Most beginning writers skip this step and regret it

If you’ve ever opened a blank page and just stared at it, this post is for you.

Welcome back to Chronicle Makers, where we celebrate beginning family history writers, turning facts into stories (often using AI to help!).

All my previous posts and newsletters are archived here. And subscribers can now join the waitlist for my first Chronicles Lab. Go from messy research to published story in less than 10 days. Learn more about it.

Most beginners overcomplicate things.

You don’t need a master’s degree in genealogy.

You don’t need to solve every mystery in your tree.

And you definitely don’t need a massive database with every record perfectly cited.

What you do need?

An ancestor, your research, and a feeling.

And a decision: Who is this story really for?

Because the secret to finishing a family history story isn’t how many facts you have. It’s how clear you are on the scope of the project.

When I first tried to write family history, I didn’t set any scope. I just…started typing.

Every fact I found, I tried to cram in. Every related person, every newspaper mention, every historical event that happened while they were alive—it all felt important. But the result was a mess. I had writing that was technically correct, boring to read. Definitely was a good cure for insomnia.

That’s when I realized I needed to stop trying to do everything and treat each story like a project. Define the reader. Know the outcome. Keep the focus tight.

Because scope = clarity. And clarity = purpose.

Before you start writing, ask yourself:

State one answer for each of these questions to define the scope and make your writing project doable:

• Who is this story about?

  (Name, relationship, generation, etc.)

• What’s the story focus?

  (A single event, time period, or theme)

• Who am I writing this for?

  (Audience: a cousin, your kids, the entire family, future generations, etc.)

• Why am I writing this?

  (Check one or write your own)

  ◻ Preserve family history

  ◻ Share something meaningful

  ◻ Connect with relatives

  ◻ Practice storytelling

• What feeling do I want my reader to have?

  (Inspired? Connected? Curious? Proud?)

We expand on this checklist fully inside The Chronicle Lab, our new writing cohort. We go deep into how to define the purpose and audience of your story before you write a single sentence. Join the waitlist for the course to learn more.

Why “who are you writing for?” changes everything

Let’s take John Wilmer, my ancestor who left behind a will, a contested estate, and a long paper trail of descendants wrangling with government regulators in Pennsylvania. I could write a dozen versions of his story, depending on the intended reader. For these examples, I chose the emotions of respect and connection.

Here’s how changing just the reader shifts my writing:

• For a 10-year-old:

  “John Wilmer was your great-great-great-grandfather. He owned a dairy farm and delivered milk in glass bottles to people’s home. But after he died, his kids argued over what should happen next, then the state government bullied the farm until it closed. This is the story of what happened and what we can learn from it.”

• For a cousin:

  “You remember how we grew up hearing that the family fought about the dairy? It turns out, things got messy after John Wilmer died. Here’s the full story, including how the government regulated this dairy out of business and why it might still matter to us.”

• For myself:

  “I kept returning to John Wilmer’s life when I had time to research. Maybe because I needed to understand what happened when a family falls apart and all the forces at work that made it happen. Here’s what I found and what it helped me realize about my life.”

• For future generations:

  “In 1929, John Wilmer passed away in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His will, and the legal fights that followed, revealed a complicated family dynamic and the impact of changing government regulations. This is the story of those events, told so you understand where we came from and the values we hope you’ll carry forward.”

Each version is based on the same facts and the same emotions I want the reader to have.

But defining the reader changes the shape, tone, and focus of each piece.

Now, imagine how the story would shift again if I chose a different emotion, such as anger or regret? Completely different pieces again.

I look forward to working with you in-depth inside The Chronicle Lab. The course takes you through the entire story writing process, and you’ll leave with a story you can be proud of and a process you can repeat over and over again. I’m opening it next Friday the 13th to just the people on the waitlist.

Happy scoping!

—Denyse

P.S. I’ll turn this post into a YouTube video at some point this summer. As a subscriber, you got the information first!