BREATHE LIFE INTO YOUR LIFE STORY:
HOW TO WRITE A STORY PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ

By Dawn and Morris Thurston
Illustrations by Amy Reeder Hadley

This book grew out of the classes and lectures that Dawn and I teach, as well as our own experience writing and editing life stories. We saw that there were plenty of books that provide a formula for how to write a personal or family history—that provide writing prompts and outline the steps to be taken to get a book into print.

It was much more difficult, however, to find books that focused on the quality of writing. We felt a book was needed that discussed the art of writing well in the context of life story writing.

This approach was a natural for us, since that is how we taught our own students. We’re interested in things like characterization, setting, building suspense, and—well, why don’t we just list a few of the chapter titles and you can see for yourself!

• Lights, Camera, Action! Zoom in on Key Events
  
• Writing at the Gut Level: Let Your Feelings Show
  
• Writing about People: Breathe Life into Your “Characters”
  
• Re-creating Your World: Establish Your Life Context
• The Hitchcock Factor: Rivet Readers with Conflict & Suspense
  
• Beginning with a Bang: Write a “Wow” Beginning
  

We’ve also included “learn-by-doing” exercises to help you practice what we preach. If you complete these exercises, you will have a tremendous start on a compelling life story.

These concepts work! Dawn’s students have regularly won top awards in national life story writing contests. Try them yourself.

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