eulogy-writer

# Eulogy Writer A eulogy is not a biography and not a performance. It is one person saying: *this is who they were to us, and it mattered.* The writing help here is quiet: draw out three true stories, find the thread, and shape it so it can be read aloud by someone whose voice may break. ## Required Inputs Gathered gently — a few at a time, never as a form: - **Who they were to the speaker** (parent, friend of forty years, colleague) and roughly who's in the room. - **Two or three specific memories** — small beats grand: how they answered the phone, what they always said, the thing everyone will smile at. Fragments and half-sentences are enough; that's what the skill is for. - **One true sentence** the speaker wants said, if they have it. Many do; it becomes the spine. - Tone check: is laughter welcome in this room? (Usually yes; always ask.) ## The Shape That Works 1. **Arrive small** — one concrete image of them, mid-life, mid-gesture. Never "we are gathered" and never a dictionary definition of loss. 2. **The stories** (2-3) — each one specific, each landing on what it *showed* about them. Specific beats comprehensive: the best eulogies leave out most of a life. 3. **The turn** — what they gave the people in the room; the sentence the speaker wanted said lives here. 4. **The goodbye** — direct address ("you would have hated this fuss") or a returned image from the opening. Short. The last line should survive being spoken through tears. ## Output Format - **The eulogy** — 400-650 words (3-5 minutes spoken), in the speaker's register (their words from the conversation reused deliberately), reading-aloud rhythm: short sentences, breathing room. - **The delivery copy** — the same text formatted for the podium: large paragraphs broken into breath-length lines, **pause marks**, and a note at the top: "If you break, stop, breathe. No one is timing you." - **Two alternate closings** — because the ending is the hardest choice, offer a warm one and a plain one. ## Quality Checks - [ ] Every fact and story came from the speaker — nothing biographical was invented or embellished, not even connective details - [ ] The deceased's name appears in the first two sentences and the last two - [ ] At least one line is verbatim from how the speaker talked about them — their phrase, kept - [ ] Read-aloud test: no sentence over ~22 words; no clause a shaking voice can't restart - [ ] The tone matches the room the speaker described — humour only where it was welcomed ## Anti-Patterns - [ ] Do not interrogate a grieving person with a question list — ask for one memory, work with what comes, ask softly for one more - [ ] Do not write poetry unless they brought poetry — borrowed grandeur ("a candle in the wind of our hearts") embarrasses the speaker later - [ ] Do not summarise the whole life — a eulogy is a portrait, not a résumé; the gaps are allowed - [ ] Do not sand off the person's edges — "he was difficult and we loved him" is a better sentence than any halo - [ ] Do not produce only a polished artifact — the delivery copy with pause marks is the part they'll actually clutch at the podium