Family History book

[littleone85]

I want to write a family history book but am unsure in what order to put it. Who do i start with? e.g could start with my grandparents who are the eldest of my living relatives, then go on to their children, but when i get to my parents or aunt and uncles with children, do i carry on and talk about their children and come back to their brothers and sisters later? It seems like it would look fairly disjointed. Also where would i put my grandparents ancestors? Alternatively I could start with the oldest ancestors but since I'm the only one thats looked into any great detail into my family history my other relatives probably wouldn't know who I was talking about unless i put it in the context of someone they know. Argh, its all very confusing and I don't know where to start! I want it to be easily readable as I plan to distribute copies to all my relatives. Another problem is who to include, obviously family history spreads and spreads, do i stick to my grandparents ancestors and descendants or for example,go in his sisters family too? Obviously it could turn into quite a hefty read if i'm not selective but at the same time I don't want anyone to think i've missed out things of interest. Also I was wondering how i should go about producing it, It gonna be a fairly low number of copies say twenty or thirty, being of modest means i was thinking of putting it together using binding combs, would it be cheaper to make them myself (theres a stationary shop near me that sells a binding comb hole puncher for a tenner and binding combs cheaply too) or pay some kind of printing shop to do it? However it would look nicer to have it in typical book presentation, how expensive would that be?

[spudqueen]

How about starting with your own generation? You don't have to go into too much detail and could maybe put how you got interested in tracing your family. Work backwards then through the generations sticking mainly to your direct ancestors unless they have an interesting sibling or something when you could give their story. Eg if I was writing about my family history I would include the story of my Grandfathers sister who I think has an interesting tale to be told, however I wouldn't do more than mention in passing his three brothers.

[saxy_jag]

I've just edited my mother-in-law's memoirs for publication. In her diaries, she starts with her earliest memory (attendance at a wedding, wearing a new hat), and then sort of moves semi-chronologically through her life, except now and then the manuscript wanders into the fact that she's just bumped into so-and-so who was her friend at such-and-such-time etc etc.

What I did in the end was to just get everything down onto my word processor. Then I went through dividing it into sections, colour coding the text as I went. After that, I took one section at a time - family background, neighbourhood antics, the war, marriage etc etc, pulling it piece by piece into something coherent. That bit about her earliest memory found its way into a section about half way through which dealt with the story of the romance of the couple involved.

The pictures etc. were the very last thing to go in, when I'd decided what should illustrate what.

You could do worse than beg, borrow or buy a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Publish-Family-H istory-Successfully/dp/1872883591/sr=11-1/qid= 1166632853/ref=sr_11_1/026-9393085-6869214
which is about the best one I've found on the topic. I've also read some of the author's own history titles, which are very well-written and produced, so I know he knows what he's talking about.

[saxy_jag]

You might also be interested in a short Open University course, "Start Writing Family History". It's a introductory, twelve week course, taught online, and costs �135. Next courses start in February and May.

[saxy_jag]

Duh! The link would help:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02 A173

[Bookwormben]

If you are still looking to produce a printed copy of your family history book then I recommend the following website www.myfamilyhistorybook.co.uk
This site offers a free to download guide, and has a utility which makes writing your history really easy. You can even collaborate with family members all over the world and include photos and other images.