Our motto is “Share your story.” We’ve now published over 250 books and in our humble opinion, we’ve got a knack for finding anyone’s story. But while we’re game to find a good tale, sometimes our clients aren’t so convinced they have anything worth telling. To them, their lives or their work don’t warrant retelling. Our job is to find the story regardless, and 10 times out of 10, we uncover a great yarn. The trick, we’ve found, is to start a great conversation by asking the right question; the fact is, people love talking about their experiences, the places they’ve been and the people in their lives.
Our writers are really good at asking questions, but we’re sure you can do it, too. The fine folks at Storycorps offer two fantastic resources to help you tease out the stories from your workplace, family or friends. Check out:
- Great Questions for a real big list of questions across a broad spectrum of life experiences, including growing up, work, love and relationships
- Question Generator to create a customized interview blueprint
You’ll get answers that will involve challenges, struggles, failures and triumphs (some big, some humble) — everyone has those! And if you’ve got those, you’ve got a story. (P.S. At Rookie, Anupa Mistry writes, “My family can be conservative and inhibited, so I hadn’t ever thought to ask [my parents] about who they were before they had us, nor who they were without us.” If you can relate, go read her story and you’ll be inspired.)
If you find a story that’s really juicy, share it! Email me a megan {at} echomemoirs.com. I’d really love to read it.
