Major Milestone

A major milestone is typically a cause for celebration. It’s a BIG life event. This could be a big birthday, like turning 65, or a big anniversary, like your 50th wedding anniversary. It could be your first car, your first job, your first home, or retirement. This is where you can capture the story of reaching that milestone and what it meant to you. It also makes a great gift to give a friend or loved one who has reached a major milestone – your story of watching them achieve it.

Preparation

• Begin with a clear outline that includes the key stages: the background, the journey, the achievement, and the aftermath.
• Decide on the narrative arc, ensuring there is a logical progression from beginning to end.
• Think about the central themes you want to explore, such as perseverance, ambition, growth, or resilience.

Audience

Are you writing this story primarily for fun and self reflection, or will there be an audience for the story? If the story is primarily for your own consumption and reflection, don’t worry too much about structure or flow. Simply reminisce freely without worrying about spelling, grammar or sentence structure. Your virtual biographer will compile your reflections into a coherent story for your enjoyment.

If you are writing the story as part of your life story, or to celebrate the milestone with others, give some thought to what they should takeaway from the story. What is the key message you want to leave them with? Share this insight with your virtual biographer.

Structure and Flow

A story written for others starts with a good “hook” and unfolds with authenticity and emotion. Begin with the feeling of reaching this major milestone. Life stories can be told both chronologically and thematically. A chronological structure is good for recounting the order events happened. A thematic structure is focused on the ideas, thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story. Your virtual biographer can weave both approaches.

One of the most important choices to make about writing the story is what point-of-view the story will take. Do you want to tell it in the “First Person” (you as narrator) or the “Third Person” (an objective narrator). Most autobiographies, memoires, and life stories are told in the first person because they are character-driven stories. They are more intimate. However, writing and telling the story in the third person offers objectivity and omniscience. The first person narrative is perfect for telling the story in your voice from your perspective. The third person narrative is perfect for writing about witnessing (and perhaps helping) someone else reach their milestone.

Answer the Important Questions; Skip Those Less Relevant

The ‘Times of My Life’ app provides you with a Virtual Biographer (VB) to interview you about your major milestone. Yes, it’s an AI bot, but a very smart and intuitive one. Your VB has instant access to similar stories written and shared by millions of other people. It can help you relive events, thoughts and feelings. It can help illuminate the essence of your experience, and then tell a story that is uniquely yours. If your VB asks a question that doesn’t seem relevant to your experience, just skip it and move on to the questions that assist your recall and are important to how you lived that moment.

Add Details

If your virtual biographer fails to ask you a key question about your big milestone, simply tap the “Add Details” icon to add the memory when it comes to your mind. To add a detail, you can type it or use the microphone to record it. The VB will use your answers and the extra details you add to write a great story.

These ideas will get you in the mindset to answer questions and add details:

• Tell the Backstory: Provide enough background about yourself and other key people involved to make the characters feel real and multi-dimensional.
  o Explore their motivations, challenges, and contributions to your journey.
• Highlight Key Moments: Focus on the pivotal moments that defined the journey towards the milestone. Use these moments to build tension and emotional impact.
• Maintain Focus: Avoid unnecessary details or tangents that don’t contribute to the main story. Keep the narrative focused on the key events and themes.
• Balance Emotions: While it’s important to convey the excitement and pride of reaching the milestone, also highlight moments of struggle and perseverance. A balanced narrative can be more impactful and relatable.
• Don’t Skip the Struggle: Milestones are often the culmination of effort and hurdles. Show the struggles, anxieties, or sacrifices your character made to reach this point.
• The “Aha” Moment: Capture the emotional peak of achieving the milestone. Describe the character’s thoughts, feelings, and how it changes their perspective.
• Include Dialogue: Put sentences in quotation marks to let your virtual biographer know that it is a direct quote, and who said it. Incorporate meaningful conversations that had an impact on achieving the milestone.
• The New Beginning: Milestones are often springboards to new beginnings. Hint at the future possibilities that open up for your character.
• Not Always Sunshine: Life is rarely a linear path to success. Consider the challenges or uncertainties that might come after the milestone.

