Those thinking about how to write an autobiography need to understand the steps and some important points that will make the autobiography worth reading. This article consists of the guidelines that will help you in writing an autobiography…
Some people may think that learning how to write an autobiography is really a difficult task. However, with some simple guidelines and considerations, you can write your autobiography perfectly with ease.
For those thinking how to write an autobiography for a job, which is sometimes known as a detailed resume, you need to first remember that it should be short, yet elaborated. This means that you should not include every stage of your professional life, but should focus much on your professional history. Some typical contents in a career autobiography are the place where you were born, how did you shift to your current city; and a brief about your school life, college life, and then eventually your professional career.
If you are thinking about how to write an autobiography for kids, you just need to keep the language clear and simple. For college projects, you should center more on your college life which includes the educational goals and challenges faced and achieved. If you are a well-known person in the society and are thinking of writing an autobiography, you need to be extra careful in including the facts and information, as many people would be reading it.
General Guidelines on Writing an Autobiography
Given below are few guidelines that you should adhere to while writing an autobiography. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to penning down your life chronicle, but keeping the following in mind will ensure that you have a well-organized autobiography that people will take the effort to read. While writing, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it is your entire life that you are describing and writing about.
1. Determine Target Audience
An autobiography is all about what happened in your lifetime. As it is supposed to contain all or most of your lifetime facts, you need to write it according to your target audience. The first step in writing an autobiography is to find out who will be reading it. If the autobiography is intended to be read by the public (in case you are a famous personality), you need to prepare it carefully as it would be your public image which would have an impact on people after reading it. If you are writing the autobiography just for a private record, you can be as informal as you want.
2. Gather Information
The next step is to collect all the facts and events that you think should be made known to the readers. Make a note of all the facts and lifetime events, but make sure you choose the most appropriate ones, as there can be some events that you would not want to mention. You can even discuss with your family and friends regarding the events that you missed noting down which are worth including in the autobiography. Also note that it is your autobiography, and all the events should be pertaining to you, not others. Remember, that once published, it will become public record.
3. Sort Chronologically
After you have gathered all information which you want to include, you need to sort it and arrange it in chronological order. You can even make chapters of the events occurred. Identify the time gaps if there are any, and try to find out what you were doing during that particular time. Again you can discuss with your family members what was your status during that time. Try not to leave too many gaps, else it will seem like a very biased work, and might not find many readers. For the times you choose not to mention, at least a brief account of those years should be mentioned.
4. Make a Draft
After you have sorted out and arranged all the information, make a rough draft. After the draft is complete, go through all the information, pattern, and order thoroughly. Try to make out and eliminate any mistakes, and modify the content if you find some facts which would not be appropriate mentioning. Revise the draft many times, no matter how much time it takes. When you think it is perfect, ask a family member to go through it. This will let you know more mistakes that you left unnoticed. This is the most important step that will shape the final outcome of your autobiography.
5. Write Final Autobiography
After everything is done, make the final copy. Stick to the general rule of the introduction, main body and the conclusion. It is good idea to start the introduction with the most memorable event that happened in your life. The body would contain chapters sorted out according to the time-line of events. In the conclusion, you can focus on your future or just a brief description of the past. You can even mention an inspirational quote and tell the readers how it relates to the way your life has been.
The general rule of writing an autobiography is to gather all events, create an outline, arrange the information as per the time-line, revise it thoroughly, and eventually make a final autobiography. Hopefully, this article should be helpful for those who were wondering how to write an autobiography of myself. Referring to some autobiography examples is also a good way to get an idea how to go with the project.
