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Writing guides

How to write it. The method, not a pep talk.

One plain guide for every kind of book or story people come here wanting to make. How to ask, how to record, how to find the shape, and how to finish. Free, whether or not you ever use us.

Start here A book about someone you love A particular kind of story Harder times

An older woman's hands writing in a notebook beside a bundle of old letters and photographs

Where most people begin

Three guides to start with.

The most read

How to write a memoir (without being a writer)

A plain method for writing a memoir: pick the through-line, talk before you type, build people from particulars, and finish.

For a parent

How to write a book about your mother

A method for writing a book about your mother while she can still tell you the stories: what to ask, in what order, and how to turn the answers into a book she will recognise.

For a child

How to make a children's book from your child's own story

Turn a bedtime story, a made-up adventure or an "all about me" interview into a picture book your child is the hero of.

Start here

How to write a memoir (without being a writer)A plain method for writing a memoir: pick the through-line, talk before you type, build people from particulars, and finish.How to write someone's life storyHow to write a parent's or grandparent's life story: what to collect, the interview method, how to structure it, and how to get it finished and printed.How it works: from a conversation to a finished bookWhat actually happens between the first question and a printed book: the visits, the memory, the design pass, the proof, and who owns what.

A book about someone you love

How to write a book about your motherA method for writing a book about your mother while she can still tell you the stories: what to ask, in what order, and how to turn the answers into a book she will recognise.How to write a book about your fatherHow to get a father to talk, what a book about him needs, and how to write it in his voice.How to interview a parent about their lifeThe practical method: setting, equipment, how to open, how to follow up, what to avoid, and how many conversations a book takes.How to record a parent's stories, starting this weekThe fastest, lowest-friction ways to start capturing a parent's stories this week: by phone, by text, in person, and what to do with the recordings.How to turn voice recordings into a bookFrom a folder of recordings and transcripts to a readable book: inventory, people, stories, shape, draft, proof.

A particular kind of story

How to write a family history book people will actually readTurn genealogy into a book: pick the people, get the stories, use the records as scaffolding, and write scenes instead of lists.How to record a veteran's storyHow families get service stories told without re-opening wounds: start with the ordinary, follow their lead, and keep the record straight.How to write your family's immigration storyWho decided, what was carried, the first winter, what was lost: how to interview and write the story of a family that came from somewhere else.How to write the story of a company, told by the people who built itA founder memoir or company history that reads like a book: the day one scene, the week it nearly died, the hire that changed everything, the belief that was wrong.How to make a children's book from your child's own storyTurn a bedtime story, a made-up adventure or an "all about me" interview into a picture book your child is the hero of.

Harder times

How to help someone who is dying tell their storyA gentle method for capturing a dying person's story on their terms: control, pace, what to ask first, and what to never do.How to help someone with dementia or memory loss tell their storyA gentle method for talking with a parent or grandparent who has dementia: go to the early years, never correct, let them lead, and keep every visit a pleasure.How to write a legacy letter (or an ethical will)A short, powerful document that says what you believe, what you hope for the people you love, and what you want them to know. How to write one in an afternoon.How to write a eulogy from the stories people tellA method for a eulogy that sounds like the person: collect stories from five people in two days, find the one line, and write it short.

Every guide says the same thing in the end

Talk first. Shape it. Then write.

Talk before you type

Spoken stories are looser and truer. The recording is the first draft, in the person's own voice.

Find the shape before you write

A book is not a life from birth to now. It is a life seen through one question. Find that question first.

Finish

Most family books die at the transcript stage. A small book that exists beats a big one that does not.

Would you rather talk than write?

We do the asking and the writing.

Tellforth interviews by voice, remembers everything, and writes the book in your words.

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