How to Write an Autobiography

What is your life story? Anyone whose life is rich with many levels has interesting stories to tell people. The advice here is that autobiography should be written like a good story: there must be a main character (you), the main conflict, along with attractive supporting roles to attract the reader. You can have the story revolve around a certain topic or idea that used to be present in your daily life. The following article will teach you how to sketch a story and sharpen the words so that your autobiography sings to your song.

Table of Contents

Sketch of life

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Record the timeline of your life. Start writing your own autobiography by researching your own life. A timeline is a great way to make sure important events and dates aren’t missed, and also give structure to the story. You can think of this as the “brainstorming” part, so don’t be afraid to write down all the things you remember, even if you don’t think those memories will stay in the final version of the story.

An autobiography doesn’t have to begin with your birth. You can also include some details about your family history. Write information about your ancestors, about the life of your grandparents, parents and the like. The family information will give the reader an idea of how you grew up to be the person you are today.
What events happened when you were a teenager? What led to your decisions at that time?
Do you go to university? Those transitional years can also be incorporated into the story.
Write about your career, relationships, children, and anything important that has changed your life.

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Choose the main character. Every good story has interesting characters, friends and villains to develop the story line. Who are the characters in your life? Your parents must have played a role, along with your spouse and other close family members. Going a little further, think of other people who have influenced your life and may play a role in your autobiography.

Teachers, coaches, mentors, and bosses are huge influencers in your life. Consider who might be an ideal (or villain) for you to portray in the story.
Your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend can co-star in interesting stories.
Who is the enemy in your life? Your story would be boring without some conflict.
Unique characters like animals or celebrities you’ve never met, even strange cities are interesting highlights in an autobiography.

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Filter out the best stories. The story of your whole life can get pretty lengthy, so you’ll have to choose which anecdotes are worthy of telling. You can begin your manuscript writing by writing down key stories that will then be linked together and woven into the canvas of your life. There are a few key themes that many authors include in their autobiography because they appeal to the reader. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Childhood story. Whether your childhood was happy or stormy, you should include a few anecdotes to paint a portrait of you and the things you went through as a child. You can tell about your childhood by breaking it down into smaller stories, stories that illustrate your personality – the reaction of your parents when you brought home a stray dog, the time you climbed out the classroom window and hiding for three days, a close friendship with a homeless person… be creative.
The story of puberty. This rebellious and often sensitive period is always fascinating to the reader. Remember that the important thing here is not to write in a unique way; Everyone goes through puberty. Your story needs to make the reader empathize.
The first shock of life. You can also write a reverse story – the story of you searching for a love that does not exist.
Psychological crisis. This story typically occurs in the thirties or forties, sometimes referred to as the midlife crisis.
The story of dealing with evil forces. Whether it’s a battle with addiction, a controlling lover, or a madman who wants to kill your family, you need to write about the conflicts you’ve experienced.

Outline the story

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Create an overarching storyline. Now that you know what you want to include in your autobiography, think about the structure of the story. Like any good storybook, your autobiography needs a compelling plot. Use the materials you have at your disposal to create an interesting story that leads to climax and ultimately conflict resolution. You can create a plot ^{[3] X Research Sources} by organizing and connecting memories and anecdotes so that the plot flows logically.

What is the main conflict of the story? What was the biggest obstacle in your life that took you years to overcome or face? Maybe it’s a childhood illness, a troubled relationship, a series of career setbacks, a goal you’ve been striving for decades to achieve, or whatever. Look through your favorite books and movies for more examples of conflict.
Create tension and excitement. Arrange it so that there is a series of stories that lead to the climax of the conflict. If the conflict in your autobiography is about reaching your goal of competing in the Olympics, lead the story to a climax with small successes and multiple failures. You need to get the curious reader to ask, then does she get it? Can he do it? What will happen next?
Create a climax. Your story will progress until the conflict is pushed to a climax. Game day has arrived, your biggest rivalry has come, your gambling addiction has taken your toll, you’ve lost all your money – and you’ve opened your eyes.
End with conflict resolution. Most autobiographies have a happy ending, as the storyteller is living to tell the story – and hopefully the book is published. Even if the ending is not very happy, you should still please the reader. In a way, you have achieved your goal or won the contest. Even if you fail, you will understand things and become wiser.

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Set the story start time. You can go into the story chronologically, starting with your birth and ending with the present, but the art of chronology can make your story more interesting. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

You can frame an entire autobiography with current thoughts and retell the story through a series of flashbacks.
You can also open the story with an emotional childhood moment, go back in time to tell the story of your family traditions, progress through your college years and into the story of your career, interspersed Fill it with childhood anecdotes to create some light humour.

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Bring the subject to the story. ^{[5] X Research Sources} Use key themes in your life to weave stories together, connecting past and present. Aside from the main conflict, what other themes follow you in life? Love associated with certain holidays, a dear place you visit again and again, a guy who makes your heart race, a rich spiritual life that you often immerse yourself in. Include the topics above to paint a cohesive picture of your life.

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Take a step back to reflect. You are documenting the lessons of your life, but what have you learned from them? Intentions, dreams, feelings of loss, joy, accumulated wisdom, and other inner thoughts should be included throughout the story. Pausing descriptions of actions in a story to ponder what it all means is a great way to deepen your autobiography.

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Divide into chapters to create story structure. Chapters in stories are useful because they allow you to move on to discussing life stages and events. Don’t we often say that “closes a chapter” or “opens a new chapter in life,” and that’s all the more relevant when it comes to autobiography. The chapter breaks in the story allow you to skip over the next ten years, step back in time, or start a new topic without confusing the reader.

