What is Autobiography?
An autobiography is the self-authored(Self written) story of a person's life.
Writing an autobiography is quite an interesting and enjoyable task,when you will have to reasearch about you and you'll have all the moments of your life at one glance in an arranged written form.
TEN BASIC RULES FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY WRITING SUCCESS!
1. Be honest. This is partly so that when you write your manuscript, you won't have any trouble properly documenting even the smallest details, as you might if you just embellish parts of your story. But it's mostly because your life is plenty interesting (especially that hilarious story about you and the raccoon!) and there is absolutely no need for fictional adaptation or exaggeration.
2. However, autobiography means never having to say you're sorry . . . or embarrassed! Make what you write the whole truth, but never think writing an autobiography also means that the world has a right to your innermost being or your most private and personal thoughts, unless that is really your purpose in writing the thing.
Hey, you want to write something way too personal that is somewhat uncomfortable for others to read? For goodness sakes, that's why Facebook and Twitter were created! (Well, that and to provide an easy way for you to recommend thiswebsite to your social media friends. Do it now, the rest of us will wait for you!)
3. Be your funny self - but only if you really are funny, otherwise be serious. But whatever you are, don't try to be anything else because you will alter your natural writing style too much. If you are dull and dry as toast, go with that. Write the quintessential autobiography for other tedious people to read. Hey, if it's who you really are, then tell the world to simply learn to live with it. That way, ten thousand years from now no one will have to wonder what you were really like because your life story written in your own true voice will have told them already - you were as dull as a doornail and mighty proud of it, too! Plus, ten millennia from now only machines will still be reading books and you'll have a best seller on your hands.
4. Write what pleases YOU. That may strike you as rather egotistical, but this is really the number one rule of writing autobiography (makes you wonder why it's listed as number four here then, doesn't it?) and it means that you should put together a story that YOU think is interesting. I mean, think about it! If you don't find your own version of your own life story to be rather absorbing, what in the world makes you think the rest of us will? Sorry. Am I being too caustic here?
5. Try not to be too caustic. Even the villains in your life deserve some respect. And you could change your mind about them some day. Or they could change their personality. No, really, that happens sometimes. And anyway, the ones who actually don't deserve respect and will never change, usually have little villain attorney friends very much like themselves who are just waiting to sue somebody like you for defamation.
6. Be sure you avoid cliches . . . like the plague! I mean, who would want to even consider reading an autobiography that wasn't a bit unexpected in parts and loaded with new and intriguing viewpoints? Exactly right, no one, no one at all. Certainly no one important. So why write one? Decide what key points really make your life story of particular interest to others and you will almost certainly be surprised at the difference in the focus of your overall effort. Make those key interest points your chapter titles and you are halfway home. However, always be mindful of rule #7.
7. Start with an outline. I should have put this rule as number one. Or perhaps number three. Five maybe? Anyway, without a clearly thought out path to your goal of documenting your life story, you will surely end up writing too much about one portion of your life and miss the larger picture; said larger picture being both more interesting and also larger. An outline consisting of a paragraph or two on each of the main events to be addressed in your autobiography is good. Twenty pages on your first snow sled is bad. Got it? Okay! Plus, you'll definitely want to save that Rosebud sled story until the very last paragraph. Trust me, I know things.
8. Write your very best the first time through. There is a tendency for most of us to simply get the whole story down in words any way we can and then imagine we'll simply go back and polish it up with more poetic writing during a final editing. I organize my work tools this way by just leaving them around the garage so I can go back and put them all in order each month. You should see my garage! You should try to just get intomy garage!! There may be exceptions to this infallible rule #8, but my own strong feeling is that it's far easier to come up with just the right wording as you go rather than later when you edit the effort.
