If you are like me and spent years doing all this amazing family research, what do you finally do with it all? A compilation of facts about your family history may be interesting to you, a few close family members, and maybe other family historians, but what about the rest of the world? This article is about using your genealogical research as the starting point to create a compelling novel or short story. There is plenty of information available about how to turn your genealogical research into a nonfiction book as a legacy for your family but almost nothing about writing a fiction inspired by true events discovered in your research. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this kind of a project?
ADVANTAGES
1. Making your story more readable
People tend to be drawn into a story if there is a certain structure to the story, or what myth expert, Joseph Campbell, might call The Monomyth. This is a basic pattern found in many narratives from around the world and from disparate times in history suggesting that humans respond in psychologically powerful ways if this pattern is applied. Real lives are generally complicated and full of tangents and mundane aspects of life that are either confusing or generally un-interesting to the typical reader. In other words, if you try to tell an ancestor’s story in the exact way it actually happened, chances are you will lose your reader’s interest. Even popular stories that say they are based on a true story are often just inspired by true events; meaning several characters or events have been collapsed into one, or timelines have been shortened, new events and characters have been added in, names and dates changed, and so on. According to Wikipedia Based on a True Story is a form of semi-fiction or mainly fiction implementing some nonfiction. Most good writers will alter true events quite extensively in order use proper story structure and capture more fully the universal truths within the hero’s journey.
2. Protecting people’s privacy and avoiding legal hassles
Another compelling reason to turn your research into fiction or semi-fiction is to protect people’s privacy and, in some cases, even avoid legal hassles. Some people don’t want their life stories made public to others especially if there is controversial information included. Even those who agreed to be identified in a story have been known to later try to sue the author once it is on the market and they read the final version. Even if you change their name, some family members have objected because the surrounding facts still point directly to them. Also you may feel free to talk about a relative that has passed away but later discover their descendants are unhappy with the story being made available to the general public. In some cases, you may even want to change the gender, the relationship, and the time period in order to protect yourself and others.
3. Bringing forth universal truths
At the core of why people do genealogical research you will often find people’s desire to understand themselves more fully. The journeys of our ancestors can help use learn some of life’s greatest lessons. Using proper story structure will help you uncover the essence of their journey, the universal truths they had to uncover, and thus allow people a greater understanding of the human story as a whole through your writing. Many people discover through their research amazing stories, sometimes of their own family and sometimes of other people and historical figures that shaped their destiny. You may choose to simply let your research activate your imagination so that your writing that brings the experiences of your ancestors to much wider range of people.
DISADVANTAGES
1. You might lose some purists
Some people will only read a book if they think it’s a totally true story rather than semi-biographical. This is a valid concern and so you will need to decide who you are writing down these stories for. If keeping things totally factual is important to you and your readers then you will need do extensive fact checking, and double checking your sources. You may also need to leave parts of the story out and if you can’t find hard facts to prove what happened.
2. Your ancestors’ stories are already in a readable story form
The actual story of your ancestors may be already a strong narrative and therefore embellishing it may actually ruin the story. It is unusual but you can find compact stories full of intrigue, dramatic tension and foreshadowing without much help from you as a writer. In those cases you don’t need to create a story structure around it. This is usually the case if you take just one incident in a person’s life such as surviving a shipwreck or winning an important audition that led to huge career success.
I chose a novel format rather than a memoir or biography format for my book, The Change Artist, because of a variety of reasons. Some or all of these reasons may feel relevant for you in deciding how to structure the stories of your ancestors.
- I couldn’t find all the details of what happened to my family due to records either not existing or being lost. Rather than leave parts of the story blank I chose to invent them, or draw conclusions based on a number of existing facts.
- I wanted to protect the privacy of living relatives.
- I found other stories of people who lived at the same time as my ancestors and wanted their stories told, as well. While those meetings may never have happened, the facts of their lives got to live on the page and be shared with subsequent generations.
Feel free to comment on what you think may be the advantages or disadvantages of turning your research into a story or novel.
The novel, The Change Artist, explores among other things the challenges of being an innovative leader that has integrity.
People attracted to leading change are often revolutionary types who have an axe to grind, who regularly break down old ways of being to create something new, who are brilliant at envisioning new ideas and have a charismatic way of expressing their ideas. Tied to integrity, accountability and sustainability, these kinds of people have brought forth important change throughout history. If that vision lacks integrity and sustainability, and there is no accountability in place, then invariably that change will be unsuccessful at best, or severely destructive at worst, as in the case of Enron or the Nazi regime.
Change Artist leaders such as Gandhi or Steve Jobs of Apple tend to have a softer but more sustainable approach. The difference could be likened to the tortoise versus the hare.
Revolutionary leaders tend to take a radical stance on change, demolishing the old status quo without buy in from stakeholders. Change Artist leaders tend to marry tradition with innovation to find the best of both worlds, including others in the decision-making.
Revolutionaries often act in covert ways to bring down the old status quo, whereas Change Artists keep lines of communication open so that the process is transparent to those who will be affected by the change.
Revolutionaries tend to get alienated or marginalized from the channels of power that could ultimately support them. Change Artists work to win people over to their ideas through including diverse points of view.
Revolutionaries tend to focus on concepts and visions to the exclusion of practicalities. Change Artists tend to ground their visionary concepts in case studies and practical terms appropriate for the context.
Revolutionaries are often driven by a desire to be recognized as the architect of a new vision. Change Artists are driven by the desire to let the vision grow organically in a way that bests serves all those concerned.
