Should you work with an editor on your family history?
Udo Kruse
Many people want to write about some aspect of their family history. Maybe you’ve done loads of research and now want to make sure the stories you discovered are well-told.
Family history can actually be a tricky thing to write and edit because it can easily straddle the line between narrative non-fiction and fiction. It’s important to work with an editor that understands both story arc and various narrative forms of writing while also knowing something about writing non-fiction for a general audience. This combination of writing forms is one of the reasons I love to work with family history because it draws on my eclectic range of experience.
Decide who will be reading your family history
To make the best use of an editor, it is important to communicate your goals for the manuscript and the audience you are writing for. Editing will be different for a family history than a historical fiction novel. Even if the family history is fictionalized, there is still a difference for those who want a wide audience versus those who want their family history to be of interest to their family and friends.
The problem is that many writers are not entirely sure of their goals when they reach out to an editor. You might have started writing a family history for yourself or maybe you have a specific audience in mind that has some relationship to the subject matter. You might also harbour a desire to have that story reach a wider audience, either through an agent and a traditional publishing deal, or through self-publishing. It is fine to want more for your story, but to make the most of your time with an editor, decide which audience you will target.
Historical fiction requires a story arc that often involves more invention than writers of family history are comfortable adding to their story. There is nothing wrong with sticking to the facts, if that is your goal, as long as you understand the implications of the decision. And working with an editor, can provide insights on how to make it as interesting as possible without needing to invent anything. It is also entirely possible to write both versions to satisfy different goals.
When to work with an editor on your family history
Usually, the best time to work with an editor is once you have finished a full draft of your manuscript and done as much revising as your skill level allows. While you don’t need to have finished all your research before you start writing, you should have enough material to create the bulk of your story. If you are new to writing, you might find it helpful to begin working with an editor early on to draft an outline, decide on a narrative style, or understand where to find your story arc in the mass of research you have compiled.
Make sure you know what kind of editor you are looking for. Developmental editors help with structure and big picture writing problems. Line and copy editors help smooth out the writing on a sentence level and proofreading is done as a very last step once the book is laid out for publication
