Telling a Story

When I scrapbook, my primary goal is to tell a story. Most of my photographs are part of a series of pictures, not one-off images. It\’s natural for me to roll all these images into a page or two (or three or four or …) to tell the story of the event.\r\n

This may be easier for me than some folks, because writing is second nature to me. However, telling a story — and telling it well — is not. Writing the details of the event was always easy. What was harder to do was to roll the details together in a logical, interesting story.\r\n

I\’ve found the longer I\’ve been scrapbooking, the longer it takes for me to put together a page. Not because of the pictures and the other elements, but because it takes time to craft a story. There is no such thing as a perfect first draft; \”shitty first drafts\”, as Anne Lamott would say, are the norm.\r\n

When I have a story to tell, I find it easiest to do a quick bullet point list of the main things I want to say. If I\’m creating a digital layout, I\’ll just create a text box in the image and start \”scribbling\”. I usually start with the five Ws and an H: who, what, when, where, why, and how. When I get my images organized on the page, I can use the scribbling to create new text boxes and form and fill in the text of my story. Then I can delete the scribbles without guilt.\r\n

I\’ve given up worrying about my penmanship (on paper layouts) and making an occasional spelling or typo (paper and digital). To spend a bunch of time double and triple checking my spelling and grammar activates that inner critic that tells you that you\’re not good enough or what you\’re writing isn\’t good enough. If the audience for your pages are your family, your kids, or yourself — they don\’t care about the typos. They\’re interested in the pictures and stories.\r\n

As you can see from the pages I have interspersed in this post, I can have a lot of story to tell. That\’s when I try to balance the story with the pictures in the physical space. I keep the embellishments to a minimum, because the page is already filled with riches. \r\n

To be honest, a few of these pages have more embellishments than I would like, but I was trying to meet the qualifications for a Club Scrap team contest with these layouts. I didn\’t have another stamped saying that fit the overall theme of my layout. If I had the chance to do the second page of this layout over again, I\’d split out the story of Teresa and Macalester\’s name into a separate page. But as is, it\’s good enough. Lesson learned: let the stories and pictures be the most important elements and give them some room to breathe. \r\n

If I need more than a page or two to tell the story, so be it. But I always make sure the pictures on the particular page relate directly to the text on the page. Rambling tangents don\’t help tell the story.\r\n

Lastly, humor is a good element to add to a story, but only if you know how to structure a humorous story, and of course if it fits. It pays to know your strengths in the humor department. Personally, I can\’t pull off a completely humorous story. I just don\’t have the \”funny\” gene. But I\’m good with snark, asides, and one-liners. So that\’s what I use to add a bit of humor to my layouts when a touch of humor fits.\r\n

In summary, here\’s my approach to telling a story:\r\n

— Scribble some ideas using the five Ws and one H.\r\n

— Know that the first draft is going to stink, so scribble a little more.\r\n

— Treat the story like a page element, find the balance between your pictures and the story.\r\n

— Don\’t crowd pages; keep the embellishments simple.\r\n

— Add some funny, if it fits and you can pull it off.\r\n

I hope these tips help you out next time you have a story to tell with your pictures.\r\n\r\n’,