Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 5, Issue 4 | Page 29

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK “BUY” TO PURCHASE THE BOOK
Memoir, Autobiography or Biography?
The author has questioned what happened and come to some kind of new
understanding or lesson learned by it. The author shows us how he or she was
affected by this experience, how it has profoundly changed the way he sees the
world.
And by extension, reading the book will change the way the reader sees the world.

J.A. Konrath
A Self-Publishing Icon

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

From eHow By Spencer Hope Davis
An autobiography is the telling of a person's life through his own eyes. Each
autobiography has certain characteristics that make the content take the reader
deeply into the world of the writer. Autobiographies have a different quality to
them because of the deeply personal, inside information the writer is sharing -something difficult to translate in a biography. Most autobiographies share certain
components.

BUY

Each author must introduce herself to the reader. Often this occurs in the first
chapter of the book. Typically this introduction takes the reader from the present
to the past. A writer will say who she is now, and why she chose to write the book.
Quickly, she will draw a composite of the signifiers of her life that led her to see it -that is, her life -- as it is today.
With each telling of a life event, it is necessary for the writer to reflect on what she
is saying. This type of reflective content is what distinguishes the autobiography. It
is a personalized perspective that no other person can give but the writer. Often
writers telling their story have lived a lesson that they would like to share,
sometimes as a cautionary tale. This intimacy between writer and reader is
something that drives the content and also legitimizes why the book and its stories
were important to write.

BUY

How to Write a Biography
A biography is simply the story of a life. Biographies can be just a few sentences
long, or they can fill an entire book—or two.
Very short biographies tell the basic facts of someone's life and importance.
Longer biographies include that basic information of course, with a lot more detail,
but they also tell a good story.
Biographies analyze and interpret the events in a person's life. They try to find
connections, explain the meaning of unexpected actions or mysteries, and make
arguments about the significance of the person's accomplishments or life activities.
Biographies are usually about famous, or infamous people, but a biography of an
ordinary person can tell us a lot about a particular time and place. They are often
about historical figures, but they can also be about people still living.
Many biographies are written in chronological order. Some group time periods
around aWRITERStheme (such asRADE adversity" or "ambition and achievement" ).
major ’ TRICKS OF THE T "early
PAGE
Still others focus on specific topics or accomplishments. 19

BUY

JULY-AUGUST 2015