Raconteur Story Writing Services is preserving family legacies in Plant City.
Olivia Spallino Savoie, its owner and writer, said she made a career out of her two passions, English and history.
“As I grew up I always had a fascination with family history and the older generations and how they can share family history,” Savoie said.
Her business composes memoirs, tribute books, writes down your love story and writes the About Us section of business’ websites. Savoie began practicing writing memoirs in 2015 and officially started her business in Dec. 2016.
Over the past few months she has completed nine to ten tribute books. When someone reaches out to Raconteur, Savoie will travel to wherever the client is most comfortable, usually their home, and begin an extensive process. Interviews average at four to five hours, though Savoie said she has gone up to 12 or 16 hours, which she splits over the course of several days.
“When I started practicing writing these I didn’t have an interview process,” Savoie said. “The problem became I would just sit down with someone I didn’t know and ask them to tell me about their life. It was way too complex of a question.”
Savoie asks clients questions regarding their earliest memory, what their parents were like and childhood vacations. She works methodically through childhood, marriage, young adulthood and eventually arrives at the present. On average, she asks approximately 150 questions, which Savoie said she often deviates from once she begins the conversation.
From there, Savoie spends time in the area, immersing herself in the culture and life of who she is writing on. She’ll live in one area for two or three months and then move on to where the next client is.
After the interview, Savoie spends eight to 12 weeks writing the memoir or tribute. Clients are then presented with a hardcover book detailing their family’s story. Savoie said the goal is to present a formal biography that can become a family heirloom, something that will last and be passed down for generations to come.
“I meet people who say ‘I would love that for my mom,’ or they will say ‘I would have given anything to have that valuable source from my mom and now it’s too late,’” Savoie said. “What I like to bring to the table is that opportunity to preserve that history.”
Savoie has worked with clients including a 103-year-old woman, a couple who have been married for 70 years and veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
“I’m providing the service because it’s my passion and because, in Plant City specifically, there’s so many stories there,” Savoie said. “There’s this quote, it’s a proverb, that says, ‘Every time an old man dies a library burns.’ It’s essential to me to preserve those libraries.”