Family History stories into novels?

Hi ForestQueen - Family history stories don't always make the best novels because sometimes interest in them is limited to only a few people or a region. A lot depends on what your topic is - a rum-runner during prohibition might be interesting enough to have wider appeal, but (unfortunately) a story from the memoirs of a soldier in the trenches in WWII might not (especially because there have been similar stories).

As far as research, yes, you'd have to do it. Sometimes research can also involve talking to people about events and people they remember, but you'd also need to do research on the time period, the location, and interesting things about the location.

Another drawback of family history type novels is the danger of saying something someone might find offensive - indicating Aunt Fran was a boozer, or whatever. People are too sue happy these days.

So those are some thoughts for you to think about. Puma

Forestqueen, it sounds a little vague. You might have a better idea of the project than your posts imply. But it sounds like you'll need to do plenty of research. Number one, I think you should make sure the legend is true, or at least try.

For what it's worth, I've been thinking of writing about--well, not a legend but about a little piece of paper I found in a great-great-aunt's book. She bet her grandfather that she wouldn't be married by the age of 22 (she was maybe 17 or 18 at the time). She won the bet, and in fact she never married. There were some rumors that she was a lesbian. I have done pencil drawings of some fabulous photos taken of her in 1909.

I think your number one concern is writing a good story.

Hi Forestqueen808!

You remind me of myself when I first started out with my manuscript. My story stemmed from a discovery I made of my family's past, but I do have to agree with Puma that interest in it may be limited to a certain region only. But with the right determination, you can actually do it!

Just a suggestion: you can fictionalize as much as possible, but retain a few details indicating it is about your family. Mine started out as a small story, limited to one area only but it has since evolved to include major events of that era which I believe would be familiar to a lot of people.

And yes, research is the key. You can google, but you have to verify information from several sources to ensure accuracy. I would suggest hitting the local library as well. Who knows? Maybe you'll be hit with more inspiration after you delve deeper into history. I certainly did. Research may be tedious, but believe me, it helps your story evolve.

Hope this helped. Best of luck!

My WIP is based on my ancestors' experiences during the American Revolution. My great (x5) grandfather lived on the Pennsylvania frontier with his wife and two sons and served as a local militia officer. He was captured by local Tories and Indian allies of the British and taken to Canada. After nearly two years he escaped, but his one son was killed and the other captured by Indians while he was away.

I'm building on those few facts to make it into a fuller story, which I also hope will help move it beyond the limits of family and local/regional interest. In particular I'm having the son assimilate and grow up in the tribe that adopted him, unbeknowst to his father who takes great risks in escaping and searching for him.

I haven't decided yet whether to fictionalize their names, given how many blanks I'm filling with my own ideas for this novel. At the very least I will include an author's note in the back that explains what's fact and what's invented (but plausible). This has indeed involved a great deal of research (and a lot yet to go, before I start writing) but it's enormously rewarding, especially with a personal, albeit remote, connection to the story.

Family legends are often just that, legends. There were two in my own family, one on each side. Research has shown that neither story was true, although it was what I had been told all my life (and I'm 60). Not Mom and Dad's fault, it was what they had been told. In the one case the true story was actually more interesting, in the other, not so much. If you have family documents from the same time period as the events, they might be reliable. Things written down years later, or oral family history, is not as likely to be accurate.

MM

Forestqueen808 said:

Thank you guys so much! Mine is about my grandpa (x7) and there is a story about him founding this one place and river and marrying an Indian Princess. So, like, I have all this stuff written down from generations is that research? Its so hard finding info on stuff like this.

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I wouldn't expect you to be able to find out a lot more about what really happened to your grandfather. But you could take your family stories and legends, and then do research about the background of the time and place and weave fact and fiction together to create an imagined narrative filing the gaps in your family tales.

Concerning family history stories - one of the reasons I've been away from here for so long is that I got rather bogged down last summer - not just with my own WIPs but with a further breakthrough in my family history that kept me busy for months! This breakthrough came from sending for a 4xgreat grandmother's death certificate and it opened up such a can of worms! It turns out that one of my 4xgreat grandfathers came from a posh Shropshire family and went off to be a planter in Jamaica, which didn't seem to work out so he ended up as a customs official instead. Long story short - he died in 1832 and lived right next to the plantation where the great Jamaican slave revolt of 1831/2 broke out. What fascinated me even more was that the codicil to his will names a slave lady whom he was very concerned to free - and seven children (all of whom bore his surname, as was the custom, I suppose) and a grandchild. I am researching like mad to try and find out what happened to her and her kiddies! The slave lady belonged to someone else but my John had left two thousand pounds (a decent sum in the 1830s) for her welfare. My little brain is doing cartwheels!

His story gets better, in that he left my great-great gran (only a kid at the time) all his cash because he wanted to bypass her Dad (my 3xgreat grandad) whom he said was a wastrel and failed 'to keep his family in a respectable manner'. He also stated in his will that he didn't even know if his son was still alive. My 3xgreat grandad was a master mariner - so there's so much intrigue here for a story. I still haven't uncovered a burial for this naughty 3xgreat grandad but his wife/widow remarried in 1835 when my great great gran was 10.

I'd love to tackle all this but it would need one heck of a lot of research as I know next to nothing about Jamaica at the moment. I have lots of documents pertaining to my ancestor (including a letter he wrote to a friend in 1803 from Montego Bay) when it appears he was in charge of a great deal of rum

I would change the surnames to fictional ones, of course.

And...material for Book 2 - a cousin of the same family as this 4xgreat grandfather was murdered in a mutiny at sea in 1797! He was apparently one of the most savage naval captains in British history. (He even has a Wikipedia page).

What with this and my Jacobite rebel - I've enough material to keep me going for the rest of my life

Clio - what an interesting history. They do sound like they would make brilliant and colourful stories.

Wow, Clio those are spectacular stories! You could definitely have some fun with those.

I have a story about my Great Great Grandmother, but I don't know that I would write about it. It's bittersweet and probably best left alone, especially as I still remember my Great Grandfather fondly. I'd rather not think about what could've happened if he hadn't got very, very lucky as a baby.

I am, however, intrigued by the distant ancestor who ran off to be a drummer boy in a British Army regiment and ended up getting a medal after the 1857 Sepoy uprising in India. I may look into that as a possible story in future.