It’s time to tell the story of YOUR life
PANDEMIC restrictions have prompted many people to attempt to tell their life stories. Rutger Bruining of Story Terrace, a professional biography writing company, says their research at the start of the year found one in four people in Britain believed their life story could be made into a book or film. But would Tom Cruise be willing to play me?
He says the urge to tell their story “sky-rocketed” after Covid-19 swept the world.
“It is very clear the pandemic has played a huge part in fuelling the appetite which we see today for people to have their stories documented.
“The driving factors are still somewhat varied. Some of our customers have said that lockdown simply gave them more time to think and dedicate to the project, whilst others have said the pandemic forced them to contend with the prospect of their own mortality or that of their loved ones.”
The company matches a customer with a ghost writer and consultations and writing can take up to 12 weeks. Costs range from £1,500 for 7,500 words and 20 photographs, up to £5,250 for 20,000 words of text and up to 40 photographs.
I think a biography project is a great idea, either professionally produced or self-created and it doesn’t have to be a published book.
Notebooks, or a computer project can be just as effective, lasting and precious as part of a family archive.
Memories from a life don’t have to be of epic length, but they can capture emotions and experiences and put history into a personal context.
Everyone remembers where they were when world events happened: the Kennedy assassination, England winning the World Cup, first moon walk.
The headlines on the special edition of the Manchester Evening News told me JFK was dead as I got off a train in the city one November night. I was travelling home from Durham for a weekend of socialising and fun. My mood changed.
I was interviewing an award-winning pork butcher who had no interest in the beautiful game, but every intention of delaying me as long as he could, during the first half of the World Cup final in 1966. I escaped to watch the second half and extra time.
And I sat up most of the night watching the first moon landing, amazed at how far the human race had come – and gone.
Of course, nobody’s story relies on world events. The mundane can be just as fascinating for future generations to read how life was like before mobile phones and multi channel television or during pandemics.
Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody’s life is unique and worth telling, if only for your family. I believe there is a lot of truth in that survey that found one in four people thought their story could make a book or a film.
The problem is persuading Tom Cruise to play me.