Publish Your Family History. Susan Yates

evaluation service, as do the various writers in residence at universities, colleges and libraries. (See also the Writers in Electronic Residence web page at http://www.wier.ca).

       MAKING IT ENTERTAINING

      Maybe you have considered making your book strictly a genealogical study containing mostly charts, names and dates. But most manuscripts need to entertain their readers in order to keep them interested. You are writing a true story, the story of your family. Think of how wonderful it would be to enrich the facts with meaningful anecdotes and details that fit into a narrative. Fiction editors use a variety of “formulae” to make books entertaining. A formula is a standard “structure”—a way of organizing the information in the book. Here is one of the most common structures: You start with a fairly interesting incident to get the reader’s attention, slowly build reader interest until the first climax, which comes about halfway through the book. That is followed by a section showing the consequences of the climax, with a slow, sustained buildup of tension until a more major climax at the end of the book. In other words, intro-duction>plot development> minor climax> more plot development>major climax> denouement. It works just as well for a family history as it does for a Harlequin.

       Rearranging: The Structural Edit

      Not surprisingly, a structural edit involves reorganizing the book to make sure it progresses logically from start to finish. Rearranging can involve shifting entire episodes and sections around, or cutting the manuscript up into its constituent paragraphs and shuffling them into a more logical—or entertaining— order.

      A few questions to ask yourself at this is point are: Do my thoughts follow in a logical order? Do I have all of the discussions of a single topic in the same place? Each of these factors will contribute to the clarity and effect of your work as a whole.

       Stylistic Editing