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Writing A More Readable Family History By Tim Ostwald 600 Juniper Ave, Boulder CO 80304 1720 (303) 443-9466    LTOSTWALD@worldnet.att.net Writing your family history is a "personal" activity. Your opinions and tastes are not likely to be the same as those of other writers.  Explore the alternatives in format and organization early in your writing process. 1. Identify your reader audience.  If possible expand your reader audience by snaring casual readers. 2. Choose an ancestral numbering system which is compatible with your reader audience, your writing ability, and the available writing time.   a. New England Register   b. Modified register System   c. Family Descendance (Historical) System   This is the authors preferred system and the one used in the Craig Genealogy Exhibit.   d. Ahnentafel System   e. Other systems or your own. 3. Combining narrative with statistics will yield different results depending on the numbering system selected.  Anticipate expansion as research progresses. 4. Continuity   Provide signposts for the "story" reader, the genealogist, the "date collector". 5. Get your casual readers past the first page.  Use easily read charts, maps, and figures.  Recapture the thumb through reader, use titles with which the reader can relate. Get the interest of those not interested in "all those old dead people".  Start with material with which the reader can identify. 6. Art Work   Far more "readers" will look at graphics than will read text. Maps:   Use large scale ones to present big picture; more detailed ones to show dwelling places etc.  Tailor captions and callouts to tell a mini  story. Charts:  Pedigree, Descendant and other.  Should be "intuitively" readable. Living Cousins should be able to "find" themselves or their ancestors with very little effort. Photos:   Crop to eliminate "nothing" areas.  Size in proportion to anticipated interest of typical reader.  Titling photos   Tell a mini story.  If possible place pictures adjacent to relevant text. 7. Technical Detail   For the fellow and future genealogist Documentation references: Make easily available for the serious reader and researcher   not obtrusive for the casual reader.  Best placed at end of sections and referred to by superscript. Appendices: Material for the real fuss budgets and those special interests, on the side narrative, or description which could cause the casual reader to "bog" down. 8. Increasing "readability".  Choosing Fonts and Type Size   Use rather standard proportional fonts if possible.  No more than two fonts (not including italics and bolding): Serif font for text no smaller than 11.4 point.  San serif font for diagrams and picture titles, no smaller than 10 point. Adjusting " White Space" in text, charts, photo pages   Reach a happy medium: text not so dense it is dizzying, not so sparse the reader is confused or embarrassed because of the paper which is wasted. 9. Lessening reader confusion: Number Sections, Pages, Figures, People uniquely   no duplicate, changing, or redundant numbers. Page headers should remind the reader of the subject content of the section. 10. Make it convenient to exchange sections with others while writing   Divide book into clearly marked, stand alone sections. 11. Helping the Librarian and indexer   Avoid cutesy titles.  Include names, dates, and places in the titles when possible.  If desired use sub titles to increase information content. 12. Taking the "bumps" out of narrative statements and text. Eliminate un needed mid sentence punctuation: Omit commas before two letter state abbreviations. Omit periods after well known genealogical abbreviations, months: b m d Ivd abt bapt bur Jan Feb etc. Reduce to a bare minimum, or eliminate altogether, parenthetic statements, except possibly for brief ones used instead of superscripts. Break up long paragraphs.  Compose mini titles for some of the paragraphs. 13. Speedier and Easier Editing   Exceptions to the "80% of the Work is Editing" Rule  Writing for easier editing   Write in short sentences initially, mostly one and two syllable words. Write in chronological order . The Dining Room Table Treatment   Cut up a copy of your draft manuscript paragraphs, stack by subject matter, and combine paragraphs to eliminate duplication and improve sequence of ideas. Read the text you have written aloud. If it makes you squirm to listen to yourself read it, your readers may not read far either. 14. Help From Your Computer   Computers are invaluable for writing and editing. Don't let your computer contribute to reader "turnoff".  You [and neither your computer nor the software programmer] are the master. References: 1. "Organizing, Formatting, and Editing a More Readable Family History", L. T. Ostwald, Boulder Genealogical Society Ouarterly, Vol 32 2, May 2000 2. Guidelines for Genealogical Writing Style Guide for the NEHGS Register with Suggestions for Genealogical Books, Costello, Margaret F. and Jane Fletcher Fiske, NEHGS Boston MA 1990 3. "Descendancy and Collateral Numbering Systems" William Dollarhide, Genealogy Bulletin A Heritage Ouest Publication, I Vol 15 No 5 Issue 53 Heritage Quest Publications 1999 4. On Writing Well, William Zinsser, An Informal Guide to Writing Non Fiction, Harper Perennial Div of Collins Publishers, 10 East 53rd St, NY NY 10022 Fourth Edition 1990 5. Writing Family Histories and Memoirs, Kirk Polking, F & W Publications Inc 1507 Dana Ave, Cincinnati OH 45207 1995 Back to the Top

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