Synopsis:

It’s easy to start, teach, and franchise a creative genealogy writing club, class, or publication. Start by looking at the descriptions of each business and outline a plan for how your group operates. Flesh out each category with your additional research pertaining to your local area and your resources.

Your goal always is to solve problems and get measurable results or find accurate records and resources. Or research personal history and DNA-driven genealogy interpretation reporting.

You can make keepsake albums/scrapbooks, put video online or on disc, and create multimedia text and image with sound productions or work with researching records in archives, oral history, or living legacies and time capsules. A living legacy is a celebration of life as it is now.

A time capsule contains projects and products, items, records, and research you want given to future generations such as genograms of medical record family history, family newsletters, or genealogy documents, diaries, photos, and video transcribed as text or oral history for future generations without current technology to play the video discs. Or start and plan a family and/or school reunion project or franchise, business or event. Another alternative is the genealogy-related play or skit, life story, or memoir.

Book Excerpt:

It’s easy to start, teach, and franchise a creative genealogy writing club, class, or publication. Start by looking at the descriptions of each business and outline a plan for how your group operates.

Draw up the rules and operation by referring to the categories or headlines titled: DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS, INCOME POTENTIAL, TRAINING REQUIRED, EQUIPMENT NEEDED, OPERATING YOUR BUSINESS and ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Flesh out each category with your additional research pertaining to your local area and your resources. Your goal always is to solve problems and get measurable results or find accurate records and resources. When records run out, there’s always DNA-driven ancestry testing, which may be vague, but can pinpoint deep ancestry somewhat.

You can make keepsake albums/scrapbooks, put video online or on disc, and create multimedia text and image with sound productions or work with researching records in archives, oral history, or living legacies and time capsules. A living legacy is a celebration of life as it is now.

A time capsule contains projects and products, items, records, and research you want given to future generations such as genograms of medical record family history, family newsletters, or genealogy documents, diaries, photos, and video transcribed as text or oral history for future generations without current technology to play the video discs. Or start and plan a family and/or school reunion project or franchise, business or event. Another alternative is the genealogy-related play or skit, life story, or memoir.

The most important point to remember is you’ll need a syllabus and a business plan. If you don’t want to turn creative genealogy writing into a business, keep it at the project level as a popular hobby. With genealogy being the second most popular hobby in the nation (gardening is first), there are plenty of creative projects to start groups researching in your area or nationally. You can take this to the franchise level by starting groups nationally or world-wide, or keep it at the level of your local club.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Creating Your Syllabus: Sample and Resources

Chapters:

1. What Problems You Can Solve & Results Obtain Using Family Newsletters

2 Designing Family History and Corporate Success Story Newsletters as Anniversary or Event and Celebration of Life Gift Books

3. How to Bind Your Own Book or Booklet by Hand

4. Pop-Up Books for All Ages

5. Full 5 – 6 Week Course in Writing and Publishing Gift Books

6. 50 Strategies on How to Write Memoirs and Life Story Gift Books or Newsletters

7. Personal Histories & Autobiographies as Points of View within Social Histories: Write in the First Person

8. Personal History Time Capsules as Gift Books, Annual Newsletters and DNA Driven Genealogy Reports

9. Romantic Wedding and Anniversary Gift Books, DVDs or Newsletters
10. Family History Newsletters or DVDs with Slogans, Logos, and Branding

11. Directories and DVDs as Gift Books: Entertainment, Walking Tour Guides, Historic Neighborhoods, Galleries, Museums, and Dining

12. Gift Books, Discs, and Newsletters Documenting Media Tours for Authors, Performers and Speakers

13. News Clipping Collection on a “Theme Newsletter,” Report, Disc, or Niche Market Gift Book

14. Age-Related Hubs as Family History Newsletters, DVDs, Reports, and Gift Books

15. Reunion Newsletters, Discs, and Gift Books for Families or Alumni

16. Digital Scrap Booking, Newsletters, DVDs, and Gift Books from Slide Shows

17. Dating History Newsletters, DVDs, and Gift Books

18. Celebrities’ “Lessons Learned from Life” as Newsletters, Discs, Reports, or Books

19. Mind-Body-Spirit Gift Video Newsletters, Reports, and Gift Books

20. Inspirational Video and Print Newsletters, CDs, DVDs, or Gift Books

21. Self-Help Seminar and Convention Newsletters, Discs, Reports, or Year Books

22. How to Make Great Video Extended Family Newsletters

23. International Family Reunions: Videoconferencing, Newsletters, DVDs, and Reports by Satellite or Camera Phones

24. Family and Corporate Success Story Newsletters, Annual Updates, or Reunions by DVD or CD (Personalized Video News Releases)

