How to Write an Autobiography Book
Knowing how to write an autobiography book is very important because we all have a story that we can share regarding our lives. An autobiography book refers to the account of the life of a person given by that person and published in form of a book- libguides.southernct.edu.
To determine if you really need to write an autobiography, ask yourself the following questions:
- What defines you?
- What is the meaning of life to you?
- What do you consider important or critical events in life and how have they affected your life?
- Does your life feature something important and interesting that you would like to share with others?
- Can someone somewhere be inspired by your story?
- Would you like to pass your life story to the future generations?
If you want to write an autobiography, you should start by knowing the reason for writing it and answers to these questions will give you that reason or reasons- readywritermag.com.
Guidelines on how to write an autobiography book
Step #1: Map out your life
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Create your life’s timeline
Conduct a research and analysis of your life to come up with a life’s timeline. This enables you to include all important events and dates in the autobiography book. Come up with a list of people, events, experiences and places that you will include in the autobiography book. Draft a brief description of your parents and family background. This will enable your readers to form an opinion regarding the way you grew and developed to become the person that you are now.
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Identify the most important people in your life
Come up with a list of all people who have influenced you throughout your life. Consider people beyond your family. Include your girlfriend or boyfriend, boss and friends from whom you may have learnt vital lessons. Create a list of all people that may have played a vital role in your life so that you can include them in the autobiography book- wikihow.com.
- Pull out important and interesting stories of your life
Pull out all beautiful stories that you find important and interesting in life. Most people like reading about the lives of others so that they can relate them with their experiences.
Some of the stories that others may find interesting include:
- Childhood stories: These include stories about your naughtiness, how you were scolded, your days in school, and the punishments that you were given for your naughtiness among others.
- Crisis stories: Stories that tell others about the challenges that you had to overcome or a crisis that you faced in life. These are stories that will enable you to win readers’ hearts.
- Love stories: Such stories include stories about a never-ending true love and how you fell in love with the love of your life or how you loved a wrong person among others.
- Use your voice to write your autobiography book
Readers will easily lose interest in your autobiography book if it is too professional and formal because it will have a pedantic and dry sound. Therefore, use your voice to hold the interest of your readers. Write an autobiography book that reveals your personality. Use simple words as if the autobiography will be read by your friend, colleague, younger relative or even cleaner- independent.co.uk.
Step #2: Craft the narrative
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Structure your autobiography book
Once you have gathered the content of your autobiography book, come up with a plot that shows its progression. You should know book writing basics if you want to know how to write an autobiography book with ease. This is because you must know how to develop the structure of a book. Just like other books, your autobiography should have a great structure.
Therefore, structure the paragraphs of your autobiography with a central fact. Ensure that your autobiography book has suspense and a perfect climax. End the autobiography with a great resolution and a promising or forward look into your future.
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Decide where or how to start your autobiography book
Start your autobiography book with some form of excitement or attraction for the reader. You can start the autobiography book by presenting a situation and then progress with flashbacks. You can also start with a story of your childhood and then develop it into a complete story.
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Maintain a focus
Apart from narrating the events of your life, be focused on lessons and values that the events taught you. This is because these will inspire people so that they can improve their lives.
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Segregate the autobiography into sections
Divide the autobiography book into chapters that give your book a structure. Most readers like reading autobiography books with chapters that they can close after a reading session and start reading another chapter in the next reading session. Therefore, divide the autobiography into sections and end each chapter with some kind of suspense that you will answer in the next chapter. This will keep readers motivated throughout the autobiography book.
Step #3: Edit and polish the book
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Double-check facts
Check all names, events’ descriptions and dates. The autobiography book narrates your life story. However, do not include fabricated or modified conversions or altered descriptions of events. Ensure that the people that you include in your autobiography book have allowed you to include them because some people may not want to be included.
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Edit your draft
Correct grammar and spelling. Check how events flow and reorganize them if necessary. Ensure that all sentences are impactful and interesting.
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Share with others
Let other people read your autobiography book. This is very important because what you may find funny or important might be unwanted or dull for others. Get feedback from other people so that you can refine your style and ideas. You can also consider hiring our editing services too. Our professional editors will add a professional touch to your autobiography book.
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Choose an appropriate title
Most readers prefer a simple, short, but attractive title. Avoid difficult words for your title because they make the title hard to remember or understand. A memorable title makes remembering your book easy when recommended to acquaintances and friends.
Step #4: Publish your autobiography book
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Self-publish your autobiography book
You can publish the book yourself. Self-publishing a book is a great option for modern authors who want to circulate their books to close friends and family members.
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Publish the book online
Publishing an autobiography book online allows you to reach more readers. This is because your book is not restricted to a certain territory and therefore it can be read or purchased by people from all over the world. To publish your autobiography book online, conduct a research of online publishers, then submit a query letter and wait for their approval. If approved, your book will be published online after which you can start promoting it.
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Literary agent
Identify a literary agent then submit a query letter. Send the agent information about yourself, the book and its content. Also submit the analysis of its articulation. You can send the agent sample chapters if they are interested then enter a contract with an agent that impresses you.
What you should include in an autobiography book
The content of your autobiography shows whether you really know how to write an autobiography book. Autobiography books are different. However, some contents or parts are common in most autobiography books- readywritermag.com.
They include:
- Childhood life
- Culture and country
- Family background
- Life themes
- Lessons learnt in life
These are the most important things that every autobiography book should have. After writing your autobiography, use them as a checklist for your autobiography book.
More on how to write an autobiography book
- Understand your intended audience, their knowledge and needs.
- Use simple phrases and words while thinking from the viewpoint of your readers.
- Include details that readers want in order to enhance clarity and comprehension of your autobiography.
- Be honest though you should spice up facts without changing them.
- Hire professional editors to edit your autobiography book because you might not see all errors that you made yourself when writing the autobiography.
- Keep the autobiography interesting by using descriptive narration.
- Avoid excessive inclusion of stories of other people’s lives because you are writing your autobiography.
- Use a sample of an autobiography book as a guide for writing your autobiography book. You can find a sample autobiography book here.
Everybody who knows how to write an autobiography book knows the essence of presenting the content of an autobiography in a sophisticated way. Although you should not be too professional and formal, you should exhibit communication skills in your writing. Therefore, follow these steps and hints to write a great autobiography book.
We hope the above guidelines will help you know how to write an autobiography book with ease.
If you are a college or university student and not able to handle your urgent and complex assignments like essays, term papers and other research papers you can get in touch with us for assistance. We also offer dissertation editing services. Alternatively, continue reading for more guidelines on how to write different stuff on this blog.
Online Sources
http://libguides.southernct.edu/biography
http://www.readywritermag.com/how-to-write-your-autobiography/
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Autobiography
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/this-is-my-life-how-to-write-your-autobiography-9013945.html
http://www.readywritermag.com/how-to-write-your-autobiography/
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi