I know what you’re going to say – where is the letter R challenge? I will write that one when the results of my DNA testing come in.
Stories
Writing your family history unit at UTAS involves writing short 250 word stories about an event or person in your family history. I am finding this unit very difficult. I don’t mind writing factual reports or timelines of a person’s life and including the referencing as I go. That is what I think a family historian should do so others can check the sources to verify facts mentioned.
Personally I feel once I start putting words into the mouth of my ancestor or writing about what their life was like or could have been like, then I am no longer writing family history but am writing fiction or narratives that can’t necessarily be proven.
But I did mention to the Facebook group I am a member of that I would include my short stories here, so they could leave comments about where I could improve. Click on the link for each story as each is a new post.
Story 1 about a whale hunt that relates to my great great grandfather William Smith
Story 2 about my great great grandmother Rebecca Jackson
Story 3 about my great great grandfather William Chandler
Story 4 about the townland Garshooey in Donegal Ireland
Story 5 about a murder story from Trove
Story 6 another about William Chandler
As I complete each story I will add the link.
Readers: How are you finding this unit? Can you recommend anything for me to read that might help me improve my storytelling skills?