.png)
While a fictional novel would fall flat without conversations, writing dialogue into family history books is unnecessary. When you put words into your ancestors' mouth, you can do more harm than good. Don't write dialogue into family histories.
In short, do not include dialogue in your family stories unless you heard the conversation first hand.
Many family history writers refrain from adding conversations to their projects. They do not want to paint an inaccurate picture of the past.
Perhaps they’ve heard American writer Gore Vidal say, “The only thing that I react really violently to is being misquoted.”
Well, at least I think he said it. I mean, I found it on the internet!
If you have avoided writing dialogue in your family histories, then you can relax as you avoid the recommendation to make your ancestors speak.
Watch this video on YouTube.
Recreated vs. Recalled Dialogue in Family History
When adding conversations to a non-fiction book, you have two options.
First, recreated dialogue uses your imagination to develop a script your ancestors might have said.
While recalled dialogue draws upon your memory of conversations to retell the past discussions.
In family history, you can create a vivid story using words you invented. However, chances are you’re going to botch the job and damage your account.
Your writing won’t necessarily feel ‘dry and dull’ because you excluded conversations that never happened.
(Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.)
Avoid recreated conversations in your family history.
After reading many of my fellow family history writer’s blog posts and lectures about writing family, I have the following four counter-arguments. Don’t add dialogue to your family history stories because:
You won’t get the tone correct.
You will skew your reader’s perception of their ancestors.
Your readers will misattribute quotes to their ancestors.
You likely need more training to write good dialogue than if you excluded it.
If you still want to add imagined conversations to your family history project, be sure to read books on how to do this well.
Add Recalled Conversations to Your Family History
There is one exception to the rule to void writing dialogue in your family history books. It involves whether you participated in the conversation. Or if you interviewed a relative and they recalled the past discussion.
Follow these tips to include recalled conversations in your project:
Capture the essence of the conversation, even if you make a mistake in the verbiage used.
Add words to help us know you’re ‘recalling’ a conversation using trigger words like:
I remember
I think he said
The way I remember it is
Don’t correct improper grammar.
↪️ Do you want to write a family history book?
Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide:
Add Context Rather Than Writing Dialogue in Your Family History
Now, some of you may get fired up about me telling you to leave out the dialogue. You might still be in the ‘Put Words in Their Mouths” camp.
So long as you let your readers know you invented the conversations, go for it.
Just stop telling new writers they have to add dialogue to family history to prevent boring stories.
More family history writing tips and tricks, explore these ideas