How to Write an Autobiography?

What is an Autobiography?

An autobiography is an account of your life written by you. Easy it is to study the life of others and write about. On the contrary, natural it is that you flinch when you are asked to write the story of life. Well, writing an autobiography is the best way to tell the world who you are, what obstacles you have faced in life and what or who made you swim through them smoothly, your special moments, your like and dislikes, people who influenced your life, your family background etc.

They say writing autobiography is one way that allows a person to discover who he really is and once self discovery is done, then a person can achieve all his aims and goals.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. — Seneca

To be authentic is literally to be your own author …, to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them. — Warren G. Bennis

Here are a few guidelines which will help you write a peachy autobiography:

Choosing the Format of Your Autobiography

First of all you need to choose that whether you are writing an autobiography book, paper, essay or narration. On this basis, you will add or omit various details. Then you need to evaluate the purpose and scope whether it is a personal narration, a professional experience or just a simple story about yourself. Set your tone and mood accordingly.

Steps for Writing Up an Autobiography

Open the Memory Gates: Think, Recall and Share

Before writing an autobiography, sit down and think of all the best moments, events and facts which you would like to share with others. You can even talk to old friends and family in this regard to make sure you don’t miss out on any important lifetime events. Looking at old pictures or presents also triggers the opening of memory gates.

Choose Your Target Audience

Choose you target audience. If you are writing for yourself and a few friends, then you can be as blunt as you can without any restrictions of grammar and sentence structure. In case, you want to get your autobiography published in the form of a book or journal, then you need to mention only selective events and facts about your persona and life.

Theme Up Your Autobiography

Select a theme for your autobiography so that you could write around it—this help combing out all useless details. A theme makes your life story compelling to the readers. A possible theme could be that you want to tell people how you hard work made you rose up from rag to riches or how the love of a family member made you what you are today or how the company of bad friends spoiled you etc.

Make a Chronological Outline

It is better to go about writing your autobiography chronologically. Start by giving a background of your family and the place where you were born and brought up. Talk about your formative years, adulthood, achievement but whatever you mention should support your theme.

Be Natural and Spontaneous

Sit in a calm and quiet place when writing your life story so that you can write in a natural tone. Once you are done with hammering your life history, edit it after letting it rest for a few weeks so that you have plenty time to think which details need to be cut out and which require a little more elaboration.

Hope these guidelines will help you create a crispy and decipherable autobiography.

Some Sample Autobiographies to Get You Started

Below is the list of some of the best rated autobiographies of all time. You can check any of these to get inspiration and ideas:

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Happy autobiography-ing!

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