Writing a personal story book

You've been thinking about it, but like most people, you don't know where to start. Or you think you couldn't possibly write a book.

Say you decided to write your life's story.

Let's take that as an example...

3 steps to writing your personal story:

Step 1.

If you are writing in long-hand, you need a three-hole ring binder in which you place a 10-tab index set. Add a few pages of lined paper in each section to get you started.

The 10-tab sections are to break your life into 5-year increments. That adds up to 50, of course, and if you're over fifty, add however many more tabs you need to total up your whole life.

If you can use a computer, this will be so much easier when you go back over your writing to edit and re-organize your thoughts. If you're writing long-hand, just remember that it will be more time-consuming to re-write on new pages what you already wrote, each time you make changes and additions, etc. It might be a good idea to get someone to help you if you are not a computer user and dictate to him or her.

If you are writing in long-hand, double-space your lines. This makes it easier for you to insert after-thoughts or corrections, etc. If you are typing in a word-processor, you can use the single line until the end where you just hit a button and your work becomes double-spaced for your manuscript.

You may want to write your story for publishing to the whole world or just to your own family, friends or grandchildren. So keep in mind your reader.

Write as if you are speaking to that audience.

If you are using a computer, which is much easier for editing, etc., your sections will be in the form of files. Each file will cover a 5-year increment, in much the same way as the above binder tab sections.

Don' start your first section with "I was born in....". Start your first section where you are at now, presently. What's happened to you recently that would interest your readers - depending on who they are. Just write anything that's on your mind, from your heart. Don't worry about organization, grammar or anything at this point. Write your memories in each of the 5-year incremental sections as you recall any significant events.

Once you are sort of empty of ideas, go back to your first section and develop your present situation. At the end, think of a good point to pick up on for your next section and make a bridge, a transition to the start of your next section (example, "So here I am, in the hospital, thinking about the more peaceful times of my childhood".

Now, if you are using a computer, save your file as Section 1_Present Thoughts (for example). Later you will change these for proper chapter titles. In the same way, if you're using the binder, name your first index tab section.

Step 2.

Picking up from the thought you left off in your Section 1, you might begin, "It was a beautiful, warm Spring day when I was about 4 years old...". This could be a moment of your childhood connected with your last thoughts, perhaps when the illness for which you are now in the hospital began, or it may be an explanation or expantion of your life at an earlier stage that you mentioned in your first section.

This might be an event in the unfolding of the first 5 years of your life or it might be in another 5-year increment such as when you were a teenager or thirty years old when you married, or whatever. Use the information that is in your 5-year increment section for that time-frame.

Continue writing, fitting in the thoughts and the events, until that time-frame in your life is covered. Don’t worry about not remembering everything, just write down those things that are important in this writing segment. When you’re ready to move on to another 5-year increment, do the same to bridge over to the next Section 3. Give Section 2 a name appropriate to that time-frame. Later on you will be able to change those temporary file/section names into appropriate chapter titles.

Keep doing this for every 5-year increment sections until the end. As new thoughts come back into memory that belong to previous (or up-coming) sections, go to that section/file and insert your writing there. Even if it is just a few thoughts, write them down now for later development, otherwise, you will forget.

Finish your last section by bringing your story full circle to the present events you started with in Section 1. For example, "... but today, I received good news from my doctor that I will be able to go home tomorow.

I'm ready to start a brand new life." Conclude with an inspirational word that might be helpful to another person, a lesson you may have learned from your experiences, a dream you may be pursuing… example, "Yes, I will take time to smell the roses, go on family picnics and get to know my neighbours a lot more."

Step 3.

Once you’ve written all that you have, go back and edit, re-arrange, organize, change as you see fit. Then, go through the whole work again and edit some more. Take out anything that is redundant or unnecessary. Read it as if you were your audience. Split up long, confusing sentences into shorter, more spiffy phrases. Use action verbs that show rather than adjectives and adverbs that tell (example: "The large wild dog came toward me as if he was going to tear me to pieces."

Replace it with, "The killer dog lunged at me viciously."

Then, go over it again and edit some more. No kidding. The secret to good writing is "edit, edit, edit" until there is nothing else to edit. You might ask some people you trust to read it and comment on it. Listen to them and incorporate in your work the criticism and ideas that you find constructive.

Once this is done and you are happy with your work, find appropriate titles within each section that you can use to name your chapters. Look for a phrase that will describe the main idea or point of your section.

You may find that some section need to be split up to better formulate two chapters.

Then you’re ready to write it up into your manuscript - click here for information on that.

Good writing!

Diane

Click on this link for writing a business topic book

Click on this link for a free e-course on Internet Writing

__________________________________________________________

Sign up to our Monthly "Business Resources" newsletter of Information, Inspiration, Motivation, Business Tips, and more...
__________________________________________________________