My guest today is Karen Fisher-Alaniz, author of Breaking the Code: A Father’s Secret, a Daughter’s Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything .

Lillie: Welcome to A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Karen. I’m delighted that your book is finally available. Your journey began on your father’s eighty-first birthday. Tell us what happened.

Karen: Thank you for having me, Lillie. More than 50 years after WWII, my father, a WWII veteran, had started watching graphic war movies and reading piles of WWII books. He also seemed depressed. I’d tried asking him questions about it, but to no avail. Then, on his 81^st birthday, he put two old notebooks on my lap. They were full of more than 400 pages of letters he’d written during the war.

Lillie: What is “the question that changed everything”?

Karen: Oh boy. That’s a hard one. There are a lot of questions in the book. I was always asking my father questions. I wanted to know more. But he was experiencing nightmares and flashbacks, symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. So, I walked a fine line—wanting to know, but not wanting to push him too far. I don’t think I can choose one question that changed everything—it just depends on how you think about it. And I’m finding that people who are reading the book have great ideas about what the question is too—so, my own view is evolving.

Lillie: I’m glad to know I didn’t miss one specific question. There were so many important ones, I kept trying to figure out which was the one that changed everything. Breaking the Code is so much more than a memoir. As I said in my review, it is a story of relationships with a historical perspective of World War II that our generation never experienced, and it offers insight into PTSD. Yet it reads like a mystery novel. How did you incorporate all that into a book that can easily be read in a few hours?

Karen: The first fiction series I ever read was by James Patterson. The one thing I was in awe of was that with every chapter, something happened that made you want to read the next one. I’d find myself, past my bedtime, saying, “OK, just one more chapter.” I love books like that. I love books that when I am a few chapters from the end, I’m thinking, I don’t want this experience to end. So, it was quite consciously that I set out to create a memoir like that.

I also took a screenwriting class and applied some of those techniques to my book writing. In screenwriting, each scene has its own mini-story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So, I tried to do that. I was very fortunate that my editor at Sourcebooks, Peter Lynch, thinks like that too. So, when I lost that focus in some chapters, he gently guided me back to it. A good editor is priceless!

Lillie: I certainly agree on you about the value of a good editor. An author does not produce a great book entirely on her own. Writers like to say that “everyone” should read their book, but we know that the more closely authors define their target audience, the more successful they are. Describe your ideal reader—the person who would benefit the most from reading your book.

Karen: You are so right. And when you’ve put all that you have into a book, it does seem that “everyone” will want to read it. The best way to avoid this thinking and really hone in on who your audience is, is to think about who will not read your book. For me, I thought about groups of people, like children, teens, and young adults. I have kids in those age groups and couldn’t imagine them just going into a store and picking up my book to buy. Those audiences are also not big buyers of books like mine.

When I visited my publisher in Chicago, one of the marketing people asked a really important question. He said, “Who are the first 1,000 people who will buy your book?” Of course, I started with my family and my friends. And then he asked, “And then who?” After that, he asked, “After the first 1,000 people, who will buy your book?” That really got it down to the people I really felt needed my book in their hands: baby-boomers like me followed by military families.

Of course, that is the main focus, but it can still branch out from there. For example, my own son, who is sixteen, really surprised me. He started reading Breaking the Code for his English and history classes. He came home raving about it; he said that it’s like reading a history book that reads like a really good novel.

Lillie: What is the most important thing you want readers to take away from Breaking the Code?

Karen: That everyone has a story and every story matters. Everyone has someone in their circle of family or friends who has stories to tell. Maybe you’ve heard portions of their stories all your life, or maybe you’ve just had a hint at them. Whatever the case, none of us are promised tomorrow. I can’t tell you how many times someone has told me a bit about their loved one and then said, “They’re gone now. I wish I’d written those stories down.” And it’s so true. We’re waiting for the perfect time—when the kids are grown or when life isn’t so crazy. But time can run out and for some, their stories will be gone forever. I like to say of family history writing, “If not you, who? If not now, when?”

And for veterans, the message is that telling your story can be healing. When we share our stories, we honor each other. For veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, the message is to create an Intentional Time of Remembrance—a time to remember. There are more details about it in the book and how we did it with Dad.

Lillie: I recognize my own family in the common lament you hear. My grandfather, who died when I was 12, was a cowboy and told marvelous stories of his experiences on the cattle trail. My parents and aunts and uncles thought they would always remember the stories they heard so often, yet just a few years after his death, all the stories were lost. That’s one reason I helped my mother and my mother-in-law write their own stories—not for publication, but for the family—and also wrote Preserving Memories: How to Write a Family History to help other families tell their own stories.

