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How To Write An Autobiography
By Alan Leach
An autobiography is basically a piece of writing you write about yourself. The length of such works can range from one single page to volumes in the case of famous (or egotistical) people! Nevertheless, for the purposes of explaining how to write an autobiography, we look at how to write a short autobiography.
It helps to begin by making a list of notes based on certain headings, such as friends, family, work and achievements. You may find that some events in your life (such as marriage) may fit into more than one category. Don't worry too much about this as this stage is simply about collecting ideas. It's amazing how once you start making notes many locked away memories come flooding back.
This notes stage may take a long time but will be worth it in the long run as you will have plenty to write about and won't suffer from writer's block! The next step for those of you wanting to know how to write an autobiography is to develop a structure. While a chronological one is often the easiest both to write and read, you may find grouping chapters according to themes such as love and health make it more interesting to write and therefore to read also.
A key point to think about when learning how to write an autobiography is to think about who the readers will be. It may be the case that writing the autobiography is just a personal hobby and you have no intention of letting others read it. Nevertheless, many of us want to leave something valuable and lasting to the following generations and relatives are sure to find an autobiography written by a family member a source of pleasure.
Naturally, the topics you could write about in your autobiography are numerous, but could include vacations, friends, family, hobbies, good and bad experiences, professional life and mistakes. Try to avoid merely describing events but try to provide some analysis and personal feeling about these events. How you were feeling at certain times of your life will prove more interesting than just the basic facts.
Once you have your main topics, the actual length of the autobiography is up to you. It is difficult to know how long the work should be. If you intend the autobiography to be read by no one but you, the length is not important. If you would like others to read it, remember possibly only family members would be interested in reading it if it is overly long.
For those of you wanting to know how to write an autobiography, a word of warning. You may see this as an opportunity to rid yourself of certain skeletons or to get something off your chest. While this may be a good idea, it is worth thinking about how others may react to this, especially if the revelation affects them. While distorting the truth may not be the answer, a little sensitivity is never a bad policy.
A good autobiography may take time, but much pleasure is gained from the writing process itself, as it gives you an opportunity to look back at good times and bad times of your life. Once you have finished, you have a range of options as to how to present it. You may want to make a number of copies for friends and family, or you may want to send it to a publishers, although it fairly unlikely that they would be interested in publishing it unless it was truly wonderful!
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