Australia in 1981, looking for adventure, found love and marriage adventurous enough and settled on the Mornington Peninsula. This is where she now lives with her husband, two daughters (who had left home but often boomerang back) and the family dogs - Tammy, a Jack Russell and Audrey, the spawn of a doggy “girl” about town.
As part of her relaxation regime, Mym goes to work, occasionally agrees to a game of golf, and if feeling highly strung resorts to a walk on the beach.
Why Genealogy?
• To determine ethnic origin
• To explain why your dad wouldn’t talk about his family
• A passion for history
• To note traits in the family such as temperament and talent
• The need for a sense of identity
• Congenital health problems
• A desire to join a hereditary society
• To track down a family tradition
• An interest in migratory patterns
• To identify the owner of artifacts in the family
• To determine ancestors in a particular occupation
• To reclaim the family cemetery
Whatever the reason, all who begin the journey of tracing their ancestry share a common opinion - it is addictive. All your extra time is spent writing to relatives, searching documents, and going online the minute you arrive home. This addiction does have many rewards: new-found relatives, friends in every part of the country, and fascinating bits of history and folklore to enrich your life.
All states have a major genealogy repository, and some have several. It could be within the state library or the state archives, or there may even be a special state library specifically for genealogy
How to go about it
1.Talk to older family members and ask them to relate anything they can remember about the family, no matter how trivial.
2.Find out if there are any birth, christening or baptismal certificates, or marriage or death certificates anywhere within the family.
3.A good place to start is your grandparent’s birth and marriage certificates. If the marriage certificate is not in your family’s possession, as long as you know the names of your grandparents and the marriage date, the certificate is easily obtained from the Office of the Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages. A Marriage certificate is your link to the next generation, as it usually gives the names of the father of both the bride and groom.
4.Don’t lose sight of the fact that although there may be only ONE of you, you may have had
Two parents
Four grandparents,
Eight great grandparents,
16 great-great grandparents
32 great-great-great grandparents,
64 great-great-great-great grandparents
128 great-great-great-great-great grandparents etc.
5.It is best to work backwards, from known information about already-identified ancestors. i.e. your parents or grandparents.
6.Take small steps and be very, very sure of the facts before taking the next step. Never ASSUME.
7.Document everything. Keep a careful record of every search you make, even if you find nothing. It will save you from searching the same records again at a later stage.
8.To assist you in the early stages of your research, you should make use of the various free charts available on the web to record all the details.
9.Macabre as it sounds, following the trail around cemeteries and burial places yields a lot of information. From here you can obtain records of distant relatives, that for whatever reason, may have been omitted, and deemed not worth a mention.
Non Boring Writing Column
Hazel Edwards’ monthly column suggests ways to make the telling of your family history, a memorable experience for reader and writer.
Jan: Using Memorabilia
Question: How can I write around a family heirloom like a medal or brooch?
Answer:
Memorabilia may include letters, jewellery or even items whose use was a mystery, at first.
• Contrast then and now. All stories need drama or the conflict of difference.
• .Who wore it? When ? What was it used for? Any myths?
• Track and link owners’ stories, chronologically or in reverse. Who has it now? Why? Use as a theme to link the generational family stories.
• In what way is it valuable?
• Photograph or copy it. Use as screen saver inspiration.
• Smell it. Check workings.
• Ever lost or stolen?
• Was it commonly used by others at a special period? Why?
• Could you write from the perspective of the item?
• What might interest a child relative?
The National Museum invited me to write for 8-10 year olds around the auctioned telescope belonging to John Collinson Close from Mawson’s 1911 Antarctic expedition. A child had to be included, and there weren’t any in Antarctica then, or even when I was on an Australian Antarctic Division expedition in 2001. But the 1911 telescope was equivalent to the web cam now, in terms of ’seeing’, so I wrote a time-jump ‘faction’ story where telescope and setting were fact, but the imagined character of young John , the auctioneer‘s son was ‘faction’.
YOUR TURN:
Aimed at 8-10 year olds, tell a 200 word story of a piece of family memorabilia. Include a photo.
MORE:
www.hazeledwards.com has a W.I.P. (work in progress) log explaining how historic problems of writing around memorabilia were solved. Antarctic Closeup
ISBN 9781876944544 $A11.95
Interactive website www.nma.gov.au/play/making_tracks.’Faction’ series inspired by real items from the National Museum of Australia’s collection.
Bio:
Best known for ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake’, (a recent official Australian government gift to the little Danish Princess Isobella) Hazel writes across media, including YA ‘FakeID’, a cyber family history mystery. Recently she co-authored ex blog “ Cycling Solo: Ireland to Istanbul” (Brolga) with her cartographer son Trevelyan Quest Edwards who was the original 3 year old mind behind the hippo concept. A national Literacy Champion,she is on the Australian Society of Authors’ committee and lectures on Non Fiction projects at Holmesglen TAFE. Hobbies are bellydancing and asking questions.
Non-boring family histories
You might have a great story to tell, but it will need to be shaped for your prospective audience. Author, Hazel Edwards offers 20 handy hints for crafting your story.
Maybe your grandchild is six and just learning to read, or 17 and never separated from his mobile. You need to write in a format that appeals, which could be email, photos, audio or even scrapbooks. So, here are some hints,
1. Consider your potential audience. Who is going to read this? Be honest. Son? Daughter? Grandchild?
2. Choose a title to attract that reader or audience.
3. Which information and in which order? Six-year-olds are more fascinated by elephant poo than the cultural aspects of elephants in Sri Lanka.
4. Just choose one incident. You can’t tell a lifetime in five minutes.
5. Hook them with the opening….Did you ever hear about the time…….
6. What went wrong? This provides the drama.
7. Keep a twist for the end.
8. Trial the story by telling it aloud, several times. Check where the questions are asked. Answer them in the next version.
