How to Write a Family Story in the Form of a Parable
A parable is a brief story that delivers a moral or message. Because parables are short, simple and direct, they are easy and enjoyable to write. Using inspiration from your own family's history, you can write parables for the general enjoyment of all family members, or to teach younger family members about their heritage.
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Instructions
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Choose the family story. Every family passes stories down through generations. Listen for that special anecdote that a family member tells repeatedly. For example, maybe your grandmother keeps bringing up the time the oven caught on fire at a big family dinner, ruining the meal.
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Identify the moral or message. The message might be deep or profound, but it can also be lighthearted and simple. In the above-mentioned example, when the oven caught on fire, maybe everyone chipped in and made peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, showing that they didn't need a big fancy meal to have a good time.
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Construct the metaphor. Central to the parable, and indeed the purpose of it, is the metaphor emphasizing the moral or message. In the example, the act of preparing a meal together becomes a metaphor for sharing, helping and family togetherness. The big family dinner is not what's important. It's what the dinner stands for.
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Write the narrative. Once you've thought a bit about your story, your message, and your metaphor, you can construct the actual story. It might look something like this:
Every Sunday, our whole family would meet at Grandmother's house for a big family dinner. Her dinners were the event we all looked forward to all week long. One Sunday, as we all prepared to sit down to the table, the kitchen oven caught on fire, ruining every dish and dessert that Grandmother had prepared. The fire was quickly extinguished, but Grandmother was devastated by the ruined dinner.
Instead of canceling our dinner, every member of the family put on one of Grandmother's aprons and began to laugh and joke around as we gathered what we could from the refrigerator and pantry, each preparing our own specialties. Soon enough, even Grandmother was laughing at the situation.
Twenty minutes later, we sat down to a feast. Not the glorious Sunday dinner that my Grandmother expertly prepared for us every week, but a mish-mash of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, canned peaches, cold cereal, and ice cream sundaes.
It was the best family dinner we ever had.
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Tips & Warnings
Interview family members for story ideas. Rewrite and revise the parable several times for a polished story. Parables and family stories make thoughtful gifts, especially several parables collected in a keepsake book.