Revolutionaries want to see the change happen in a fast and exciting way. Change Artists want to see the change happen in a way that keeps stakeholders engaged and on board.
Revolutionaries are known to disrespect and diminish those who still value the existing status quo and will actually sabotage what they value. Change Artists explore diverse points of view to find the overlap of values between all those concerned. They also stick around to see the idea implemented, using persistence through the debugging phase.
In short, Change Artists bring forth the kind of change that has integrity and sustainability. Often you will find that a Change Artist is someone who has tried the Revolutionary approach and learned from it. They then used that experience to ground them into leading a change that is sustainable.
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Carla Rieger has written a compelling story, inspired by true events in her own life.
After her father’s death, Carla Rieger found the journal she had once given him and discovered he had filled it with details about the secrets of his past.
This discovery became the catalyst for The Change Artist, a semi-autobiographical journey of discovery, in which Fran, the heroine, uncovers her father’s two hidden lives, discovers a sister that she never knew she had, and frantically searches for the truth.
Rieger has mastered the art of the page-turner; as the narratives of different characters intersect and diverge, the reader is compelled to find out what happens next. Written in a style influenced by Dan Millman and Dan Brown, The Change Artist is a mythic journey that blends fiction with truth, offering lessons in creativity, spirituality and history along the way.
The Change Artist is Rieger’s first novel and a winner of the Books & Authors 2009 Award for “Fiction Inspired by True Events.” It is also a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards and a finalist in the USA Book News Awards.
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Linda Naiman, founder of Creativity at Work, is known internationally for pioneering arts-based learning in organizations. Linda leads retreats, facilitates creative strategy meetings, speaks at business conferences, and conducts workshops on creativity and innovation in North America, Europe and Asia. She also coaches leaders, managers, and artists on finding creative solutions and achieving their goals.
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To get a copy of the book click here.
The Change Artist has now won for “Fiction inspired by True Events” with Books & Authors 2009 Awards
And it was also named as a finalist in the category of Visionary Fiction with the USA News & Book Awards.
The Change Artist is told from the point of view of 3 characters at different times in history. Name actors who you think should play them plus the love interest and why. Our panel of judges will decide which entry has the best argument for all four. Winner receives 4 free copies of The Change Artist to give out as gifts. Send suggestions to carla@artistryofchange.com by November 30th, 2009.
1. The daughter (the present) – around 30 years old, Canadian woman, dark features, petite.
2. The father (1940’s) – around 20 years old, male with dark features, athletic build.
3. The grandmother (1930’s) – around 30 years old, Roma/Gypsy woman, dark features, petite.
4. Jasper, the love interest (the present) – mid 30’s, handsome, British musician with dark features.
Some suggestions so far:
1. The daughter: Kiera Knightly, Rachel McAdams.
2. The father: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robert Pattison
3. The grandmother: Penlope Cruz, Selma Hayak
4. Jasper: Joseph Fiennes, Kevin Zegers
We look forward to your casting suggestions by Nov. 30th. Either send and email or post a comment here.
Thank you
The Change Artist team
The Change Artist is about moral dilemmas and a person who justified his actions (as many of us do) only to later regret those choices.
The father character chose to do some things as a young man to try to make amends and thought that those actions never made a difference his whole life, when actually they really did. The Change Artist is about the price we pay when we choose to act based on survival rather than on principles. It’s also about the price we pay when we label ourselves as a victim or a villain and never find forgiveness for ourselves or others. At its core it’s about the power of forgiveness.
Most people live their entire lives condemning themselves or others for past mistakes. This form of condemnation can be a self-made prison and will sap the joy out of life. Yet, why is forgiveness so difficult? So elusive? Because to forgive yourself is to truly take responsibility for what you’ve done and to learn from it, to grow from it. If you condemn yourself it’s a way of splitting yourself off, of distancing yourself from the human part that falls down and makes mistakes.
Similarly to condemn others is to distance yourself from the collective human shadow, to make yourself “better than”. This can create the illusion that you are somehow not responsible. This is a natural human tendency. To be responsible is to literally be “able to respond”. If we see people in the world choosing their response instead of letting their response choose them, then we see the beginning of growth, evolution and change for the human condition.
If it’s always someone else’s fault then there can be no learning or growth. Forgiveness takes the courage to look at yourself and at the world. It challenges you to choose your response, to choose to evolve and to choose to grow. The more people in the world taking back their ability to respond, the sooner we restore ourselves to wholeness.
Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist of the 20th Century, often talked about stories as a form of medicine. People often ask why I wrote The Change Artist since it was such a huge amount of work to research, write and publish. I did it as a way to heal generational shame in my family and to help reconnect to my roots, and to inspire other people to do so. It had a profound healing on me and seems to have affected many readers in that way, too.
Also, the theme of the book is about being the source of your own creativity. I speak, consult and write about that, so I thought it would be more congruent to make the writing format as artistic as possible. I also have a strong background in myth, storytelling and Jungian archetypes and the power of story as a form of medicine. Those are the reasons I chose a novel format rather than a step-by-step, analytical textbook.
Non-fiction often brings up memories of school, college and cramming for finals for people. Whereas, stories are associated more with leisure, enjoyment, being able to relax the left brain and surrender to a more fulsome whole brain process.
People most attracted to my book are Boomer aged people who feel challenged by change and who want to expand their creativity as leaders, to find the courage to take a step in a new direction; plus those whose fathers and mothers were affected by World War II on both sides of the conflict, Gen X & Y folks who are seeking a way to reconnect to a more tribal, artistic and community-oriented way of living within the confines of modern disconnecting living.