9. Keep your writing confidence up. Your ability to write is more than adequate for your autobiographical effort. Never doubt it. I have recently come to realize that most people are far better writers than they think they are. And I can state unequivocally that you are far better at forming sentences than you imagine. In fact, now that I have given it some thought, I don't know why we're even having this conversation since we're both obviously so gifted with words. Maybe the world still isn't ready for real creative genius like ours!
10. Never lose sight of the commercial side of writing. There's big money in this wordsmith thing, or everyone keeps saying there is, so write knowing that people are going to read what you have written and maybe give you cash money for it someday. Even if you don't plan to market your story, that will still give you that "writer's edge" that you will need to sustain you when everything goes wrong. And most any writing project worth its salt most assuredly will at some point. Go wrong, I'm saying. Nonetheless, always use a spell checker, watch those dangling participles, and go write like the wind!
In the end the real trick to autobiography is to simply enjoy yourself. You will never go wrong documenting your own precious memories and real life adventures. So try to embrace the actual process and remember that the creative writing spirit is what ultimately separates us from the other animals. Well, that and the ability to eat crackers while typing an online essay and not spill all that many crumbs into the keyboard.
An autobiography is the self-authored(Self written) story of a person's life.
How to write an autobiography?
Writing an autobiography is quite an interesting and enjoyable task,when you will have to reasearch about you and you'll have all the moments of your life at one glance in an arranged written form.
Start your research by taking a close examination of your life and taking notes on the things that make you interesting.
Basic Outline include:
Your Family Background(included your date of birth ,place of birth etc like other famous person's biography)
Your childhood.
You may not have had the most interesting childhood in the world; but then again, you may have had an experience that was more interesting the most. The idea is to highlight the best parts when you can. And always remember that the things that don't seem very interesting to you may be interesting to others.
If you live in an inner city, for instance, you should realize that many people who grew up in the country have never ridden a subway, never walked to school, never ridden in a taxi, and never walked to a store.
On the other hand, if you grew up in the country you should consider that many people who grew up in the suburbs or inner city have never eaten food straight from a garden, never camped in their backyards, never fed chickens on a working farm, never watched their parents canning food, and never been to a county fair or a small town festival.
There will always be something about your childhood that will seem unique to others. You just have to step outside your life for a moment and address the readers as if they knew nothing about your region and culture.
Your Culture:
Your culture is the overall way of life, including the customs that come from your family's values and beliefs. Culture includes the holidays you observe, the customs you practice, the foods you eat, the clothes you wear, the games you play, the special phrases you use, the language you speak, and the rituals you practice.
As you write your autobiography, think about the ways that your family celebrated or observed certain days (birthdays), events (harvests), and months (December), and tell your audience about special moments. Consider these questions:
- What was the most special gift you ever received? What was the event or occasion surrounding that gift?
- Is there a certain food that you identify with a certain day of the year?
- Is there an outfit that you wear only during a special event?
- Have you ever ridden on a horse carriage? What about a hay wagon? A donkey? What about a limousine, train, mountain bike, eighteen-wheel truck, tractor, police car, power boat, sailboat, or ski lift?
- Have you ever walked the beach or a mountain trail?
How was your experience on one of these topics related to your family culture? Learn to tie together all the interesting elements of your life story and craft them into an engaging essay.
TEN BASIC RULES FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY WRITING SUCCESS!
1. Be honest. This is partly so that when you write your manuscript, you won't have any trouble properly documenting even the smallest details, as you might if you just embellish parts of your story. But it's mostly because your life is plenty interesting (especially that hilarious story about you and the raccoon!) and there is absolutely no need for fictional adaptation or exaggeration.
2. However, autobiography means never having to say you're sorry . . . or embarrassed! Make what you write the whole truth, but never think writing an autobiography also means that the world has a right to your innermost being or your most private and personal thoughts, unless that is really your purpose in writing the thing.
Hey, you want to write something way too personal that is somewhat uncomfortable for others to read? For goodness sakes, that's why Facebook and Twitter were created! (Well, that and to provide an easy way for you to recommend thiswebsite to your social media friends. Do it now, the rest of us will wait for you!)
