Today, we’re diving into an essential topic that will elevate your family stories from good to unforgettable. We’re exploring the art of using ‘Scene’ and ‘Summary.”Just like a chef knowing when to add a dash of spice or a sprinkle of sugar, as family history writers, we need to understand when to use a scene or a summary. Are you ready to master this delicate balance? Watch today’s Storylines.
Scene vs Summary: How to Strike the Perfect Balance in Your Family History Narratives
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Starting at the EndStarting at the End
All stories must end in a different place from where they began.
Family history stories are no different. They are not obligated to stop at the conclusion of a life, or with a happily ever after. They end when your ancestor has achieved something in their life that has brought about change and growth, hopefully, both internally and externally.
As we’ve discussed earlier on in this month, stories are about conflict, a complication. We’ve looked at identifying that conflict and how our ancestors have overcome obstacles on their path to their goal.
The third act of our story focuses on the climax and the resolution. The climax being that final conflict that will ultimately resolve your ancestor’s problem and bring about a resolution. The resolution is the point in your ancestor’s life when they achieve what they set out accomplish, whether that is to own land or emigrate or acquire a prominent position or be free, etc. The resolution is the prize, the reward at the end of the journey.
For some family history writers, this may be very clear and apparent at the start. However, some of you may be struggling to find that resolution, to identify your plot line from the conflict to a resolution, to identify the prize in your ancestor’s journey. This may be presenting a problem because not all conflicts in a person’s life have resolutions. Perhaps you’ve chosen a conflict with no clear resolution.Therefore, you may have better luck in developing a strong story line by identifying the resolution first and working backwards.
Identifying the Resolution
Look at your ancestor’s life as a whole, make a list of the achievements they accomplished in their life. Consider the following questions.
- How big is the success? The bigger the success, the more significant the efforts, the more powerful the story.
- Remember anything your ancestor does on purpose will most definitely have a motivation behind it, for example, your ancestor receives a diploma, acquires land, obtains a prominent position, sets sail for a new land, becomes a military officer. These are all goals that require purposeful action on their part, pressed upon by some motivation. What motivated the action to the accomplishment?
- There is often complications on the road to the accomplishment. Did the accomplishment come through way of a struggle?
- Did the resolution/accomplishment grow out of your ancestor’s own actions?
Keeping the above thoughts in mind choose an achievement/resolution that you feel meets the above criteria.
Linking the Resolution to the Conflict
Once you identify the resolution and the conflict in your ancestor’s life, linked them together. Look for the actionable steps your ancestor took working back from the resolution to the conflict. Each of these actionable events are the obstacles. These are events in which your ancestor either does something or something is done to him in pursuit of the achievement. Identify those and you’ve identified the obstacles he overcame on his path. Connect your resolution through these obstacles to the initial conflict. You’ve just identified the plot of your story from the end to the beginning.
If you’re struggling to find the end of your story perhaps it’s because your conflict doesn’t have a resolution. If your struggling to find your storyline then look to your ancestor’s achievements in their life and work backwards.
Cooking Up a Satisfying SceneCooking Up a Satisfying Scene
Like a good pot of soup on a cold’s winter’s day, every family history scene requires some essential ingredients to make them successful. Without a tasty broth, some colourful veggies, and a fat noodle the soup will just not satisfy. The same can be said for a scene, if it’s missing an essential ingredient it will likely fall flat and you may lose the interest of your reader. Today, we look at the ingredients that make a satisfying scene. Let’s identify the key ingredients in a family history scene each one closer so that you can create powerful and fulfilling scenes for your reader.
Protagonist Ancestor
The majority of your scenes should be built around your protagonist ancestor. Your protagonist ancestor is the main character of your story and through whose point of view, the story will be told. In each scene, your protag ancestor will be involved in action or dialogue. Make sure that you’ve chosen a single ancestor from which point of view that story will be told.
Action
Every scene shows some dramatic movement, large or small. It creates a sense of movement through time and space. It could be actual action or even dialogue which gives the essence of movement within a scene. Without action, you have no scene.
We want to demonstrate our ancestor’s movements, feelings, actions, and reactions. Don’t tell us about them, show them offer up the proof in the form of a scene.
Scene Goal
Every scene has a goal. We know that our story also has a goal, however, this is different from the scene goal. The scene goal begins and ends in the scene, but contributes to the overall advancement of the story.
Antagonist and Allies
Your protagonist ancestor needs someone to interact with, these will come in the form of an antagonist who opposes your ancestor’s goals or allies who will help your ancestor to achieve her goal.
New Information
Each scene builds on the previous scene providing new information that keeps moving the story forward. If it doesn’t move the story forward then perhaps it doesn’t belong in the story.
Setting and Time Period
Setting and time period is essential to grounding your scene through sensory details and description.
Theme
The overall meaning of your story is conveyed within scenes using images and sensory details.
Tension
Not only organizing your scenes within the story but by creating a feeling of conflict and uncertainty within a scene will keep the reader guessing as what is next and will keep them turning the pages.
Great Endings
Scenes can end in any number of ways. Some may end on a high-note, with a small victory for your ancestor, or in defeat. It can end with a cliff-hanger or some uncertainty. It’s important that each scene ends in such a way that it eludes to future obstacles for your ancestor and a yearning in your reader to know what happens next.
Make sure your story scenes have all the right ingredients.
Thank you
Thanks Lynn;
Osmosis is a slow process but it is working.
The light is flashing and I’m getting the jist of writing stories.
Thank you for this clarification. I’m developing a critical biography of my maternal great-grandmother who was a civic leader (and more). As I sift through my research results, I now understand to question what I want to give my reader, and with that I will better understand how to develop the scene or information at hand. ‘Looking forward to the next video on this topic.
What a wonderful explanation. As I work on a friend’s family tree, your lesson can be used immediately. I know right where to go in her family’s story to make it more interesting. Before watching this video, I didn’t. Very nice!