Tips for Documenting Your Story
“My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours…”
“My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours… it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us more powerfully and personally. If this is true, it means that to lose track of our stories is to be profoundly impoverished not only humanly but also spiritually.”
- Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets
As a professional storyteller, I’m a firm believer in the power of story — especially true stories. It’s in sharing our stories that we better understand one another, learn from one another, and heal. That’s why this project is dedicated to documenting and sharing real stories. We interview, photograph, and film survivors to help them share their stories, but you don’t need us. Here are some helpful tips that we’ve learned along the way to help you document your story.
Journal Daily
As hard is it might be to force yourself to record what you’re going through now, in the moment, is the best time to record your story because everything is fresh and real. It doesn’t need to perfect. It just needs to be recorded. You can always go back and edit it. But, you’ll forget so much of what you’re going through if you don’t record it in the moment. And we’ve noticed the people who have mentally recovered the quickest made a habit of journaling about their experience and then went back through it later to help them process everything they went through. You can write it or make a video of it or record just your voice.
By the way, you can also journal for someone else. We’ve interviewed many people who regularly journaled for their loved ones when they were unconscious so there was a recorded of what happened when they were not awake. It did wonders for helping with the recovery process. We know one couple who read through all the journal entries together after the husband survived days on a ventilator.
Or, Record Your Experience As Soon As Possible
In some cases you may not be able to journal daily — I mean it’s a lot of work. But, try to record your story as close as possible to the event. It’s amazing how much we forget in a matter of days, weeks, and especially months. Don’t worry about it being perfect. Just record it — whether it be an audio recording, video recording, or writing. Do whatever is easiest for you to preserve the experience. You can always go back and edit it later .
Be Raw
Don’t worry about how you sound or look to other people. Don’t worry if you don’t look your best or feel your best. You can’t go back to this moment ever again so record what you remember now as authentically as you can. Don’t be afraid to be raw and vulnerable. That’s what people will relate to the most.
Use the most convenient Recording method for you
If you’re an introvert, you may enjoy writing better. Or, if you’re an extrovert, you may enjoy talking better. There is no wrong way to record your story. Use whatever method is easiest and most comfortable for you so you are more inclined to do it. It might just be turning on the video camera on your phone and recording yourself. Don’t worry about perfecting it now. Just record it. You can always convert a video to writing later or edit your words. But, you cannot go back to this moment.
Take photos and videos
If you do choose to write your story, also take some photos and videos of highlights of your experience. It may seem mundane and boring now, but when you look back months or years later it will be invaluable. Document the hospital room, signs people gave you, the medications, the vitamins, the room you quarantined in, what you’re seeing around you, things that are special to you, the day you leave the hospital, rehab exercises, symptoms, etc. You can also use these images to remember what to write or say later or share them with your story.
Here are some helpful apps that we like
Some links may have affiliate codes.
Microsoft Word
Google Docs
Temi — This is a web and smartphone app where you can record audio and it will translate for you .25/minute.
Rev.com — This is also a web app and smartphone app where you can record audio and it will transfer for you for .25/minute.
Simon Says — This is my favorite software app for editing films. Upload audio or video files and it will translate for you and you can export transcripts from everything from Word to Adobe Premiere. You can even pull from multiple interviews to write scripts.
Marco Polo — This iPhone app records videos that you can share as a conversation with a friend or friends, but you could also just talk to yourself and download the videos.
Clips — This Apple made iPhone app allows you to record video and automatically overlay captions. I love this one for videos for social media.
If you’re interested in sharing your story through our platform, head over here and tell us a little bit about yourself. If you are in an area where we will be filming soon, we may reach out to see if you want to do an on camera interview. If not, you can put together a 2,000 character version of your story and share a photo with us that we can post on our social channels and our website. Feel free to email us directly at survivors@namuhmedia.com.