Save the Story Behind The Photos:
Six Strategies

by Denis Ledoux

Your family stories are in danger of being lost. But, it doesn't have to happen! Anyone - including you - can learn to preserve personal and family stories in writing. It's not that hard to reverse the loss of family memory.

The quickest and easiest place to start is the family photo album. You can transform your memories from scattered recollections into a well-organized heritage or lifestory album by "photoscribing" -- writing the stories your photos depict. What a meaningful gift for your family now and for future generations!

We often tell our stories to one another as we leaf through the pages of our scrapbooks. But, unless those stories are written down, they survive only as long as the words hang in the air. Think of all the photos you have from your parents and grandparents. Can you identify all the relatives and friends? Do you know the stories behind the photos? Or, are they lost?

Preserving your pictures in attractive albums is only a first step. Just as important is to add appropriate captions and cameo narratives to save the stories behind the photos for the future as well as for your own pleasure.

The following tips will help you to photoscribe a heritage or lifestory album to give to your family.

1. Work with your memories, not your photos, first. It is the life you have lived, not the photos you happen to have on hand, that should determine what goes in your lifestory album. Often we are missing photos of both ordinary and special events. The short narrative (cameo narrative) can not only explain a photo you have but can take the place of a missing one.
2. Make a memory list. This is a list of all the important important events, relationships, and feelings that are associated with a particular group of photos. Jot down all the memories or thoughts you have in a few words -- usually three to five per photo group is enough. Everything you remember is important enough to include!  When you sit down to write a cameo narrative either for a photo or in place of a missing picture, you'll have this list handy to write from. No more writer's block for you! In fact, if you included just the memory list in your album, you would already have more of a lifestory record than most scrapbookers.  
3. Linger with your photos. After you have spent time compiling your memory list, spend some time with your photographs. Doing so will stimulate your memory and provide you with many details. Add new memories or thoughts to your list. The memory list is a work in progress, always growing.
4. Concentrate on one story at a time. After you've lingered with your photos and rounded out your memory list, start writing your cameo narratives. Begin anywhere. For instance, choose your most important item and find the photos that pertain to it. Tell the story behind those photos. Write about anything that is not photographed. Resist the urge to tell your whole life's story in a single cameo narrative, or to start "at the beginning.". Just write about the one memory list item at a time and combine them -- if you want to -- as a later step in the process.
5. Show instead of tell. Instead of telling your readers that your mother was kind, show them how she was kind. Describe an action which shows her being kind. Present your story with vivid action, dialogue and setting. Generally "show" puts your point across more effectively than "tell."
6. Describe events and people in detail. Be specific! Don't use vague or general adjectives or adverbs (not majestic mountains but jagged, snow capped peaks). Instead, use all five senses to help your audience to see, smell, touch, hear and even taste the moment as you or your family lived it. Use proper names and give dates to people and places. These are the details that time discards.

copyright 2001 © Denis Ledoux -- reprint rights granted under certain conditions only.

article originally posted at www.turningmemories.com/scrapsave.html

See Denis Ledoux's Resources for Lifestory Writing here