Lesson 1- Writing Your Story

3.      Write your story

a.      Open your document ‘1.1 Birth and Background’

b.      Look over the dot points/short sentences/paragraphs you wrote down. You now want to turn these into full sentences or paragraphs. You may want to group your dot points into common themes and put them into a logical sequence first eg the story of my birth, my father, my brother John etc.

Be sure to include any relevant information from other worksheets such as ‘Other’.

c.      Take a look at the following examples of how you can turn your dot points into a story:

Example 1a

I was born [NAME] on the [DOB] at [WHERE]. [SIGNIFICANCE OF NAME]

I was born Elizabeth Rose Simpson on 17th April 1971 at the Sydney Women’s Hospital. I believe I was given the middle name Ruth, after my great grandmother who passed away a few weeks before I was born.

Example 1b

I was born [WHERE] on the [DOB]. I was named [NAME] which [SIGNIFICANCE OF NAME]

I was born in the Sydney Women’s Hospital on 17th April 1971. I was named Elizabeth Rose Simpson. Rose was the name of my great grandmother who passed away a few weeks before I was born.

Example 2a

My father, [NAME], was born in [WHERE] on the [DOB] to [FATHER’S NAME] and [MOTHER’S NAME]. My mother, [NAME], was born in [WHERE] on the [DOB] to [FATHER’S NAME] and [MOTHER’S NAME]. They met [WHERE] and married [WHEN AND WHERE]

My father, Philip George Simpson, was born in Nottingham, England on 24th January 1935 to Joan Elizabeth Simpson. My mother, Patricia Betty Jesson, was born in Sydney on 5th March 1937 to Reg and Helen Jesson. They met when my father was boarding at my mother’s grandparent’s house and married at Turramurra Baptist Church on 18th November 1965.

Read over your sentences and consider- What is missing? In Example 2a

the following questions could be asked:

-   Why isn’t my father’s father mentioned?

-   Why did my father have his mother’s surname?

-   When and why did my father come to Australia?

-   Where did my mother grow up?

-   Why was my father boarding at my mother’s grandparent’s house?

By adding in some extra information your story will now be more complete. Example 2b shows how the story now reads with some extra contextual information.

 Example 2b 

My father, Philip George Simpson, was born in Nottingham, England on 24th January 1935 to Joan Elizabeth Simpson. My father grew up in a children’s home in England. He was born illegitimate, and his mother was not able to care for him. He never knew his father. At the age of 12 he was asked if he would like to go to Australia (in post-war Britain money was tight, and many organisations could not afford to look after the children in their care). Believing he was an orphan he agreed to go, becoming part of the infamous child migrant scheme. In Australia he lived in Dalmar Children’s Home until he turned 16. Dalmar helped him to get his first job and boarding accommodation. A few years later he boarded with Reg and Helen Jesson. My mother, Patricia Betty Jesson, was born in Sydney on the 5th March 1937 to Reg and Helen Jesson. Mum grew up a few streets away from her grandparents. She regularly visited her grandparents and got to know my father. (They met when my father was boarding at my mother’s grandparent’s house and… has been omitted)  They married at Turramurra Baptist Church on 18th November 1965.

A few Tips:

-       Write in first person ie “I”

-      If someone in your story is called by a name different to their birth name- write their full name first with their nick name or shortened name in brackets. From then on you can use the nick name eg George Robert Smith (Bob)

-       Avoid abreviations eg 10 yrs  = 10 years

-       Numbers: generally 1-10 are written as words, 11+ are written as numbers

-       When adding a quote you can format this an a number of ways eg “Quote” or Quote or

       Quote . The most important thing is to be consistent.

-       To format speech: Mum said, “….”  or mum always told us…

-      If using songs, photos etc that are not yours, especially if taken off the internet or out of a book, it is important to include a reference as to where it came from. You may also need to consider copyright issues.

2.      Repeat Step 3 for all of your worksheets.

-        Back up regularly

-        At first you may feel awkward with your writing. That’s fine, you are not a professional writer. The more you write, the better you will write. You can always go back and tidy up your earlier writing later.

-        Your first version will be a draft, it does not need to be perfect. Just write, then edit.