3. Be your funny self - but only if you really are funny, otherwise be serious. But whatever you are, don't try to be anything else because you will alter your natural writing style too much. If you are dull and dry as toast, go with that. Write the quintessential autobiography for other tedious people to read. Hey, if it's who you really are, then tell the world to simply learn to live with it. That way, ten thousand years from now no one will have to wonder what you were really like because your life story written in your own true voice will have told them already - you were as dull as a doornail and mighty proud of it, too! Plus, ten millennia from now only machines will still be reading books and you'll have a best seller on your hands.
4. Write what pleases YOU. That may strike you as rather egotistical, but this is really the number one rule of writing autobiography (makes you wonder why it's listed as number four here then, doesn't it?) and it means that you should put together a story that YOU think is interesting. I mean, think about it! If you don't find your own version of your own life story to be rather absorbing, what in the world makes you think the rest of us will? Sorry. Am I being too caustic here?
5. Try not to be too caustic. Even the villains in your life deserve some respect. And you could change your mind about them some day. Or they could change their personality. No, really, that happens sometimes. And anyway, the ones who actually don't deserve respect and will never change, usually have little villain attorney friends very much like themselves who are just waiting to sue somebody like you for defamation.
6. Be sure you avoid cliches . . . like the plague! I mean, who would want to even consider reading an autobiography that wasn't a bit unexpected in parts and loaded with new and intriguing viewpoints? Exactly right, no one, no one at all. Certainly no one important. So why write one? Decide what key points really make your life story of particular interest to others and you will almost certainly be surprised at the difference in the focus of your overall effort. Make those key interest points your chapter titles and you are halfway home. However, always be mindful of rule #7.
7. Start with an outline. I should have put this rule as number one. Or perhaps number three. Five maybe? Anyway, without a clearly thought out path to your goal of documenting your life story, you will surely end up writing too much about one portion of your life and miss the larger picture; said larger picture being both more interesting and also larger. An outline consisting of a paragraph or two on each of the main events to be addressed in your autobiography is good. Twenty pages on your first snow sled is bad. Got it? Okay! Plus, you'll definitely want to save that Rosebud sled story until the very last paragraph. Trust me, I know things.
8. Write your very best the first time through. There is a tendency for most of us to simply get the whole story down in words any way we can and then imagine we'll simply go back and polish it up with more poetic writing during a final editing. I organize my work tools this way by just leaving them around the garage so I can go back and put them all in order each month. You should see my garage! You should try to just get intomy garage!! There may be exceptions to this infallible rule #8, but my own strong feeling is that it's far easier to come up with just the right wording as you go rather than later when you edit the effort.
9. Keep your writing confidence up. Your ability to write is more than adequate for your autobiographical effort. Never doubt it. I have recently come to realize that most people are far better writers than they think they are. And I can state unequivocally that you are far better at forming sentences than you imagine. In fact, now that I have given it some thought, I don't know why we're even having this conversation since we're both obviously so gifted with words. Maybe the world still isn't ready for real creative genius like ours!
10. Never lose sight of the commercial side of writing. There's big money in this wordsmith thing, or everyone keeps saying there is, so write knowing that people are going to read what you have written and maybe give you cash money for it someday. Even if you don't plan to market your story, that will still give you that "writer's edge" that you will need to sustain you when everything goes wrong. And most any writing project worth its salt most assuredly will at some point. Go wrong, I'm saying. Nonetheless, always use a spell checker, watch those dangling participles, and go write like the wind!
In the end the real trick to autobiography is to simply enjoy yourself. You will never go wrong documenting your own precious memories and real life adventures. So try to embrace the actual process and remember that the creative writing spirit is what ultimately separates us from the other animals. Well, that and the ability to eat crackers while typing an online essay and not spill all that many crumbs into the keyboard.