Build Momentum With the Family History Writing Snowball Effect

Devon Noel Lee
Jul 3
2 min read

Have you ever heard of the debt snowball method? It’s a popular approach where you pay off your smallest debt first, then apply that same payment to the next smallest, and so on—gaining speed and motivation with each win. When you hit your largest debt, you’ve built momentum and confidence instead of feeling stuck.

That idea doesn’t just apply to money. It works beautifully for writing family history, too.

Let’s call it the writing snowball effect.

Snow-covered hill with a row of large snowballs rolling down. Bright white and blue tones evoke a serene winter atmosphere.

Start With One Small Family Story

Don’t try to write your ancestor’s entire life story in one sitting. That’s like trying to pay off a mountain of debt without any plan.

Instead, start with one event from one ancestor’s life.

A birth
A military enlistment.
A wedding.
A death
A homestead filing.

Whatever event has a document for you to build your story around.

Then, write about another event from that same person’s life.

Keep going until you’ve told the small stories that make up their whole story.

Piece by piece, you’ll see a bigger picture forming—without the pressure of a big, blank page.

Hands typing on a laptop in a bright room with teal accents. Text reads: "Learn to write your family history. Get started."

Roll the Snowball to the Next Ancestor's Story

Once you’ve finished telling one ancestor’s story, look at the people who appeared in it. Chances are, a spouse, parent, or sibling shared part of their journey.

Choose one of those relatives and begin their story next.

Some scenes from the first ancestor’s story will carry over—just told from a new perspective. That means you’re not starting from scratch. You’re building on what you’ve already written, gaining momentum just like the debt snowball.

Then, you can add events unique to the second person’s life—perhaps their immigration experience, a second marriage, or a career path that didn’t appear in the first narrative.

amily History Writing Becomes Easier the More You Write

As you continue, you’ll find yourself writing faster with fewer writing roadblocks.

You'll reuse many stories from previous ancestors to write about the next ancestor. You'll being to see how how one life intersects with another. In the end, you'll have a library of stories that are connected in more ways that one.

And each small story you finish?

It’s a win.

One more step forward.

One more ancestor brought to life.

If writing your whole family history feels overwhelming, try the writing snowball effect. Start with one ancestor. One scene. One clear win.

Then keep the momentum going—until your family’s story rolls right off the page.