Consider ending the chapter at an emotional or dramatic point so that the reader is eager to continue on to the next chapter.
The openings of chapters are an opportunity to take a big picture of the past, describe the setting, and give a nuance to what happened afterward.

Book Editing

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Make sure to write the correct data. Double-check the dates, names, details of events, and other matters in the book to make sure you’ve described it correctly. Although this is the story of your life, you should not give out false information about the events that happened.

You can exaggerate a bit about your own goals and intentions, but don’t fabricate dialogues with real people, or create another version of events that actually happened. Of course, no one can remember everything perfectly, but you should reflect reality to the best of your ability.
Ask permission to use people’s names or quote other people’s words if you include them in your autobiography. Some people may not like to appear as a character in someone else’s autobiography, and you should respect that by changing the wording or changing their name if necessary. ^{[6] X Research Source}

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Manuscript editing. When the first draft is complete, review it in its entirety and sharpen it. Rearrange paragraphs, even chapters, if necessary. Refine word usage and rephrase sentences to make them clearer and more interesting. Correct grammar and spelling errors.

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Share the storybook with others. Show your autobiography to a reading club or a friend for outside perspectives. Stories that you find interesting may be boring to others. Get feedback from as many people as possible to get a better idea of how your book is reaching readers.

If a lot of people suggest cutting a certain part, seriously consider this.
Try to gather the opinions of people outside your family or friends who you know may share feelings or are biased – especially when they appear in your autobiography.

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Hire a manuscript editor. A good editor will make your sentences more concise and the faint parts will be brighter. Whether you’re planning to have a publisher print the book or publish it yourself, it’s never too late to have a professional sharpen it in the final stages of the story-writing process.

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Set title. The title must match the tone and style of the autobiography, in addition, it must attract the attention and arouse the interest of the reader. Make the title short and easy to remember instead of long and confusing. You can title it with your name along with “My Autobiography,” or choose a less direct title. Here are a few titles from famous autobiographies that capture the story perfectly:

Bossy Pants , (roughly translated: “Boss”) by Tina Fey
My Confession , (My Confession) by Leo Tpstoy
A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The Sound of Laughter by Peter Kay ^{[7] X Research Source}

Book Publishing

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Take the steps to self-publish a book. Even if you don’t think about selling the book to the public, you probably still want your autobiography to be designed and printed to keep and give to loved ones and people mentioned in the story. You can find companies that offer design, printing and shipping services, and decide how many copies to order. Many companies can produce products that are not inferior to books printed by traditional publishers.

If you don’t want to pay for publishing services, you can still have a beautiful book by taking it to a copier to print and bind the book.

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Consider finding a literary agent (representative for the writer). ^{[8] X Research Resources} If you want to publish your autobiography and make it public, finding the support of a literary agent can pave the way for you. Find literary agents who specialize in autobiography and send them a letter of recommendation with information about your book, about yourself, and why your book is interesting.

Open your proposal letter with a tight and concise introduction that describes the book’s highlights. State the right genre of book and describe what will make your book stand out. Tell the agent why you think he or she is the right person to recommend your book to publishers.
Send several chapters of the book to representatives who show interest.
Sign a contract with an agent you trust. Be sure to read the contract carefully and check their history before signing anything.

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Send proposal letters directly to publishers. If you don’t want to waste time finding an agent, you can email publishers directly to see if there’s any interest. Look for publishers that specialize in publishing books of the same genre. Don’t send the entire manuscript right away; you should wait for a request to submit a manuscript from the publisher.

Many publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or proposals. Be sure to only send mail to publishers who agree to accept it.
If the publisher decides to go ahead and negotiate with you, you’ll need to sign a contract and set a schedule for editing, designing, revising the manuscript, and eventually publishing the book.

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Find a way to publish your book on the internet. This is an increasingly popular trend in book publishing and is a great way to save on printing and shipping costs. You can search online book publishers of the same genre, send letters of recommendations, go ahead and edit and publish your book.

Advice

Write your story to life, but don’t get bogged down in unimportant details. While you want your autobiography to be memorable, you also need to make sure the story doesn’t become boring. Adding too much detail – listing everyone at the party or describing every event for each day – will get your storybook bogged down.
You can refer to your personal diary if available. A diary is a useful resource because it contains what happened during the day or during other periods. People often record their experiences in diaries so it can help with autobiography.
Your autobiography may include a dedication, foreword, key statistics, a chronology, a family tree, and an afterword.
If the purpose of your autobiography is to pass on to the next generation, you should consider including mementos (e.g. pictures, heirlooms, badges, mementos, letters, etc.) and Format your autobiography as a scrapbook. Of course you can’t copy all the accompanying mementos, so you still need to consider what to do with your originals and other items, such as badges or heirlooms with big size.
If you don’t have a knack for writing or just need someone to help you organize your ideas, you might want to consider finding a freelance writer or biographer. This is how famous stars usually do. There is also software that allows you to type answers into templates available on the computer, thus also solving the problem of handwriting. Many people choose to type directly into the online form.

Warning

Beware of content that could be seen as libelous. If you’ve written something disparaging or maliciously false about someone in the autobiography you plan to publish, you should consider changing their name (if they’re still alive). Otherwise, you may face a lawsuit. If you’re not sure what to change, consult a libel attorney.

Steps