With Breaking the Code, you’ve really been on two journeys—the first to learn your father’s secrets and help him overcome his PTSD symptoms and the second to publish the book. Will you share a little about your publishing journey?

Karen: Ah, where do I start? I think I start with what every writer understands—rejection! I had plenty of rejections with Breaking the Code. It was a difficult sell for some, but I always believed in the story. I believed that when the timing was right, the perfect publisher would be there. And that’s what happened. I met my editor at a writer’s conference. If you want to be a published writer, you have to become a student of the whole process from the nitty-gritty of writing to the whole publishing industry. Education, persistence, and belief in your own abilities—those are the keys to success.

Lillie: Where can readers learn more about you and your books?

Karen:  My website, http://www.storymatters2.com is the hub for my writing life. At the bottom of the welcome page, you’ll find a list of places you can purchase my book. When I developed my website, I did something that is not recommended—I always seem to be doing that (Ha!). I created a whole website around this particular book, not just around me as a writer.

Lillie: I know you have come to believe that everyone has a story to share, and you are encouraging others to write their own stories. Tell us about Story Matters.

Karen: StoryMatters2 is my website. A WWII veteran recently told me that he has a story too, but no one has ever asked. So, I added a forum for sharing your stories—but it’s not just for veterans. My ultimate goal is to begin a story-telling revolution! Wouldn’t that be fabulous? I mean, just imagine if everyone told someone just one story. What if each story was written down? It’s time for us to talk to each other, and this is particularly true of our elders. Don’t let them pass through your life without telling their story. So, my website is a place to begin. I want to hear veteran stories, of course. But I also want to hear your stories about almost anything—nostalgia, childhood memories, and life experiences. I want my website to be a gathering place where people can share their stories and others can join in the conversation.

Lillie: November is National Lifewriting Month, so your message is timely in two ways: Today is Veterans Day, and your book honors your father and other veterans, and we’re talking about writing memoirs and family histories during the month dedicated to doing just that. Is there anything I’ve failed to ask that you would like to share with my readers?

Karen: Don’t give up. Don’t give up on the book you’ve written. Don’t give up on your loved one who seems to want to tell their story but can’t seem to get the words out. Give yourself, give others—the gift of time.

Lillie: Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing about your journey and your book with my readers. They will probably have more questions for you. Will you check in during the day to respond to comments and answer questions?

Karen: Absolutely!

Lillie: If you have questions for Karen, leave a comment below.

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Karen Fisher-Alaniz is a writer and author. She has written freelance articles for regional and teen magazines. Her work has appeared in anthologies such as Chicken Soup for the Soul II and Voices of Multiple Sclerosis. She lives in her family in the Pacific Northwest.

I encourage everyone to write their own or their family’s life stories. In my ebook, Preserving Memories: How to Write a  Family History, I say:

After my father died, my mother became very depressed and withdrawn. I convinced her to attend a writing conference with me by telling her I didn’t want to stay in the hotel alone. She attended one conference session — a seminar on writing essays. She wanted to try her hand at an essay but couldn’t decide on a topic, so I suggested she write about our trip. After that successful attempt, my siblings and I encouraged her to write about her own life.

She wrote what she called her “stories” in longhand on notebook paper. I transcribed them, making only minor corrections in her spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I scanned family photos and added them in appropriate places. We printed the stories on my computer printer and inserted the pages in loose-leaf binders so she could give a book to each of her adult children for Christmas; each year after that, she wrote more stories to add to the book.

These stories quickly became cherished family treasures. Teenaged grandchildren put aside video games to read their parents’ copies of their grandmother’s memoirs. Siblings pointed to stories and asked each other, “Did you know that?” Family members shared laughter and tears when the stories were given as gifts, and now, years after my mother died, those loose-leaf binders filled with family stories have become treasured legacies, possibly even more valued than money or property.

The same can be true for you. Your personal memoirs or your family history can be the greatest treasure you can leave your family because you’re sharing your life and yourself.

A memoir or family history doesn’t have to be a published book to be meaningful. It can be typed in a word processor, recorded on a tape recorder, captured in a video, or assembled in a scrapbook.

Denis Ledoux, author of Turning Memories Into Memoirs: A Handbook for Writing Lifestories and originator of National Lifewriting Month, shares tips for getting started on your memoir in the article November Celebrates Memoir Writing.

A memoir or family history may seem like an overwhelming project, but Preserving Memories helps you break it down into manageable tasks so you, too, can leave your loved ones a precious legacy: your life story or the story of your family.