Appendix A Newsletter Templates on the Web

Appendix B Multi-Ethnic Genealogy Web Sites

Appendix C General Genealogy Web sites

Appendix D Bibliography

Appendix E 1,006 Action Verbs for Gift Book Writers and Publishers

Appendix F Template for a Handwritten Newsletter—Incorporate into Multimedia if Desired

Appendix G Paperback Books Currently in Print Written by Anne Hart Index
Index

Sample Syllabus for an online course in creative genealogy writing:

Syllabus- Creative Genealogy Writing

Sample Syllabus

This syllabus can be stretched out to be a course lasting a year, a semester, or 10 weeks. If you whittle it down to 10 weeks, make sure to make it less ambitious and include fewer items to cover. Students taking this as a class or in a continuing creative genealogy writing group will be working on these projects part time at their leisurely pace.

So you probably will not be able to cover all items unless this course is in a continuing club or group. In a classroom, you’ll have to revise your own syllabus to meet the length of your class requirements, such as a 5-week class, 10-week class, semester class, or two semesters. Therefore, be sure to adapt and revise this syllabus to cover what you want as your goals by asking the students for feedback on what they want and need to learn in the length of time allotted.

Try Something New

Creative genealogy writing can include something new such as recipes for home-made natural plant-based cleaning products, diaries, living legacies, and specialized living legacies and celebrations of life. They can include time capsules with genograms, medical records histories of families for future generations’ reference and useful information. Material also would be of interest to historians, researchers, medical and scientific researchers, educators, oral history librarians, as well as progeny. Short stories, novels, and plays also are born with genealogy records as their roots.

Here’s my sample syllabus. Adapt your own syllabus to the length and emphasis of your class, group, project, research, or event.

Creative Genealogy Writing Sample Syllabus

Class Meeting Information
This course meets online.

Instructor Information
Name:
Office Phone:
Email:
Web site: http://annehart.tripod.com

Sample instructor biography:

Anne Hart, M.A., is a popular novelist and playwright with 86paperback books currently in print. She holds a graduate degree in English/Creative Writing and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), Dog Writers Association of America, and Mensa. She has been writing professionally since 1963. Her full biography appears at http://annehart.tripod.com/id16.html.

Prerequisites — Classes or Knowledge Required for this Course

None, but an interest in writing and researching nonfiction, fiction, or drama/docudrama about life stories, genealogy, history, social issues, memoirs, biography, current events, or an interest in genealogy is helpful.

Course Description

Almost everyone is interested in the migrations, history, significant life events, turning points, and highlights of his or her ancestors. This 10-week online introductory course represents the “marriage” of creative writing with genealogy, to create stories and record personal histories to be passed on to relatives or researchers in the future.
Identify individuals and their ancestors using paper records, online searches, surname groups online, and DNA-driven genealogy resources. Information from research is then applied to creative writing with a goal of developing salable materials in a variety of genres—memoir, personal history, drama/plays/scripts/monologues, docudrama, essay, articles, true life stories, or simply publishing family newsletters. Weekly writing assignments usually will be one or two pages of writing.

Course Objectives (after completing this course, the student will be able to):
1. Use the methods of scientific genealogical research.
2. Establish lines of descent for the person or family you select and develop a pedigree chart or family history tree of names with critical dates such as birth, marriage, and death for each ancestor on the family tree and/or pedigree chart.
3. Organize genealogy records using online technology to research or supplement written records.
4. Interview and record relatives or selected persons.
5. Write a publishable 1,000-word researched family history/genealogy article.

Evaluation

Class participation and completion of projects/assignments is due by the end of the course. Assignments are due by the due date specified in the handout.

Equipment

Access to the Internet, a personal computer and printer, a tape or other audio digital recorder or camcorder using either tape or DVDs, and a DVD or CD recorder/R/RW disk drive in your computer or other device that saves a computer file to a CD and/or a DVD. Save your recorded projects on DVDs or CDs. Instruction will be provided on how to save any recorded material to a DVD or CD. Technical help will be available.

Course Text – Choose One

Hart, Anne. (2007). Ethno-Playography: How to Create Salable Ethnographic Plays, Monologues & Skits from Life Stories, Social Issues, and Current Events. ASJA Press imprint, iUniverse, (1-800-Authors) or order from any online bookseller or from publishers at: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46066-6
ISBN: 978-0-595-46066-3.
The Ethno-Playography book is primarily for creative writers interested in using genealogy records to write plays, monologues, skits, or novels and real life stories or memoirs. If you choose this book you’ll also get materials of value to enhance your creativity and have a wider platform, a more versatile approach to adapting life stories to plays, skits, monologues, or stories and novels/essays and other genres such as niches, how to sell your play, and creating mini-books based on life stories, personal histories, and genealogy records or plays and monologues and essays.