You are rummaging through the attic of your home that has belonged to the family for generations. Imagine the excitement let alone fascination of finding a written account of a family member’s life in the 18th Century?
Many of your forebears will have led interesting lives. They may have been servants in grand houses. We can presume that some knew hard times as farm workers. Others will have been sailors who visited new worlds; perhaps fought in great sea battles. Others will have undoubtedly been soldiers or otherwise served the Empire. Is there a murderer in there somewhere; a family member who was transported or executed for stealing a little corn? Their lives were far different from our own and would prove enthralling: We can only reflect on how those stories may have read had they taken the trouble to set them down.
Writing wasn’t easy back then. Few could do so and it is unlikely they had the time. Back in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries people worked hard from dawn to dusk. Publishing life stories was exclusively for the rich. Perhaps people back then didn’t think of their lives being of particular interest and it is unlikely they were attention-grabbing to their contemporaries. But our lives, which we might think boring, are fascinating glimpses into the past for future generations.
I never regarded my own life as being anything special but my son is absolutely amazed at my accounts of postwar British and Irish austerity: ‘Ration books, dad?’ Then there was my world travels as a young seaman for it was a far different world back in the early sixties. To him I must be like a Crimea War veteran; there has been so much change in fashion, entertainment, technology, travel, lifestyle, education, conflicts, and global shifts. There has been more change in my lifetime than through all of Queen Victoria’s reign.
Why don’t you set your own story down? Size in this case doesn’t matter: It doesn’t have to be a 100,000 word blockbuster. A 20 – 30,000 word biography will likely be perfect. This is not as formidable as you might think, especially when you follow the tips in my next blog. This small article you are reading now is over 500 words long. You will be using words to paint a picture of your life and those whose lives have made such an impact on your own.
There’s no excuse for not doing so. Many of your forebears couldn’t write; they didn’t have free time and were unlikely to have a typewriter. How much easier it is for you: All you need do is sit at your PC keyboard and let your heart do the typing. Furthermore, once written it will be available for all time and will be read many years ahead, even centuries after you have passed this way.
Someone in the 22nd or 23rd centuries is pleading with you to reveal all. Will you disappoint them? As I say, watch out for the tips that will follow in a day or so. – Michael.