| Times-News
For the women behind the Family Narrative Project, family is not just what they do, but who they are.
Laura Roselle, her daughter Savannah Tuttle, the wife of Roselle’s cousin, Kim Winslow, and Winslow’s sister, Darlene O’Dell, have owned and operated the Family Narrative Project for about three years. All four women, who have a teaching history and a passion for storytelling, offer courses and individual advice to people interested in preserving their family stories in the form of history.
Women are spread across North Carolina and South Carolina – Roselle lives in Gibsonville, Tuttle just moved to Greensboro, Darlene O’Dell lives in Asheville and Kim lives in Columbia, South Carolina – where most of her clientele, but their businesses have expanded to New York, Utah and Michigan.
“This is a project close and dear to all of our hearts. We got together because we were very interested in telling stories and the importance of stories in the family and in the communities, ”said Roselle. “We wanted to come together and form a business that would help people understand, save and share their stories.”
The Family Narrative Project offers a range of products and services, including writing books available on Amazon, online courses and consulting services.
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“Sometimes people don’t know what to write about,” said Roselle, adding that many people try to sit down and write a memoir just to be overwhelmed by the process.
To combat this, women offer two perennial courses called Recipe Storybook, which allows writers to collect family recipes and write the stories that accompany them in a collective book, and Less Stuff, More Stories, which helps people document the associated stories family heirlooms, photos, documents and more.
In the COVID era, women also offer online courses via a webinar, two of which will take place in April and May.
“In the midst of the tragedy of it all, seeing that we could reach people online was really enlightening for us,” said Roselle. “We were doing things more personally … but we really expanded into the online space, keeping the connection with people because that is very, very important for us.”
These courses, offered through the Elon NEXT program, open to all, are called Writing your story, one photo at a time and Telling stories like a superpower. O’Dell will teach April’s photography class and Roselle will teach Storytelling as a Superpower.
“I think what makes us different is that we have been teachers for a long time and we love to write, research and family stories. I think what really sets us apart is that we approach this from a research angle … and we’re kind, kind and supportive by helping people in our writing groups, ”said Roselle. “In some writing groups, it’s about criticism, and that can be tough, but that’s not how we direct everything we do. It is about extracting people’s stories, supporting them and letting them know that their stories are important ”.
Individual advice is also offered, helping people to guide people through the process of documenting their family history in a manageable and impactful way.
“We have suggestions for easier ways to write family stories, you don’t need a lot of time and you can do it in small pieces,” explained Roselle. “When I learned these things, I thought, ‘Why has nobody told me these things before?
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Costs for online courses and consultancy services vary depending on how many classes and classes are included, but are generally in the range of $ 200 to $ 300. The Less Stuff, More Stories class costs $ 279, the Recipes Storybook class costs $ 200, the Writing Your Storybook class one photo at a time costs $ 360 and Storytelling as a superpower is $ 240. The price of the consultancy varies depending on the scope of the project and community seminars that range from an hour and a half to three hours about $ 250.
Individuals interested in registering for the next courses in April and May can visit the Elon NEXT website for more details. University affiliation is not required. For these courses, a 35% discount on early registration is available using the code EARLYBIRD.
Tuttle and Winslow are also working on a new curriculum on how to tell family stories to young people.
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Roselle found the experience of working with her family helping to build other people’s family histories a joy.
“Being able to work with these women is a joy. It is a very special thing, ”said Roselle. “We all just want people to know how important their stories are and that their stories are important in this world.”
To learn more about the Family Narrative Project, visit the website, follow them on Instagram or send an email to [email protected].
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Elizabeth Pattman is the trend reporter for the Times-News in Burlington, covering business, COVID-19 and all the things that are trending. Contact Elizabeth (she / she) at [email protected]. I am also available on the social networks @EPattmanTN on Twitter or @burlingtontimesnews on Instagram.