Don’t Just Tell; Show

Use descriptive language to paint a picture of the setting, the characters, and the emotions surrounding the milestone achievement. Let your characters’ dialogue showcase their personalities, motivations, and the significance of the milestone. Photos, narration, and music will also help you “show” the story. The ‘Times of My Life’ app is excellent at helping you visualize the story in multimedia formats.

Write the Story; Add Media

• After the interview and after you add whatever details you think are important, you will have the option of writing the story yourself, or having your virtual biographer write the story. It only cost $0.00 to have your VB write the story — and will save you hours of work writing it yourself. You can always edit what the VB writes.
• If you prefer to write the story yourself, use your answers from the interview and the details and notes the app captured, to guide your writing. Tips for writing the story yourself can be viewed by tapping the “Tips” icon in the app. Additional tips are listed below.
• After the story is written you will end up at the ‘Enhance Story’ screen. This is where the magic happens.
  • Tap “Add Media” to insert images and/or video clips into the narrative of your story.
  • Tap “Narrator” to choose a narrator. NOTE: A narrator is great if you ask your virtual biographer to write the story in the Third Person. If it is written in the First Person, then YOU are the narrator of the story.
  • Tap “Music” to add background music to your story, assuming you plan to publish it as an audiocast or a video.

Edit and Revise

After the story is written by you or your virtual biographer, you can “share” it for free through he app with friends and loved ones. Their feedback can provide valuable perspective and help you improve your story. After you get their feedback you can go back and edit the story as desired — or ask your VB to rewrite it with the feedback!

Publish Your Story

One of the best features of the ‘Times of My Life’ app is that it will produce the story in multimedia formats.

• Tap PDF to create a nicely formatted printed version.
• Use Audiocast to download an MP3 file.
• Click Video to download a high resolution video, complete with narration (if you choose a narrator), background music, and your uploaded images and video clips.

Sample Outline

1. Introduction

• Hook:
  • Begin with a compelling scene or statement that grabs the reader’s attention. This could be a vivid description of the milestone moment or an emotional reflection.
• Background:
  • Provide context about yourself and your life before reaching the milestone. Explain why this milestone is significant to you.

2. Setting the Stage

• Initial Motivation:
  • Describe what inspired you to pursue this milestone. What were your initial goals and dreams?
• Early Steps:
  • Outline the early steps you took towards achieving this milestone. What were your initial challenges and small victories?

3. The Journey

• Challenges and Obstacles:
  • Detail the major challenges and obstacles you faced along the way. How did these setbacks affect you?
• Support and Influence:
  • Highlight the people who supported and influenced you during this journey. How did they contribute to your progress?

4. The Pivotal Moments

• Turning Points:
  • Identify key turning points in your journey. What events or decisions significantly advanced your progress or changed your perspective?
• Moments of Doubt:
  • Share moments when you doubted yourself or considered giving up. How did you overcome these doubts?

5. Achieving the Milestone

• The Big Moment:
  • Describe the moment you achieved the milestone. Capture the emotions, reactions, and significance of the event.
• Immediate Aftermath:
  • Discuss the immediate impact of achieving the milestone. How did it change your life or perspective?

6. Reflection and Growth

• Personal Reflections:
  • Reflect on what this milestone means to you personally. What have you learned about yourself through this journey?
• Growth and Change:
  • Describe how you have grown and changed as a result of reaching this milestone. How has it influenced your values, goals, or outlook on life?

7. Moving Forward

• Next Steps:
  • Discuss your plans and aspirations following this milestone. What new goals have you set for yourself?
• Legacy and Impact:
  • Reflect on the broader impact of this milestone on your life and possibly on others. How do you hope to inspire or influence others with your story?

8. Conclusion

• Summarize Key Insights:
  • Summarize the key insights and lessons learned from your journey.
• Final Thoughts:
  • End with a poignant thought or message that encapsulates the significance of the milestone and your journey.

This outline provides a structured way to tell your story, ensuring that you cover the important aspects while allowing for emotional depth and personal reflection.