WHY TELL YOUR STORY?
Legacy
For as long as there have been humans, there have been life stories, but all too often these are lost with the person telling the tale. We don't take, or can't make the time to record and memorialise the often fascinating insights, reflections and recollections held by those older than us.
Your parent, grandparent or great-grandparent has a unique view on the world and their place in it. They may have been born during the war, in a time before driverless cars, social media, and the steady rise of AI. They'll remember horse-and-carts, rag-and-bone-men, the shrieking buzz of a Doodlebug as it careered towards the earth. They may have been born many thousands of miles away, in a land whose borders, name or entire identity has since changed.
The world has transformed beyond recognition during their lifetime. And once they are gone, their memories are gone too.
These manuscripts provide invaluable and important documents of a bygone time, and they serve as points of connection between ourselves and our loved ones.
Special occasions
Celebrate special occasions with the most personal gift. The story of a life is the perfect present for someone celebrating a major birthday, enabling them to discuss their individual history in an open and honest way - perhaps for the first time.
Stories of partnerships or marriages make wonderful additions to a significant anniversary or for Valentine's Day.
These are thoughtful, person-focused interview sessions that can be completed individually or together. Likewise, narratives focused around important friendships, parenthood and grandparenthood all make for excellent gift-giving opportunities. You could tell the story of a human relationship or the tale of a much-loved pet.
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Additionally, stories of those no longer with us can provide immeasurable comfort at times of grief and bereavement, or to mark the anniversary of someone's passing.
Brave New World
One of the most common types of project - these are stories of immigration, crossing oceans, arriving in a new place with the clothes on your back and a few pennies in your pocket.
What happened next? What did you do, where did you go, and how did you cope? How was it to leave your family back home? And what sort of a country did you find - did it match your expectations, or was it a shock to the system?
I work with many clients who have arrived in the UK (or elsewhere) at fascinating periods of 20th-century history.
Perhaps your parent/grandparent arrived after India's independence, were expelled from their homeland by cruel dictatorships, or fled the terrible effects of war and revolution. How has your family member's decision shaped your own life? How might things have been different?
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Transitions
Birth, death, marriage, divorce, arrivals and departures. We cannot avoid them, and their power over us is absolute.
Telling the tale of a significant moment in your life can be as helpful to others experiencing the same as it can be therapeutic for you. This might be a tale of trauma: a bereavement, a pivotal event, a personal betrayal, a family feud, an estragement. It could focus on fertility issues, surrogacy, adoption or fostering, becoming a parent. It could be the story of a personal journey you have taken, literally, professionally, or otherwise: a journey toward self-acceptance.
Perhaps you have experienced a great loss in your life, and recounting that experience, as well as seeing it written down, may help with the process of closure.
You may have suffered from physical or mental-health problems and be willing to share this story in the hope of reaching others. Or the manuscript might be for you alone, a kind of journalling exercise.
Working Lives
Most of us work for a living, but few of us have a clear idea of what other people's jobs actually entail. Some memoirs capture a specific strand or part of a storyteller's life, and often these are professional histories, an illumination of the more obscure facets of our day-to-day.
The narrative could focus on accomplishments and failures, the story of a start-up, lessons learned, or insights from jobs few of us experience first-hand. Maybe your journey has been one of tremendous growth and success; maybe you found a fresh perspective after changing course and starting again elsewhere, in another industry entirely.
No matter how seemingly niche or left-field, accounts of professions across all walks of life are fascinating documents to give to friends and family, or to set down for yourself. Perhaps this specific area is your proudest achievement.
From surgeons to soldiers and surfers, lawyers to lighthouse keepers, this is the perfect way to document a working life, and is often given as a retirement gift.
Hobbies and Interests
It can be fascinating for friends and family, or indeed the wider world, to gain an insight into a particular passion of yours.
Perhaps you've climbed the world's highest mountains, dived the deepest lakes, travelled to every country on the continent of Africa, flown a tiny plane solo.
Maybe your hobbies aren't quite so death-defying: maybe yours has been a life defined by music, by singing or playing an instrument, by wild swimming, dancing or learning languages, baking, boxing or board games.
Perhaps you have dedicated your life to a specific cause - environmental, social, historical, political - and now feels like the right time to discuss it, to show how it has shaped you.
I've worked with foodies and animal-lovers, sports enthusiasts, stamp collectors and salsa teachers, all of them keen to use their personal interests as a means of telling a wider story.
THE PROCESS
Step one
Please get in touch using either the webform below, or via email. We will then set up a time to speak and discuss your requirements, the length of the manuscript, specific topics to be covered, and your aims for the audience of your work. At this point, you are welcome to purchase either a taster session/conversation or a specific package, listed on this site. You are also encouraged to think about how you would like to tell the story - something we can discuss. Please note all recordings, documentation or information are securely stored and deleted after the completion of your project: privacy and confidentiality are of the utmost importance.
Step two
We will agree a timescale, the number of hours required for any interviews, and the word-count of the final text. The amount of contact time we have will of course depend on the nature of your project. For memoirs written from scratch, you are welcome to provide me with notes, letters, diaries or photographs, or we will meet either in person or virtually over a period of weeks or months. You don't need to prepare anything in advance: these discussions will feel like informal, friendly conversations. After the first session, I will send you a short proposed structure for review.
Where subediting/editorial guidance are required, I'll send you samples within a week of the project's start.
Step three
For pre-written autobiographies/novels, I will share edited material with you on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Where memoir-writing from scratch is concerned, your work is finished after you have passed on the necessary materials, or after our interviews, though you are welcome to continue sharing anecdotes/facts or photographs via a secure online link. I will share your draft with you on a chapter-by-chapter basis for review and comments. This will be via a Word or PDF document, or I can arrange hard copies to be posted to you. We will then discuss your feedback and I will begin work on the remainder of the text.
Step four
Once finished in its entirety, I will send your manuscript in both Word/PDF copies and in hard copy. You will then have the opportunity to provide comments and feedback on the whole.
While Spirited does not offer bound books as part of the process, I can recommend a variety of low-cost, high-quality print-on-demand services to suit every need, and can provide advice/guidance as to the layout of documents in readiness for printing.
When the text has been fully edited as per your requirements, we will select an appropriate title, discuss the placement of images within your novel, memoirs or non-fiction book and if requested agree on next steps/proposals and covering letters for literary agents.
REVIEWS FROM PREVIOUS CLIENTS
Ada, Entrepreneur and business owner
"I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Jane, for doing an absolute fantastic job with my solo book. I was a little nervous to begin with. This was a lifelong dream and I couldn’t have found a better person to share my life story with. Jane took the time to understand my past, my tonality, my way of articulation and was able to transfer that into the book so beautifully and eloquently. I am very pleased with the work Jane did for me on this project."
