Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 5, Issue 4 | Page 30
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Memoir, Autobiography or Biography?
Biographers use primary and secondary sources: Primary sources are things like
letters, diaries, or newspaper accounts.
Secondary sources include other biographies, reference books, or histories that
provide information about the subject of the biography.
BOOK COLLABORATION AND GHOSTWRITING
Adapted from the website of the late, Sarah Wernick
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When I am hired to help people write their memoirs, I typically call the memoirist (or
chief contributor of stories and memories) the “author” and myself the “writer,”
“writer-editor,” “editor,” or “co-author,” depending on the nature of the project,
how great a contribution I make, and how important it is for the author to appear to
have done the project solo.
How the credit reads on a standard collaboration. When the writer is credited as
co-author, the credit line takes various forms: “Author A and Writer W” (the most
generous credit), “Author A with Writer W” (more common), or “Author A, as told to
Writer W.” Sometimes the credit gets switched, because the writer’s name is more
widely recognized and thus will attract more readers and book buyers. Generally, it’s
the author’s name that is most valuable for marketing, but sometimes authors'
career are extended beyond the grave or at least beyond when they wrote the books
themselves (see especially Ghostwriting, and ghostwriters of, fiction
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"After Gwenyth Paltrow denied working with a ghostwriter, food ghostwriter Sari
Botton wrote this follow-up story, explaining how denial works: Ghosts Are Real, At
Least In Publishing (Sari Botton, The Rumpus, 3-26-12, on why some celebrities may
deny they use a ghostwriter--maybe, as she says, she's more of a "memoir midwife."
I’m primarily a mystery writer, so hopefully this clears up some of the mystery
surrounding whether a book is a memoir, autobiography or biography.
These explanations clear a little of the murkiness between the three, but there are
still “gray” areas where they might overlap. It is pretty clear, however, that the
person who is the subject of a memoir or autobiography generally has input and
their voice is in first person, which is much more personal.
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JULY-AUGUST 2015
In the case of biographies, even if it is a short “bio” for public relations purposes, the
voice is third person. When it comes to a biographical book about the life of a
person, they can be living or dead—have input or not, as in the case of some of the
controversial “unauthorized biographies.” Details should be accurate and supported
by documentation wherever possible. In a memoir, there is a little “wiggle room”
because by its designation, it is the person’s memory of events or descriptions, and
memories are not always 100% accurate.
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WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE