You Don’t Have to Write a Book!
Writing Your Family History as Personal and Memoir Essays
(Once again I am pleased to welcome Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, MFA, CG to The Armchair Genealogist.)
Does the thought
of writing your family history send you straight back to bed to hide under the
covers? Is the grout in your shower tile suddenly in need of cleaning every
time you attempt to write your family history? Have you procrastinated so long
that the relatives who were bugging you to write The Book have died, and now,
instead of feeling relieved that the pressure’s off, you’re feeling guilty and
remorseful?
You’re not
alone. Most genealogists agree that it’s the research they enjoy and have a
true affinity for. The writing part, well, that just conjures up demonic images
of matronly English teachers with bloody red correction pens. Have you
considered, though, that you don’t have to write a whole book? You can write one, two, three, or many more essays about your
ancestors instead.
Before we get
started, let’s get rid of the equally unsavory image of the word essay. I’m not talking about English
Comp, thesis statement, five-paragraph-type essays here. I’m talking about the
genres known as personal essay and memoir essay and how these can be viable
alternatives to, or the perfect springboards for, a larger work.
The word essay derives from the French word assay, which means “to try” or “to
attempt.” As Dinty Moore (yes, that’s his real name) says in Crafting the Personal Essay, “The
essayist does not sit down at her desk
already knowing all of the right answers, because if she did, there would
be no reason to write” (emphasis his). This is perfect! How many of us know all
the answers about our ancestors?
By adding the
adjective personal to essay, it means you’ll be writing about
something personal to you, such as your parents, your grandparents, your great
Aunt Matilda, or your fifth great-grandfather. By adding the adjective memoir to essay, it means you’ll be writing about your memories of a
relative. It’s not uncommon to find a little of both within an essay.
Essays can be a
few paragraphs or many pages. As a former writing teacher once told me, “Have
something to say, and stop when you’ve said it.” The length depends on what you
have to say about your relative or ancestor. But what defines personal and
memoir essays is the inclusion of you, the writer, in the essay.
Putting yourself
into the narrative brings the essay to life for your readers. They might not be
able to connect with an ancestor who lived 200 years ago, but they can connect
with you, a writer, who’s searching for that ancestor and seeking answers about
that person’s life. Or they can relate to your trek to the ancestral homesite
to walk the ground your forebear walked. Or they can understand the writer who
travels thousands of miles to the Old Country but keeps getting lost when he
tries to find the cemetery.
The personal
essay is as much about the author’s quest, the attempt, to find and/or
understand past lives, as it is about the ancestor. The author doesn't have to
have all the answers and doesn't have to reach conclusions. The reader is
coming along for the journey, the experience, the sense of discovery the author
makes along the way.
The memoir
essay, on the other hand, captures a memory, or memories, from the author’s
life as it relates to that family member. While a personal essay ponders a
question or questions the author is trying to answer, the memoir essay just “is.”
The memoir essay relates a memorable event told in story fashion.
The added beauty
of personal/memoir essay writing is you aren't obligated to document your
sources. You are the source, your
memories and your musings. In writing essays, which are always nonfiction, the
reader brings to the table the trust
that you are being honest and truthful—or as honest and truthful as your recollections
and your interpretation of the events can be.
The best way to
get a feel for essay writing, to see if it’s for you, is to read several of
them. I’ve listed below some essays and a
book of collected essays that are about each authors’ families. The list is not
inclusive, but it offers a variety of approaches to writing personal and memoir
essays about relatives and ancestors. As you read the essays, you will discover
that many authors have developed themes or posed questions that most genealogists
might not think to write about. But each one explores aspects of family history
that resonates with readers.
Now when it
comes time to write your family history, and the shower tile grout calls your
name, consider writing something shorter and more manageable: a personal or
memoir essay about your family.
Suggested
Reading
“Aunt Harriet” by Hubert Butler (You can find this essay in the
anthology The Art of the Personal Essay, edited by Phillip Lopate, available at many libraries)
“TheClan of One-Breasted Women,” by Terry Tempest Williams
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan (Google the title and author to find the
essay online.)
“Questionnaire
for My Grandfather” by Kim Adrian in Gettysburg
Review (Winter 2009). (Back issues can be purchased at www.gettysburgreview.com/)
“Reading History to My Mother” by Robin Hemley (Published in the
anthology Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present
, edited by
Lex Williford and Michael Martone)
, edited by
Lex Williford and Michael Martone)
The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings
by Rebecca McClanahan (This book is a
collection of essays about various relatives in the author’s family.)
by Rebecca McClanahan (This book is a
collection of essays about various relatives in the author’s family.)
“Switched at Midlife” by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, published online
at http://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2012/01/switched-at-midlife-by-sharon-carmack/.
“The Urban Jungle” by Linda Gartz, published online at http://www.roseandthornjournal.com/Fall_2012_Prose_5.html.
About the Author
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s passion is writing, and she loves working
with writers. She’s a Certified Genealogist with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing. Her
twenty-plus years of editing experience includes acquisition, development, and
content editing of more than forty books for F+W Media’s Betterway/Family Tree
Books, as well as editor and/or mentor for numerous private clients. Sharon
serves on the editorial board of Steinbeck Review, is an assistant editor for Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, and a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine.
Sharon is also a published author of eighteen
books and hundreds of articles, essays, columns, and reviews that have appeared
in nearly every major genealogical journal and publication. Some of her books
include You Can Write
Your Family History; Carmack’s Guide
to Copyright & Contracts: A Primer for Genealogists, Writers & Researchers; and Your Guide to Cemetery
Research. Her work has also appeared in writing
and literary publications: Creative
Nonfiction, Brevity, Hippocampus Magazine (where her
essay, “Switched at Midlife” won “Most
Memorable”), Steinbeck
Review, Writer’s Digest, and Phoebe: A
Journal of Literature and Art (where her essay
received Honorable Mention in the annual Creative Nonfiction Contest). Sharon’s
essays have also been finalists for the Bellingham Review’s Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction and in Creative Nonfiction’s True Crime contest.
Along with an
MFA (with Distinction) in Creative Nonfiction Writing from National University,
Sharon holds a BA (summa cum laude) in English from
Regis University, and a Diploma in Irish Studies from the National University
of Ireland, Galway.
Sharon teaches
personal essay writing classes online for Writer’s Digest University
and Irish genealogical research classes online for Family Tree University. She is
also part of the adjunct genealogy faculty for Salt Lake Community College’s
online Certificate in
Genealogy program. As an Associate Faculty in the English Department for Ashford University, Sharon teaches English Composition
courses.
You can reach
Sharon through her website www.NonfictionHelp.com.
