Before you try writing family history with AI, read this

Chronicle Lab revealed what works (and what doesn’t) when genealogists use AI for storytelling.

I just wrapped up the first-ever Chronicle Lab cohort, and I learned just as much as the participants did. Some of what I expected proved true, but a few things surprised me, in the best possible way.

I should start off by explaining that Chronicle Lab was not a traditional genealogy course.

It wasn’t just a list of things AI could do or a bunch of writing prompts.

And it definitely wasn’t 8 hours of slides and lectures each day, like most week-long genealogy intensives.

Chronicle Lab is a real-world lab: a place where people showed up with family facts, tried new writing approaches, used AI in surprising ways, and shared their honest struggles and breakthroughs. It was a doing course, where everyone learned while working on their own personal projects.

Watching them go from hesitant to confident, from stuck to published, changed how I think about writing and technology.

Before you bring AI into your writing process, here are five key things you should know.

1. Writing isn’t one thing. Writing is series of steps, and each step needs a different mindset.

Most people think of writing as a single act: sit down, start typing, and hope something good comes out (Or sit down, tell AI “Write the family history of this person, in this place, during these dates”). But in Chronicle Lab, we broke it down.

Every student moved through a clear sequence:

• Setting scope (What’s this story really about?)

• Threading the timeline (How do all these facts fit together?)

• Drafting (Can I get a messy first version down?)

• Refining (What’s missing, or needs to be reworded?)

• Sharing (Who is this story for?)

AI tools worked best when students matched them to the task at hand. No one-sentence prompting stories here!

2. AI can’t replace your voice, and that’s a good thing.

One fear I heard a lot at the beginning: “I don’t want AI to write for me.”

And AI doesn’t have to. If you build your story in steps, you are writing it, not AI.

What AI can do is amazing: outline your ideas, help compile scattered research, smooth out grammar, and show alternate phrasing.

But the heart of the story—your interpretation, your insight, your emotional tone—only comes from you.

The surprise for most participants was that using AI actually helped them hear their own voice more clearly. “That doesn’t sound like me” was music to my ears.

3. If you already have a process, AI makes it faster, often dramatically.

Chronicle Lab had both seasoned writers and total beginners. And one thing stood out:

The folks who already had a writing habit, who knew their flow and what kind of story they wanted to tell, got an enormous boost from using AI.

Projects that had been stuck for years suddenly started moving. Stories that would’ve taken months to shape came together in a weekend.

It wasn’t because AI wrote it all. It was because AI sped up the parts that used to drag them down.

4. Community matters more than I realized.

I knew having a group would be helpful.

What I didn’t expect was how essential it would become.

Genealogy writing is lonely work. When you’re learning something new (especially tech-related), it’s easy to hit a wall and quit.

But in Chronicle Lab, students had a space to ask questions, share drafts, and say, “Here’s what I’m working on” and others could support them. We talked openly about where things could go wrong. About perfectionism. About overwhelm.

And because of that, people kept going. Even when it felt hard.

This is where structuring Chronicle Lab as a doing course, not just a series of lectures, really worked.

5. Learning to write with AI is about control, not surrender.

Most tools feel like they’re trying to take over. I am so tired of squiggly lines under transcribed words while I type. Yes, I know its “spelled wrong” for the 21st century, but that is the way it’s spelled!

The way we used AI in Chronicle Lab was about being in control of AI, not controlled by it.

Nobody wants to be told what to write.

They just wanted a better way to get started, stay organized, and see their stories through. And AI can support writers in their project, without getting in the way.

And I can’t end this post without a shout-out to the very first Chronicle Lab cohort!! You trusted a total stranger (hi!) to guide you through something brand new, and your openness made the whole experience better than I imagined. I truly feel blessed to have spent the last two weeks with you.

I’m working on the dates for the next Chronicle Lab cohort. If you want to be the first to enroll with a discount, join the waitlist:

Subscribe here to get updates and an invite when doors open again.

And if you’re already experimenting with AI for family history writing, I’d love to hear what you’ve learned too. Please leave a comment!

—Denyse

P.S. Starting next week this newsletter will be arriving on Saturday mornings, not Sunday. I’ll also be continuing Wednesday edition with the next one offering a preview of the July’s posts and the most talked about prompt from Chronicle Lab.