A popular feature which once appeared in daily newspapers was “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” In an inked box about six-inches-square, interesting facts from around the globe were illustrated and summarized in succinct captions. The series still appears in a select group of newspapers. An example is shown above. (Copyrighted 2014 by Ripley Entertainment, Inc.)
Summarizing a fiction novel or a non-fiction family history in a series of pithy one-liners can serve as an effective prompt to stimulate your writing. It’s also a good way to take a crack at the challenging task of writing the dreaded book synopsis or creating a back cover blurb.
Here are some examples:
Believe it or not: my grandfather once lost a horse and buggy in a flashflood while delivering mail to rural Iowa farms.
Believe it or not: my great grandmother was born in Wales and, as a teenager, came to America on a ship which was forced to land in New Orleans due to an influenza outbreak in New York harbor.
Believe it or not: my great-great grandfather was killed in a coal mining accident and his twelve-year-old son had to take his place at the mine.
The foregoing happen to be true stories from my family history. Whether this line of thinking generates ideas for family history chapters, or fictional accounts based on actual people and incidents, these beginning thoughts might stimulate your writing and help make a finished piece more “believable.”