Starter: Your Oral History

If you can only do one thing, get your stories — or those of a loved one —recorded!

The oral history itself is the most essential service offered by First Person Narratives. It is the foundation of every other package, and the single most important action you can take to preserve your legacy. Once you record your voice and stories, they can be enjoyed for generations to come, and your family won’t sigh with the all-too-common regret, “We meant to record the stories, but we never got around to it.”

The Starter Package consists of four to eight hours of audiotaped interviews, conducted over several sessions. The process starts with:

• a pre-interview planning session to create a list of the main topics/stories you would like to have covered in your Personal History
• suggestions of questions to jog your memories
• completion by you of the Biographical Information Form provided by First Person Narratives

These interviews themselves are informal, relaxed conversations, usually held in your home, that touch on the significant and not-so-significant experiences of your life. We review:

• your heritage and family history
• childhood memories
• relationships, children, and parenthood
• education and career
• milestones and turning points
• accomplishments
• key people and places in your life
• your values and beliefs
• reflections about your experiences

Alternatively, you may choose to talk about just one subject in detail — your relationship with your spouse, your military experiences, your career, or some other subject.

The finished product is a set of labeled audiotapes containing your oral history. Arrangements may be made to transfer the audiotapes to CDs.

Standard: Edited Manuscript

To create a polished printed memoir, we begin with your oral history — the Starter Package. The recorded interviews are then transcribed, edited, organized, and formatted. This stage turns a raw conversation full of stops and starts into a flowing, polished, and readable narrative. A lovely page design makes it even more appealing.

In the editing process, we do the following:

• incorporate your corrections and revisions to the original transcript
• remove the questions so that the format reads as a first person narrative, not an interview
• move the text around to enhance chronological or thematic flow
• consolidate anecdotes or references that are repeated
• correct any inconsistencies
• note missing dates, names, or unclear aspects of a given anecdote
• create headings, chapters, and thematic sections
• format the printed narrative in a simple but lovely page layout
• print and deliver the edited manuscript

Optional: additional interviews to expand the narrative and include more memories and reflections.

Deluxe: Design of an Heirloom Memoir Book

In collaboration with a book designer, we turn the printed narrative (our Standard Package) into the designer’s proof of a beautiful heirloom book, including:

• choice of personalized design templates
• classic black and white photo reproduction
• inclusion of letters, documents, and other images
• Dedication, Editor’s Note, and Table of Contents
• choice of full-color front/back cover designs
• production of the publisher’s proof of a artfully designed legacy book, suitable for printing and distributing

Illustrated memoirs are designed by Izumi Motai, M.F.A., who brings an artist’s eye and a dedication to the craft of book design to the presentation of your story.

Note: Printing & binding charges are extra, and vary depending on the type of cover (hard or soft), number of pages in the book, etc. The Deluxe Package includes coordination and supervision of the printing/binding process.

Other Services

Custom Designs

Do you have cassettes of relatives speaking, handwritten letters, archival materials, or your own written memoirs that need the creativity and skills of a collaborator to make them more accessible? Contact us to discuss custom editing and design projects.

Ethical Wills

Whether called legacy letters, spiritual autobiographies, or credos, these shorter writings summarize one’s values, learnings and spiritual beliefs. They can be shared with family and friends or included as heartfelt, personal additions to the standard will and testament.

Click here for more information on Ethical Wills.

Heirloom Catalogues

Photos and short descriptions of family memorabilia, bound in simple, attractive catalogues.

Midlife Snapshots

An audio and written summary of your life so far, captured through interviews and conversations. Where have you been (your oral history)? Where has your life brought you now? Where would you like it to go from here? A way to capture the memories of your past while they’re fresh, assess your present life, and talk about your hopes and plans for the future in the presence of a objective witness.

Click here to see samples of our books.

Click here for pricing information.