Sarah Bennett CT Blog: Tell Your Story, Part 2

Awhile back, I did a post here about Telling Your Story (you can find it HERE) so I thought we'd revisit that topic and I'd offer up some new tips about journaling and getting your stories onto your scrapbook pages!

Scrapbook pages can be an excellent way to get the stories of our lives out onto paper but many of us worry that we aren't very good writers and that fact will take away from our pages. I'd like to suggest that you
see it in a different way - how many of us would LOVE to have journaling written by our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers? Would we even care how 'well' they were written? I'd guess that you answer would be a resounding NO! What we'd care about is that they were telling a story, expressing themselves and helping us to see into their world!

But, since I know that the ability to write well is something that we all worry about when journaling on our pages, I thought I'd throw out some general writing elements and tips that you can use as you journal on your pages.

Point of View - To determine the 'right' point of view for your journaling, ask yourself what the story's message is, why it's important to tell it, and who your audience will be. This will help you determine what you should include in your journaling and what isn't necessary.
Dramatic Question - This is the primary question that you pose at the beginning of your journaling to create tension and draw in the audience. A dramatic question is usually not an actual question but rather an intriguing statement that causes the audience to ask themselves a question. The ultimate goal of this element is to hook your audience and motivate them to continue to read your journaling to the end.
Emotional Content - It is emotional content that everyone can relate to and what ultimately makes a story universal. The ability to include emotion in your journaling will help keep your audience engaged and interested.
"Soundtrack" - Use your patterned papers, photos and elements to establish mood and reinforce the overall message of your journaling.
Economy - Keep your journaling short, sweet and emotionally compelling. This forces you to focus only on writing about that which supports the focus of the story you're telling.

I hope that these tips are helpful to you as you begin to tell your story on your scrapbook pages! I also thought that I'd show you some journaling focused layouts that I found over in the Sarah Bennett Designs gallery over at ScrapMatters in hopes that they inspire you!