Southeast Missouri Roots & Branches: Hints for effective writing for family histories

At this point you have decided your family history research has gone far enough and then decided on the structure that works best for you and for your goals. There are several features of your writing that you should consider as you start and progress through your written family history.

First, your writing style depends on your goal and audience. Most often, you are sharing with family, and it is best to focus on some key or interesting ancestors for details. Most family members only look at your book if they can read it in one sitting or it is in sections that can be read quickly. People also appreciate stories about family that are in chronological order.

Many dislike writing because they think they are not particularly good at it. Fortunately, by using word processing software, there are multiple ways to “clean up” writing so it is technically correct and reads better. As you write, strive to use best writing practices. A useful (and concise) guide is “The Elements of Style”, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Currently in its fourth edition, this small book is a readable, no-nonsense guide to the essentials of clear writing.

Use active voice throughout the family history. In active voice, the subject of the sentence is usually the person or thing performing the action and which can take a direct object. Using the alternative, passive voice, the subject undergoes the action of the verb. Most often in passive voice, a form of the verb “to be” precedes the verb. For example: “The Rev. Henckel baptized Wilhelm Schmidt” is active voice, while “Wilhelm Schmidt was baptized by the Rev. Henckel” is passive voice. A selection of text written in passive voice is less engaging to the reader than one written in active voice.

Another hint to better writing is to avoid excessive use of qualifiers (words like very, occasionally, never, somewhat). They add little to the writing — just state the case and avoid the empty qualifier. Focus on simple language — nouns and verbs. Excessive adjectives and adverbs have their place, but not in family history writing.

Your writing will be less distracting to many readers if you use proper grammar and word forms. A major example is the proper construction of plural forms of nouns. Never use an apostrophe in forming plurals. For example, a collection of wagons (not a collection of wagon’s or a collection of wagons’). Apostrophes denote possessive forms of some nouns (example: a wagon’s cover) or to indicate letters omitted in contractions (“aren’t” as a contraction of “are not”). It is no longer standard form to use two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence. One space is standard today — the two spaces are a holdover from the days of typewriters.

Proofreading improves your writing, including checking for spelling, grammar and passive voice. Use tools in your word processing software or software such as Hemingway or Grammarly. Use a search engine to check for the current procedure for your software. Then, proofread it yourself and, finally, have a friend or friends proofread it and make suggestions for improvement.

Writing a family history can be less daunting if you break the task into smaller “chunks”. As with eating an elephant, take it one bite at a time! Bites can be separate family books, blog postings or social media postings for each segment of your writing. Set SMART goals in your writing: specific (focused on smaller tasks), measurable (set a benchmark for completion), attainable (accomplished in a reasonable time), relevant (focus!) and timely (keeping a goal in mind, for example, a family reunion).

Find a space for writing and a time of day that works best for you. Show, don’t tell, if you can; that is, use photos, charts, tables and family lore and heirlooms to enhance your presentation. Use prompts to keep moving forward — you can find these by looking online for “family story writing prompts”. Seek out a local writers’ group or class, which provides a support group for aspiring writers. Read other family histories for ideas, both good and bad. If you hit blocks writing “in order”, then write “out of order”. You can plug the gaps later. Write something every day, even if it is just a few sentences. This will keep you on task.

Finally, remember that it is okay to write a bad first draft. That is why we proofread! You have at least gotten a start that will improve with polishing.

Bill Eddleman, Ph.D. Oklahoma State University, is a native of Cape Girardeau County who has conducted genealogical research for over 25 years.