About Waverly Fitzgerald
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Writing Family History (10 weeks)
Have files of genealogical research? Great family stories? A treasure trove of old letters?
Writers come to family history from a variety of backgrounds but in general they share a passion for history, a love of research, and a commitment to preserving the stories of the past. Family history is a wide and generous field providing the writer with a number of presentation options including self-published books, web sites and blogs, annotated collections of letters or photos, articles for historical magazines or genealogical journals, biographies, personal essays and book-length memoirs.
This class will be structured to take you from the inception of a project to publication. We'll begin by brainstorming options and defining the scope of our projects, then study the elements of good fiction - story, character development, point of view, scene and the use of sensory details - as they apply to family history. We'll discuss topics of special interest to family historians including how to stop researching and start writing, fill in the gaps, and deal with issues of confidentiality.
Family historians are also generous folks and so we will undoubtedly help each other with research as well as providing feedback on our writing, working singly and in pairs and trios to learn how the material we find so fascinating translates to others. We'll also read great examples of the genre.
This class assumes you have already done a significant amount of research. If you have not yet begun doing research, you would probably benefit more from an introductory genealogy class. But please don't put off taking this class until your research is complete. The act of writing will enliven and enhance your research, perhaps even help you answer questions that have been baffling you for years.
Class 1 Surveying the Territory
Identifying your purpose and audience. Examples of the varied ways you might present your material. Brainstorming options. Narrowing down the scope of your project. Assignment: Write about your project, your purpose, your audience. Write for 15 minutes every day. Post a statement of scope and purpose.
Class 2 Finding the True Story
Using the elements of plot to shape the way you present family stories. The art of story-telling. The search as the story. Outlining your project with ten topic sentences. What you can't write. Writing for genealogical magazines. Assignment: Outline two possible plots for your project. Write for 15 minutes every day. Find two or three photographs of the people in your work.
Class 3 Painting Portraits of People
Creating multi-dimensional characters. Writing from photographs. Keeping characters straight, using point of view and charts. Dealing with issues of privacy and respect for sensitive material. Writing for literary journals. Assignment: Write an observation of a person. Write and post a portrait of someone in your family history. Continue to write 15 minutes every day.
Class 4: Setting the Scene
The vertical drop: the value of scenes. Differences between summary and scene. Creating suspense. Writing narrative non-fiction articles. Assignment: Write a scene. Create a bibliography of books (articles, web sites) similar to yours. Post your bibliography.
Class 5:Creating a Sense of Place
Using sensory details to create a sense of place. The right details and where to find them. The use of maps. Writing for the web. Assignment: Write an observation of a place. Write another scene. Continue to write for 15 minutes a day. Find or create a map to incorporate into your project.
Class 6: Shapes of Stories
Common structures used for writing family histories: the story arc, the collage, the braid, the frame, the circle story, with examples from family histories. Using different points of view to shape your story. Assignment: Choose a structure for your piece. Rewrite a piece you've already written from a different point of view. Continue to write for 15 minutes a day.
Class 7: Recreating the Past
What to do when you can't find the details you need: speculation and dialogue. Using old newspapers, novels and catalogs for information. Time traveling. Writing historical fiction. Assignment: Assemble the pieces you have written so far into a rough draft. Send to the teacher and two other students.
Class 8: Making It Look Good
Reproducing photographs and maps. Options for printing and publishing. Formatting a manuscript. Self-publishing. Giving helpful feedback. Assignment: Research the market and identify opportunities for your piece. Write a critique of a project similar to yours. Provide feedback on the pieces you received.
Class 9: Finding Your Voice
Rewriting and editing in stages. Setting your own standards. Avoiding the passive voice. Identifying emerging themes. Assignment: Polish your draft using feedback you received.
Class 10: Sharing Your Work with the World
Footnotes and endnotes. Submission process and how it works.
Assignment: Submit your work.
How long will it take to do the work in the class?
This class will operate on several levels. You'll be reading good examples of family history (a minimum of a half hour a week), working on your own project (15 minutes a day), reading the email lessons and doing the exercises suggested (approximately an hour a week) and reading posts from other students and responding to them (optional, except for a few weeks when you will be asked to provide feedback, using guidelines that should help you do this easily).
How much feedback will I get from the teacher?
Waverly will read one piece per student per session and give you feedback on these before the next lesson goes out.
How much of my work will I be expected to share with other students?
Most of your assignments will not be shared directly with other students but certain assignments will be:
1) your definition of the scope of your project, its purpose and your audience (posted to the whole group so we can get to know each other's projects and get suggestions on feasibility, models and research opportunities)
2) a portrait of someone in your project (shared with one other person to see how well you conveyed character)
3) your bibliography of similar projects (posted to the whole group to elicit ideas for other similar projects)
4) your rough draft (shared with two other students to get feedback from readers)
You are also encouraged but not required to share your final revision. You are always welcome to share more.
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Waverly Fitzgerald is a writing coach, teacher and writer who lives in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of four historical novels, written under the name of Nancy Fitzgerald. She has also written a non-fiction book on time, Slow Time, self-published a family history about the Fitzgerald side of her family, and created a blog for the Wittak side of her family. She graduated from the Family History and Genealogy certificate program at the University of Washington in 1998 and went on to teach Writing Family History through that program for several years. She has also been the Publications Director of the Seattle Genealogical Society and a participant in the Nearby History program at the Museum of History and Industry. She has been awarded a residency at Hedgebrook and a fellowship through the Jack Straw Writers Program. She currently teaches for Richard Hugo House and Artist Trust. For more information, visit her website at www.waverlyfitzgerald.com
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