How to Write Your Life Story for Your Grandchildren
Your grandchildren probably know you as you are today.
But do they know what you were like at 10?
Do they know about your first job, the friends you grew up with, how you met your partner or what life was like before mobile phones and the internet?
These memories can disappear surprisingly quickly when they are never written down.
Writing your life story for your grandchildren does not mean producing a perfect autobiography. You simply need to preserve the stories, memories and lessons you would like your family to have long after you are gone.
And you do not have to write it all at once.
Here is a simple way to begin.
Why Write Your Life Story?
Many people think their lives are not interesting enough to write about.
You may not have travelled the world, become famous or experienced a major historical event firsthand.
That does not make your story unimportant.
Your family may want to know the ordinary details that seem completely normal to you.
What did your childhood home look like?
What did you do after school?
What did your parents cook?
What was your first car?
How did you meet your partner?
What did you do on weekends?
What mistakes did you make?
What are you most proud of?
These details help future generations understand the people and experiences that shaped their family.
The Easiest Way to Start
Forget about writing a book.
Start by answering one question.
You might write half a page about your first job.
Tomorrow, you might write about your childhood home.
Next week, you might tell the story of how you met your partner.
Eventually, those individual memories begin to form your life story.
This is much less intimidating than sitting down and thinking:
I need to write my autobiography.
30 Questions to Help You Write Your Life Story
If you do not know what to write about, use these questions as prompts.
Childhood
- Where were you born?
- What is your earliest memory?
- What was your childhood home like?
- What did your parents or carers do for work?
- What did you do for fun?
- What was school like?
- Who were your closest childhood friends?
- What family traditions do you remember?
Your Teenage Years and Early Adulthood
- What music did you listen to?
- What was your first job?
- What did you want to do when you grew up?
- What was your first car?
- What did you do on weekends?
- What major events do you remember from this period?
Love and Family
- How did you meet your partner?
- What do you remember about your first date?
- What was your wedding day like?
- What was becoming a parent like?
- What are some of your favourite family memories?
- Which family traditions would you like future generations to continue?
Work and Life
- Which job did you enjoy the most?
- What achievement are you most proud of?
- Who had the biggest influence on your life?
- Where did you travel?
- What is something you did that frightened you at the time?
Lessons and Wisdom
- What was one of the hardest periods of your life?
- What did it teach you?
- What would you tell your 25 year old self?
- What are you most grateful for?
- What do you most want your grandchildren to remember?
You do not need to answer every question.
Choose the ones that bring back memories.
Five Ways to Tell Your Story
There is no correct way to write a life story.
Choose the format that feels easiest.
1. Tell Your Story From Beginning to End
Start with childhood and work forward through school, work, relationships, family and retirement.
This works well if you want to create something close to a traditional autobiography.
2. Write About Different Parts of Your Life
Instead of following a timeline, create sections around important themes.
You could have chapters about:
Family
Work
Friendships
Travel
Parenthood
Challenges
Retirement
Lessons learned
This gives you more freedom to write about whatever comes to mind.
3. Write Letters to Your Grandchildren
You do not have to write an autobiography at all.
Write directly to your grandchildren.
Tell them what you want them to know about your life, your family and the things you have learned.
You could even write separate letters for different grandchildren.
4. Answer Questions
This may be the easiest approach of all.
Copy the questions above into a notebook or document and answer them one at a time.
Your answers become your story.
5. Write Individual Stories
Some memories deserve their own story.
The day you met your partner.
Your first day at work.
A family holiday that went completely wrong.
The birth of your first child.
The best decision you ever made.
The biggest mistake you ever made.
A collection of these smaller stories can be just as meaningful as a traditional autobiography.
Do Not Try to Sound Like an Author
Write the way you speak.
Your grandchildren do not need perfect prose.
They want your voice.
If you would normally say something simply, write it simply.
Do not replace your natural language with complicated words because you think that is how a book should sound.
The little expressions and phrases you use are part of what makes the story yours.
Include the Ordinary Details
Some of the most interesting details may seem completely boring to you.
Think about how much everyday life has changed.
How much did your first house cost?
What did groceries cost?
What did you watch on television?
What did your parents drive?
What did you take to school for lunch?
How did you communicate with friends before mobile phones?
Where did your family go on holiday?
What did your first pay packet look like?
Those everyday details can give future generations a picture of a world they never experienced.
Include Photographs
Your life story does not have to be entirely words.
Add photographs wherever you can.
You might include:
Childhood photos
Your parents and grandparents
School photos
Wedding photos
Old houses
Cars
Workplaces
Family holidays
Children and grandchildren
Travel photos
Write names, locations and approximate dates beside important photographs where possible.
A photograph becomes much more useful to future generations when they know who is actually in it.
What About the Difficult Parts?
You decide what belongs in your story.
You do not have to reveal every private detail of your life.
But a life story does not need to pretend everything was perfect either.
Challenges, failures, grief and mistakes can sometimes explain more about a person than their achievements.
If there are difficult experiences you want your family to understand, write about them in whatever level of detail feels appropriate.
It is your story.
You decide what to include.
What If You Do Not Like Writing?
Record yourself speaking.
Your phone is enough.
Choose one of the questions above and talk about it for five or ten minutes.
You can keep the recording itself or turn it into written text later.
There is another advantage to recording your stories.
Your family gets to keep your voice.
Years from now, hearing you laugh or tell a familiar story may mean just as much as reading the words.
Create a Simple Writing Routine
Do not give yourself an enormous target.
Try writing for 20 to 30 minutes once or twice a week.
One memory at a time is enough.
For example:
Week 1: My childhood home
Week 2: My parents
Week 3: School
Week 4: My first job
Week 5: How I met my partner
Week 6: Becoming a parent
After six weeks, you already have the beginning of something substantial.
Continue for a year and you could have dozens of stories preserved.
How Long Should Your Life Story Be?
As long as it needs to be.
It might be 20 pages.
It might be 200.
You might only write ten important stories.
There is no minimum length required for your memories to matter.
A short collection that actually gets finished is better than a 400 page autobiography that remains an idea forever.
What to Do When You Finish
Once you have written your stories, think about how you want to preserve them.
Print a Copy
You can print the pages yourself or have them professionally bound.
Add photographs and a simple cover with your name.
You do not need to create an expensive book for it to become a family keepsake.
Make Digital Copies
Do not keep the only copy on one computer.
Save copies in more than one place and consider giving digital copies to family members.
Record Yourself Reading It
You could also record yourself reading some of your favourite stories.
This preserves both the story and the sound of you telling it.
Give Copies to Your Family
Do not assume everyone will know where your story is stored.
Tell your family about it.
Give copies to the people you want to have them.
One Final Question
If you are still struggling to begin, forget the autobiography.
Answer this:
What is one story about your life that you would never want your grandchildren to forget?
Write that story.
Then write another.
You do not have to preserve your entire life in one sitting.
You just have to start.
