What is the difference between a fact, a family account, and a narrative reconstruction?

A fact is supported by a document or other reliable record. A family account is attributed to the person or tradition that supplied it. A narrative reconstruction is an openly labeled scene or connective detail created to help the story flow.

Is the generated map a finished manuscript?

No. It is an editable story seed map: a sequence of spread-level prompts and possible beats to research, revise, and write in your own voice.

How can I save the story map?

Use Print or save PDF for a formatted copy, or Download text for a plain-text file. The browser also autosaves the current draft on the device.

Free family-history planning tool

One Ancestor to One Picture Book Story Lab

Q: Does this tool send or upload my family history?

No. The lab runs in your browser and saves its draft only in local storage on that device. It does not submit the draft to MyBookIllustrator.

Shape one life into a child-sized story without pretending every remembered detail is documented history.

Build the story seed map

12–14 spreads

“What can a child carry forward from this one life?”

Start with evidence. Name who remembers what. Label the scenes you reconstruct.

Keep the history honest

Three labels make room for both evidence and imagination.

Documented fact

A date, place, occupation, event, quotation, or object supported by a record you can name.

Family account

A memory or story attributed to the relative, letter, diary, or family tradition that carried it.

Narrative reconstruction

A possible scene, feeling, or transition you invent and clearly identify as a storytelling choice.

Ancestor or person

Use the name the child will know.

Child or reader age

Map length

One challenge or change

Choose one event that changed what this person did, understood, protected, built, or passed on.

Documented fact What records establish

List only details you can connect to a record, object, photograph, newspaper, register, letter, or other reliable source.

Family account What people remember

Name the teller when you can. Words such as “Uncle Lee remembers…” keep memory distinct from proof.

Narrative reconstruction Possible storytelling bridges

These may help the story flow, but they should never be presented as newly discovered facts.

Visual objects, photos, or places

Concrete images give the illustrator a visual thread to repeat across spreads.

Ending or legacy

What can the child see, do, say, or remember because this person lived?

Private to this device

Your draft is autosaved only in this browser's local storage. This page does not upload or submit it to MyBookIllustrator. Clearing browser/site data or using another device can erase it, so download or print a copy you want to keep.

Nothing saved yet.

Before sharing the story

Give the reader a trail back to the truth.

Keep a source note

Record where each date, quotation, address, object, and photograph came from—even if that note never appears in the picture-book text.

Attribute living memory

“Grandpa remembers…” is stronger and more honest than silently converting a memory into an objective fact.

Invite corrections

Ask relatives what feels accurate, what needs another source, and what should remain private before circulating a family story widely.

Common questions

About this story lab

Does this tool send or upload my family history?

No. The lab runs in your browser and saves the draft only in local storage on this device. It does not submit the draft to MyBookIllustrator. The consultation link opens a separate contact page only if you choose it.

What is the difference between the three source labels?

Documented fact is supported by a source. Family account names the person or tradition that carried a memory. Narrative reconstruction openly marks a possible scene or transition created for storytelling.

Is this a finished manuscript?

No. It is a sequence of spread-level seeds. Research it, rewrite it in your voice, read it aloud, and remove any suggestion the evidence cannot support.

How do I save my work?

Use Print or save PDF for a formatted copy or Download text for an editable plain-text file. Device-only autosave is convenient, but it is not a permanent backup.