Writing Memoir and Family History: Beginnings and Endings

Contemplating beginnings and endings can help provoke memories and create fascinating stories when writing about our own lives or the lives of those who came before us.

Here’s a few prompts to get you started …

1. Leaving

Write about a time you or an ancestor left one place and moved to another, whether that was down the street or across the globe.

Why did the move occur? What motivated the departure? How did you or they feel about leaving?

If you are writing about someone else, you may not know exactly why they left or how they felt, but you may be able to research the contextual history of the living conditions in their country of origin to help you speculate and imagine their lives at that time.

2. Arrival

What is it like to arrive in a new town, city or country where everything and everyone is unfamiliar?

Write a narrative in which you or an ancestor experiences a place for the first time.

3. Christmas

Write about a Christmas (or other holiday/religious observance of your choice). e.g. a first Christmas, a last Christmas, a favourite gift, a disastrous family get together, the first Christmas in a new place.

4. New Years

Write about a New Year’s Eve celebration or something that happened on New Year’s Day.

5. Resolutions

Write about a new year’s resolution. Why was the resolution made in the first place? Was it fulfilled or broken?

6. New Friendships

Write about making a new friend.

7. Old Friendships

Recall a lost friendship or reconnecting with an old one.

8. A New Beginning

Write a story about a new beginning or the chance to start afresh.

9. Reflect

As you step into the new year, what would you like to leave behind, and what would you like to step into?

Over to You

Where will you begin?