About Our Writing

We take great care with writing life story books in the tone and vernacular of our subjects, all while aware that these narratives will serve as lasting legacies to inform and inspire their families. It takes determination, dedication, focus, emotional intelligence, meticulousness, creativity, and a natural aptitude and passion for storytelling. It takes striving for excellence in the big picture and smallest details. It usually takes eight to twelve weeks for one of our writers to craft a given narrative, and sometimes, it takes even longer. 

So, what do our writers do with the invaluable resource of a verbal interview transcript? 

Organize

Most of our subjects—and people in general—recount memories in the same way a pinball ricochets—back and forth, up and down, around and around. Although the writer might ask a subject a pointed question about their childhood Christmas memories, that may remind them about their traditions with their own grandchildren today and remind them of a story their grandfather told them about his most memorable Christmas present—a shotgun—which reminds our subject of his best hunting stories. As this example reveals, although the writer asks our interview questions in a clear, chronological order, she is rarely told verbal stories in the same orderly fashion. And so, she spends a good deal of time reviewing the interview transcript, moving information, and sorting information so that, in the aforementioned example, all the content answered in response to our Christmas question would belong in four separate chapters: Family History (involving the grandfather), Childhood (involving our subject’s childhood Christmases), Personal Life in Adulthood (the hunting stories), and Recent Years (involving our subject’s own memories with their grandchildren).

Outline 

Once the writer has brought some semblance of order to our resource—all those memories on the transcript pages—now it’s time for the writer make sense of the story as a whole. She formulates chapter outlines and decides which information to present where and in what order. 

Write

Our writer never “edits” a manuscript. She deliberately crafts writing. She further expresses what our subject meant. If the subject said, “We used a bathroom outside growing up,” it’s safe for the writer to instead write, “Our family used an outhouse.” The writer connects ideas, so if our subject stated, “I enjoyed it,” when referring to high school and then two hours later listed her favorite subjects, the writer will take the creative liberty to write, “I enjoyed my high school years, especially home economics, English, and history classes.” The writer will simplify or condense long stories, transforming what could be complex and hard to follow into a page-turning, concise narrative that preserves the imagery and action.

Self-Edit

After those many weeks of writing, the writer gets to the final chapter and then finishes her draft. But her work is not done. Now, it’s time that the writer returns to Chapter 1 and begins self-editing her work. She may read through and revise two to three times. 

Work as a Team

The final step in our writing process is to come together: writer, editor, and project manager. We consult with one another, work through small kinks, improve flow, and often fact-check verifiable information.  

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Although that is not the end of the Raconteur journey, it’s the end of the writing part. What ensues is the subject reviewing the work, our team implementing their requested edits, and then our team proofreading upwards of five times before finalizing the manuscript. 

As you can see, we don’t copy and paste interview transcripts and deem a messy, discombobulated, rash product an heirloom book. Instead, we strive for beautifully and deliberately crafted writing that will captivate our subjects’ loved ones’ attention today and in the future. We strive for accuracy. We strive for a product worthy of becoming a family heirloom.