Have you done any lifewriting? If not, why not give it a try during National Lifewriting Month?

Learn how to find the information you need — whether it’s knowledge critical for your family’s health, intelligence important for the success of your business, facts useful in making buying decisions, or simply lore you want to know. Discover how to evaluate the reliability of the data you gather as well. Links to almost 100 sites useful for research.

Families often lose their histories through the generations, which may explain why genealogy — the process of trying to trace and recapture that history — is hugely popular. Learn how to preserve your precious family memories for future generations, whether you simply want to print a few copies on your computer or publish a hardcover book to sell to the general public.

You can learn to care for your houseplants even if you weren’t born with a green thumb. All you need to have beautiful indoor plants is to know a few secrets and to give your plants a little love and attention. Turn your brown thumb green and take pleasure and pride in your houseplants.

If you’re confused about e-book formats, you’ll find a handy matrix at Wordsupply showing what programs/devices read various e-book formats.

Don’t forget to visit Read an E-Book Week and Smashwords for more free e-books this week … after you’ve checked out all my free e-books.

Table of contents for Memoir and Family History

1. Memoir and Family History: Part 1—Leaving a Legacy
2. Memoir and Family History: Part 2—Memoir
3. Memoir and Family History: Part 3—Family History
4. Memoir and Family History: Part 4—Getting Started
5. Memoir and Family History: Part 5—Writing
6. Memoir and Family History: Part 6—Publishing and Distribution

Some memoirs and family histories will appeal to a wider audience and be appropriate for traditional publishing. If your story falls into that category, this installment won’t apply to you. Since the percentage of personal and family stories that are published by conventional publishers is small, I will focus on self-publishing and subsidy publishing in this section.

If you self-publish, you handle all the aspects of publishing yourself, negotiating and contracting with providers for work you cannot do yourself. If you use a subsidy publisher, you pay a publishing company to publish the book for you, an option if you are publishing a trade paperback or hardcover book. Learn more in the Self-Publishing Primer.

The first step is publishing your manuscript is to choose your format. Your choice will depend upon the size of your audience, your financial resources, and your method of distribution.

Your options include:

• Loose-leaf binder—If you are distributing copies only to immediate family members, you can print the pages on your computer printer or at a print shop, then insert them into three-ringer binders. This is inexpensive and easy; it also allows for additions if you write piecemeal as my mother did. You can print on high-quality paper and choose a binder with a clear plastic cover that allows you to insert a page as a book cover. If you’re printing only a few copies, you can include color photos in your book; color printing is too expensive in most other formats.
• Spiral bound—If you’re printing dozens or a few hundred copies, you can take a computer file with a camera-ready manuscript in a word processing program to a copy shop. The copy shop can print the pages (which can be either 8.5” x 11” or 5.5 x 11”) and bind the books with spiral or comb binding.
• E-book—You can convert your word processing file to a PDF file for electronic distribution. Adobe will convert up to five files for you at no cost, and there are several other free online servers to convert Word or other files to PDF. When you have your book in a PDF file, you can send it as an e-mail attachment or create a Web site where the file can be downloaded. An e-book is the most cost-effective way to deliver your book, but most people also want a physical copy of the book. You might consider offering the e-book for free and charging for a print edition.
• Trade paperback or hardcover—Trade paperbacks are larger and higher quality than mass-market paperbacks. They can be printed in small print runs (usually most cost-effective for at least 500 copies) and can also be printed digitally as print on demand (POD). Hardcover books are the most durable; however, they are also the most expensive and generally require a fairly large print run.

After your books are printed, you are ready to distribute them. This can be done in several ways:

• Gifts—If you publish loose-leaf binders for family members, you will probably give the books away because the cause is minimal. The cost is even less for e-books, so they can be freely given away as well.
• Sales—If you publish larger quantities or more expensive formats, you will probably need to be compensated for the books. Determine all your costs for writing and publishing the book and divide that number by the number of copies being distributed to determine the unit cost. You can sell the books at cost or increase the price to make a profit. Taking advance orders can help generate money to pay printing costs as well as help you determine how many books to print. Since most people tend to procrastinate, it helps to offer a discount for prepaid orders received before the specified deadline, which should be before you place the printing order. Even if you base your print run on the number of pre-orders you receive, be sure to order extra, both for late orders and for your future children and grandchildren.
• Combination—You may decide to give away books to immediate family but sell to extended family and others. Or, as mentioned earlier, you may give away the e-book and sell the print book. You might sell the book to everyone, but charge family members only the actual costs and charge other people a higher price. The choice is yours, based on your resources and desires.