9. Tall stories are allowable where the truth is stretched a little in the interests of entertainment.
10. Secrets in one generation may be news to another. Tact and diplomacy may be necessary.
11. Format? Does it have sound effects? Do you have pictures, photos or mementos to show?
12. Food is the sex of children’s stories, so make sure you include what food was eaten at special events. Birthdays, weddings, seasonal treats.
13. Extra ordinary, ordinary events. Make comparisons between then and now. What did you do on an ordinary school day? Rules? Games? Food? Homework? How did you get to school? Did you go to Sunday school?
14. What kind of work did you do? Where? Tools? Bad things? Fun times?
15. Any pets? Hobbies? Did you ‘get into trouble’?
16. Where did you live? What was your home like? How many in the family? Did brothers and sisters share?
17. What were you good at doing? What were you hopeless at doing?
18. Length? Any story must be less than yawn length. Optimistically, attention span is one minute per one year. An eight year old will listen for about eight minutes, but only if there is suspense.
19. Recycling. Maybe you can tell the same story in different formats or for different age groups, e.g. about a family pet or an embarrassing moment.
20. Enjoy the telling and then the audience will too.
Watch this space for more information and resources on how to write a non-boring family history.
Hazel Edwards is best known for her book There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, (which was a recent official Australian government gift to the little Danish Princess, Isobella. Hazel also runs Non Boring Writing Workshops for budding genealogists.
www.hazeledwards.com has workshop details under gigs as well as literary links
Family history help
For those thinking about taking on the often enormous, but also enormously rewarding, task of compiling and writing up their family history, the following websites could be of enormous assistance.
Ecco La Design will turn your photographic memories into a professionally designed, personalised coffee-table book. Imagine all the important moments in your life made into a beautifully printed book, to last a lifetime – travel, weddings, children, family, portfolios, pets, cookbooks. You’ll never have to sort through those boxes of old photos or digital images again.
Ecco La Design ensures your precious memories are recorded exactly as you want – you decide on the theme and which images (and any text) you want included. Ecco La Design puts them together and prints your book in a choice of formats, with a selection of covers and binding, using digital print standards, archival paper stock and photographic quality cover sleeves.
Ecco La Design was established by Jade Creswell, a Master of Business and Technology, who has a creative and technical background in photography. Jade has also kindly donated her Nonna’s Gnocchi recipe for this issue’s Comfort Food For more information on Ecco La Design, click here
The National Library website contains a variety of information relating to family history and genealogy, including guides, indexes and digitised images of documents. It also provides links to other sites both in Australia and overseas, plus contact with other family historians via indexed family trees, mailing lists and bulletin boards. For more information click here
Genealogy
Australian Family History and Genealogy on the Internet. The National Library of Australia's list of genealogy resources, Australian and international.
Go there
Australian Family History Compendium. Information on a wide variety of categories related to genealogy.
Go there
Australian Genealogy. Provides access to regionally located Australasian genealogy sources, data and references.
Go there
Australian War Memorial. The Research & Family History Section contains a wealth of material relating to individual servicemen and women. Find out how to obtain personal service records, locate items in the collections, search biographical databases such as the Roll of Honour, Commemorative Roll, and various Nominal Rolls, and where else to go for information.
Australian Capital Territory
Go there
Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Nothern Territory
New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Go there
Convicts to Australia. Most family historians in Australia regard a convict in their ancestry as enormously desirable. Convicts to Australia is intended to guide, inform and entertain those just starting the hunt as well as the more experienced researcher. There are many links on convict matters: indices and lists of convicts; guides to records and sources; convict ships and background information.
Go there
Family History - State Library of NSW site, with many links.
Go there
FamilySearch. The internet genealogy service of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a very extensive site, indispensable for family history research. The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is available on this site. The site offers free the Personal Ancestral File which helps users organise their family history records.
Go there
Genealogy Centre State Library of Victoria. Comprehensive links to sites in Australia, all States and overseas.
Go there
Genealogy Links. The site has over 1,800 pages and over 21,000 links, most of them to online surname searchable records such as ship's passenger lists, church records, cemetery transcriptions, military records and censuses for many countries. Links are indexed by region. The site includes free family tree software.
Go there
Genie and History Links. Links are listed by Australian States/Territories and by themes such as convicts and cemeteries. There are also links to genealogy sites in other countries and to general sites.
Go there
GENUKI. If your background is the British Isles, this site is for you. It has a large collection of information pages for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man compiled by the UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service.
Go there
Lorraine's Top Family History Internet Sites. Lorraine Stacker is Research Services Librarian for the Penrith City Council. Includes family history societies, government agencies (such as Archives), surname lists and how to get started, plus a comprehensive listing of links to Australian sites.
Go there
National Archives of Australia. The National Archives holds some colonial records, but the richest sources in the collection are those created during the 20th century. They include the armed services, indigeneous records and immigrants.
Go there
The Internet Family History Association of Australia (IFHAA) Genealogy Course. A free 18-lesson online course to get you started on the right track.
Go there
Queensland Family History Society (QFHS). Go to Quicklinks (in SERVICES) for a large listing of sites to visit in Australia and overseas.
Go there
RootsWeb. This American site is the oldest and largest free online community for genealogists. The site contains extensive interactive guides and numerous research tools for tracing family histories.
Go there
Society of Australian Genealogists - Established in 1932 and now with over 7,800 members throughout the world, this is the oldest society of its kind in Australia and having one of the largest private genealogical and historical reference collections in the southern hemisphere.
Go there
World-Wide Genealogy Resources. Over 400 sites from all over the world. Some in turn have further links.
Go there
