Each month, we offer our top five writing tips and tricks.
The writing tips are offered to help you jump--start or enhance your family history writing and hone your writing skills.
Choose one, two, or all five to incorporate into your writing this month.
We will offer new tips every month, so keep coming back for new ideas!
November 2026 Writing Tips
- Give yourself permission to write a lousy first draft. We've all been there; it gets easier over time.
- Make a tentative outline if that helps keep you on track. But allow for changes in direction as you write.
- Choose a dramatic, humorous, or gut-wrenching incident from your subject's life and start your story from that point.
- Add interest to a story. Describe settings, feelings, and personalities. Use vivid language to describe an action or event. Add elements of humor, surprise, suspense, or mystery to hook your reader.
- Helpful suggestions: Keep the story trim and to the point; avoid wordiness; include dates where needed to clarify events; vary your sentence structure.