No matter what format you choose or how you distribute your memoir or family history, you have created a legacy that will last—not only for your children and your grandchildren, but also for generations to come.

I hope you have found this series on writing memoirs and family histories helpful and wish you joy and success in your personal and family story writing.

Table of contents for Memoir and Family History

1. Memoir and Family History: Part 1—Leaving a Legacy
2. Memoir and Family History: Part 2—Memoir
3. Memoir and Family History: Part 3—Family History
4. Memoir and Family History: Part 4—Getting Started
5. Memoir and Family History: Part 5—Writing
6. Memoir and Family History: Part 6—Publishing and Distribution

Memoirists and family historians are not necessarily experienced writers, and they often don’t realize how many drafts it takes to achieve a finished product. The first draft will be “pure green dreck.” Start writing, and expect that you will re-write … and re-write … and re-write. But get the first draft written first.

Here are a few things to consider:

• Write in a natural style. You’re not writing an academic paper; you’re writing a story that you want people to read and enjoy. Write the way you talk, not the way you think will impress people. Readers shouldn’t pay attention to the writing; they should be wrapped up in the story and not thinking about what a great writer you are.
• In family history, you may consider it important to include facts such as birth and death dates. If you put these facts in the story itself, weave the facts into the narrative. If you find it difficult to fit in all the facts you want without interrupting the flow of the story, include these details in an appendix rather than in the story itself.
• You may be writing history, but you’re also telling a story. The facts are the basis of the story, but the people—their thoughts and emotions— make the story real and meaningful to the reader. Details and everyday occurrences turn dry history into exciting story. The story doesn’t have to start at the beginning. Open the book with a hook, action or dialogue that will immediately catch the readers’ attention and make them want to keep reading.
• Although you aren’t preaching or teaching, you can certainly share your and your family’s beliefs and values. Your story is about people and what is important to them; spiritual, social, and political beliefs and activities are important to most people. Let your readers know which beliefs and activities are integral parts of your life or your family’s history.
• Choose appropriate photographs whenever possible to make ancestors more real and memories more vivid to readers. How many pictures you include and how you arrange them will depend in part on the format you choose.

Every writer has her own way of writing. There is no formula or set of steps that you must follow in order to write your book. Use the following as guidelines, and adapt them to your own working style.

• Get the words on paper in the way you prefer—longhand, typing, recording—see Part 4: Getting Started.
• Write in an organized fashion—chronologically or categorically—if that works for you. Otherwise, write stories or chapters or scenes as you think of them.
• Correct spelling and punctuation errors as Spell and Grammar Check point them out to you, but ignore grammar errors because they are often wrong.
• Don’t edit or revise until you’ve finished the first draft unless you realize you got something wrong or you change your mind about what you want to say.
• If you have written piecemeal, assemble the stories into one document. You may organize your book into chapters or sections either by date (chronological order) or by topic, depending on your personal preference and the nature of your story.
• Edit the manuscript—see my series of posts on editing.  Check first for content and continuity. Did you leave out something important? Did you spend too many words on a particular topic? Does the order makes sense or does the story seem disjointed? Do you need to add any information to make another part of the story understandable? You may need to add, delete, or re-write material.
• Edit again for consistency. Are there any inconsistencies in names, places, character traits, and spellings? If you have fictionalized the story, do the characters demonstrate consistent values or behaviors, or if not, is the reason for any change clear?
• Edit again for factual and grammar errors. Especially in a family history, verify events and dates—anything that can be checked.
• Repeat editing the manuscript until you are satisfied that it is the best you can reasonably make it, realizing that you will never have a perfect book and that too much editing can wipe the life and passion out of your story.
• Get input from other readers. Ask one or more people to read your manuscript and give you feedback. For family histories, other family members familiar with some or all of the history can be very helpful. Someone without knowledge of your family or personal story may be in the best position to tell you if they understand what you’ve written. A professional editor will not only catch grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors but can also improve clarity and readability.
• Evaluate the feedback and use what you find helpful and ignore what you don’t. Note, however, that if several people mention the same thing, you probably need to revise it even if you are happy with what you have written.
• Read the manuscript again to ensure that no errors have crept in and continuity and flow haven’t been disrupted during revisions.

Note that a memoir or family history doesn’t have to be written on paper. In this digital age, video is becoming a popular way to record memories. I am not qualified to give any advice about creating a video of your personal or family story. However, you can use many of the tips in this series to gather and prepare the information for your video.

In the final installment of the series, we will cover publishing and distribution.