Your life is a story, my life is a story. Life is a never ending story, just waiting to be told. Have you ever thought about writing down your life story, to help yourself or your love ones to remember those forgotten days and times? Time does not wait for anyone, so get up and start writing your story down now! 1. Requirements
- loose leaf binder/notebook(50 pages)
- first part for writing
- topics/assignment for writing
- second part as memory bank
- facts
- memories
- notes
- thoughts as they come
2. Basic rules
- To write about today/yesterday
- today become history tomorrow
- writing to continue the rest of your life or get forgotten
- No right or wrong, revise later
- be yourself, write like you talk. should sound like you
- be as honest as possible, write as happened
- write with feeling, with your opinions, not just a sequence of things
- relate pass with present
- read others' life writing
- include humor, nothing is serious. not laughable before can be laughable now
- Share a little wisdom with reader: what have you learned
- describe the scene as well
- no need to work in chronological sequence, write with memory, details can be added later
3. Writing skill
- spend half hour each day writing, a small segment each day
- ask and cover these questions when writing each line
- who
- what
- why
- when
- where
- Example
-birth
- world at birth
- newspaper and Ads
- your name's origin
- Toys
- during the period of your youth
- link to other things
- Parents and Grandparents
- relation to you and each other
- their time
- link to their past, dates, places
- characters and background
- Just write, do below later
- revision
- lookup
- research
- fact finding
- write double spaced, single side page
- leave space to allow revision
- write in section
- easy breakup and reorganisation
- do not write whole book at once
- aim for 20-40 weeks
- need to be clear and well organised
- no need for reader to guess
- do not be bogged down by research
4. Research
- information from library
- interesting topics
- microfiche
- news clippings
- magazine
- encyclopedia
- pinpoint dates and places
- History society information
- relatives and family
5. Reference
- help from writer's market
- write as first person or pur narrative
- article framework
- Lead to catch reader attention
- transition for background information
- body for problem and solution
- conclusion to reconfirm the lead/theme
- article's Lead and conclusion should tell whole story
- do not put everything in one article, spread out
- revise article to check what can cut out
- cut words or shorten sentences
- do not mention same thing twice
- aim to cut 10% words
6. Revision
- story clean and organised and in logical sequence
- sentences not long and complex
- no one word repeated many times
- story not too long
- more dialogue is more interesting
- clear about relative's identity
- story's characters have details
- reader can see a picture
- build bridges between stories
- story beginning relate to pass stories
- story ending can link to future stories
7. Samples Discussion
- my proudest accomplishment(s)
- my special(personnel) page
- where were you on an important date in history
- include enough background for reader to understand
- Religion
- a soul journey and adventure for future generation to savy
- make it funny, give it some thoughts
- Relatives
- events and situations
- ready for disagreement
- different views from different people
- leave out controversial issue
- turning point in life
- big/small change in yourself on thinking or life
- Inventions
- change lives
- new food
- Holidays
- include good and bad stories
- show insight of your life
- Politics
- affecting your lives
- parties
- governments
- laws
- constitutions
- family traditions
- customary activities
- relive events
- small things tell a lot about you and your family
- favorite food
- favorite meal
- recipes
8. Suggested Topics
- Birth
- Toys / first memories
- parents
- Grandparents and great Grandparents
- brothers and sisters
- relatives, aunts and uncles
- school
- holidays
- birthdays
- failures and hopes
- illness and remedies
- religion
- property you own or family own
- children
- job
- politics, movements or demonstration you participated
- influence of war on my life
- music / theater / movies / books
- turning points
- inventions
- hobbies
- marriage
- pets and other animals
- an important day in history and you
- your proudest accomplishment
- fashions
- family fight
- games and sports
- love for people around you
- your growth in spirit
- special people in your life
- family tradition
- special gift received or given
- special moments
- special sayings of children in family
- your special page
- food
- your life today
- your attitude towards death - your plans for the future |
Special Topics 專題講座 >