Don’t try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience - every reader is a different person.
Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga.
I almost always urge people to write in the first person. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.
1146