Planning the framework for your book and establishing chapter headings is surprisingly easy and enjoyable. A well spent hour or two here will provide an excellent provisional structure.

Please don’t expect everything to be perfect first time. The structure will be continually revised throughout the course of the project, and can even be reviewed again once the manuscript has been written.

For ease of analysis, the structure here is written from the viewpoint of a single life story followed chronologically. Ideas for alternative structures and joint books are discussed in the next chapter.

Defining the parameters of the book

Deciding where to start

When you were considering the sort of record you wanted, you may have had an idea of where the book should begin. Techniques like flashbacks and turning points are covered in Chapter 7, but unless you have strong views to the contrary, describing what you know of your ancestors is always a good place to start.

You may feel that you know relatively little about your family background, but what you do know is likely to be of great interest to future generations. The countries from where the family originated or lived for many years, the industries in which they worked, the size of the families, social class and religion can all help to set the scene, particularly as families now tend to be smaller and more mobile.

There is no need to embark on any in-depth research just yet, although if a great uncle is still around it would certainly be worth finding out what he knows. It is invariably the case that most people know far more about their families than they appreciate or consider important.

The other popular place to start is with the birth of the author . . . ‘I was born at home in the small hours of the morning on . . .’ Of course, even with this it is possible to reflect back on the sort of family into which you were born.

Deciding where to finish

Most people like to bring their writing up to the present day, but you may have another milestone in mind, for example the millennium, your 50th wedding anniversary, the birth of your last grandchild, or your 75th birthday at the end of next year. Greater attention will be given to endings in Chapter 11.

The proposed end point of the book may well alter during the writing of your manuscript. With this in mind it is usually worth bringing your story up to the present when thinking about your chapter headings.

• Q:How long should the book be?
• A:There are no hard and fast rules – stop writing whenever you feel that you’ve said enough. However, it is worth being aware of false modesty – for the time being, simply write anything and everything. A typical book will usually be between 40,000 and 80,000 words, about 150–300 pages. However, don’t feel daunted. This only equates to 15–30 pages per chapter, and once you get going you will be amazed at how much you write.

If you are intending to have the book bound, you should be aiming for at least 150 sides, although the inclusion of pictures and a few introductory pages will account for some of these.

Identifying chapter headings

Once you have established where you want the book to start and finish you are ready to jot down some chapter headings for your initial book structure. These are purely to help you categorise broad areas of your life, and might be as shown in Figure 1.

Typically there might be 10 or 15 categories that, by and large, cover the main areas of your life. As these categories should be obvious, there is no reason why this phase of the process should take more than ten minutes – half an hour at the outside. If you have a CV, even a very old one, it could be very helpful here.

The book Times of Our Lives follows a typical life of someone born before or during the Second World War. For those to whom this applies, reference to the book should prove beneficial. Details can be found under Further Reading.

Breaking down the chapters

Obviously huge areas have been ignored and others do not fit comfortably under any heading, for example, friends, holidays, hobbies and pets, all of which may overlap several chapters.

Even at this stage you will probably be able to subdivide some headings, like ‘Childhood’, for example, if you moved several times, were evacuated or perhaps lived overseas.

A large category such as ‘Family Life’ covering a span of 30 years or more, might be better divided into two chapters entitled ‘Early Married Life’ and ‘The Family Grows’. Of course, references to the children are also likely to appear in other chapters as well, although how much you include about them will be covered in greater length in Chapter 11. A long and diverse working life may well also require several chapters.

• Q:How many years should a typical chapter cover?
• A:This depends on how interesting the period is that you are considering. For example, if you were evacuated, even though this might have been for only 18 months, a separate chapter would be appropriate. There will be so much to relate, not least how you adjusted to the upheaval, and a description of your new and strange environment. In later life when there tend to be more set routines, a chapter can cover twenty years or more. You will normally have a feel for significant areas in your life which justify a chapter in their own right. If an imbalance exists it is likely to be ironed out as you are writing – you will feel that you have come to a natural chapter break. Other concerns can be addressed when the book is reviewed for balance at the end.

Brainstorming

This is where the creative process begins as you mentally trawl through your life and let the ideas flow

Write each of your chapter headings on a separate sheet of paper. Then, concentrating on one of the headings, write down whatever topics come to mind. They don’t have to be in any order.

For some headings there might only be three or four topics listed; for others there may be dozens. For the latter category, rewrite the list grouping common areas together, possibly under a general heading. This might look something like Figure 2.

Keeping focused

During this brainstorming you will undoubtedly be bombarded with detailed memories. It helps if you can capture the essence of your thoughts in just a few words because we think 12 times faster than we write!

What you are really looking for here are broad topics, but it is important that no precious recollections are lost. If specific memories flit into your mind, jot them down and then move on, concentrating on the more general areas. There will be an opportunity for more detailed brainstorming before you start writing the manuscript.

Revising the initial book structure

These topics from Figure 2 can now be incorporated into the initial book structure (Figure 1) to produce Figure 3.

In the above example the chapter dealing with the war has been divided into two chapters entitled ‘Evacuation’ and ‘Return to London’.

We are aiming at balance throughout the book, but this won’t necessarily emerge immediately because at this stage we cannot tell how long each section will be. However, beware of 17 chapters about work and only one on the family . . . and that one including golf and holidays!

Remaining organised

You may find that you have made many more notes than those transcribed onto the revised book structure. It is important that these are not lost. Place these sheets of paper in your filing system for future reference – you haven’t finished with the book structure yet!

Introducing a time line

Against this revised book structure you can add a time line to map dates to the framework. This helps to organise facts and reduce the risk of omitting significant areas.

Some dates will spring readily to mind:

• birth
• years at school
• starting work
• marriage etc.

Other dates may need a little more thought:

• births of three younger brothers
• visiting Bob in Canada
• meeting your partner
• buying first car
• Jim dying
• being promoted to section leader etc.

It is not essential that all dates be precise, the general period is enough . . . although with something like your wedding day someone else may appreciate you getting it right!

Adding key historical dates

You can also include key dates of history which come into your story and which help you place where you were. We are only looking at major events here, those that come readily to mind and dates that trip off the tongue. A more detailed analysis comes later.

Such events might include:

• 1939 – war started (September)
• 1945 – war ended (May Europe – August Japan)
• 1947 – severe winter freeze
• 1948 – NHS founded (Betty training as nurse)
• 1952 – King George VI dies
• 1953 – Coronation (got our first TV set)
• 1956 – Clean Air Act (living in London – smog!) etc.

Weaving it all together

Figure 4 shows part of the fully revised book structure, including the time line.

Some subject areas fit neatly in one chapter while others span several. Ideas for dealing with overlapping subjects are considered in the next chapter.

Taking a break

You can feel satisfied that on a few sheets of paper you have the essence of your book . . . now all you have to do is break down each chapter into much more detail and then write the manuscript! However, all that can come later. Your head is probably spinning too much to consider doing anything more just yet. Relax – you’ve earned it.

Checklist

• Are you happy with your start and end points?
• Are you confident that your book structure covers all the major episodes you want to include?
• Think about friends and family who might potentially read the book. Have you included something about each of them?

Assignments

• Look at other autobiographies and see how the books are structured and what material is included.
• Consider asking someone who knows you well to review the intended structure of your book.
• Flick through Times of Our Lives to assist with your thoughts on the structure of your book.