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How To Write A Biography

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32 views

How To Write A Biography

Uploaded by

MARILOU MAAS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How To Write a Biography (Format, Content and Tips)

Biographies are stories that one person writes about the life of another person.
Writing a biography is a comprehensive process that includes conducting extensive
research and learning about the subject. If you're interested in writing a biography,
it's helpful to understand the format and content before you start the writing process.
In this article, we explain what biographies are, list the different types and show how
to write a biography during your career or education.
What is a biography?
A biography is a written work that explores the life of another person through a
narrative. The purpose of writing a biography is to tell a story about another person.
Biographies typically include content about a subject's career, education and
personal life.
Authors typically write biographies in the third person, and the author is typically an
external party, not the subject of the story. This is different from autobiographies,
which are written by the main subject.
How to write a biography?
The process of writing a biography can be easier with a map to follow. You can
follow these steps to write a biography:

1. Research your subject


The first step to writing a great biography is to spend time conducting extensive
research on the person you're writing about, their career, their family and other
information about them. You can find information about your subject by:
Interviewing the subject or their family
Reading news articles and newspaper archives
Exploring history websites
Finding genealogical data
Talking to historians
Typing your subject's name into a search engine
Familiarizing yourself with your subject's work
As you conduct research, be sure to document your findings and take careful notes.
You can reference your notes as you write your story. You can also use websites
and software programs to organize your research sources.
2. Develop a thesis
After you've spent time researching your subject and generating ideas, you can start
to form a thesis. A thesis is a message or topic that you want to convey through your
writing. The thesis can guide the tone and content of the story.

3. Outline your story in chronological order


Another key step to writing a biography is to make an outline that maps your story in
chronological order. An outline is a tool that helps you visualize your story's structure
and major components. It can help you organize the content of your story into
chapters and sections.
You can write your outline in a digital document or sketch it with a pen and paper. Be
sure to store your outline somewhere easy to access so you can reference it
throughout your writing process.

4. Fill in the outline


Once you have a thesis and an outline, you can start filling in your outline with the
elements of your story. In this step, you can begin writing the story of your subject.
As you write, try to:
Write freely: Try to write freely and allow yourself to make mistakes. You can make
changes during the editing stage.
Take breaks: Be sure to take breaks during the writing process to stay energised and
refreshed.
Remove distractions: Eliminating distractions can make it easier to immerse yourself
in the writing process.
5. Edit the biography
Another critical step in the process of writing a biography is to edit it thoroughly. You
can choose whether you want to edit your work yourself or hire an editor. The choice
you make can depend on how much writing experience you have and other factors.
During the editing process, make sure to revise:
spelling and grammar errors
font, spacing and formatting inconsistencies
factual errors
6. Decide how to publish your work
After you've finished writing the biography, you can decide how you want to publish
it. If you're writing a biography for a homework assignment, you can submit it to your
teacher or professor.

If you want to publish your work through another channel, you can contact publishers
or consider self-publishing your work. You can also start developing strategies for
marketing your work.

Related: Writing Skills in the Workplace and How To Improve Yours


How do you structure a biography?
It's helpful to know how to structure your biography before you start writing. You can
choose how to structure your story, but many professional writers follow a simple
storytelling plot:

Exposition: The exposition serves to introduce the reader to the story and any
background or context that they need to know to understand the story.
Rising action: The rising action is a set of events that start to lead up to a major
occurrence in the story.
Climax: The climax is the high point of the story in which conflict comes to a head
and the major moment in the subject's life occurs.
Falling action: The falling action of a story is the part in which the action starts to
relax after the climax occurs.
Resolution: The resolution of a story is the beginning of the conclusion where the
story begins to resolve.
In addition to developing the arc of your story, you can also map out other
storytelling elements like:
Setting: The setting of a story is the location, time and environment in which it takes
place. Describing your setting can help your readers visualize the story.
Characters: Characters are the people featured in a narrative. In a biography, your
subject is the main character, and the subject's friends and family members are often
additional characters.
Dialogue: Dialogue refers to conversations between characters. Writers usually
place dialogue in quotation marks.
Plot: The plot of a story is essentially the events that occur in a story. The plot of a
biography usually takes place in chronological order.
Types of biographies
Some of the most popular types of biographies include:
Academic biography
An academic biography is a biography that describes the highlights of an individual's
academic career. Often, academics use biographies for their employers' websites or
academic journals. They often hire writers to write their biographies for them.

If you're writing an academic biography, it's important to get to know the person
you're writing about, including their area of expertise and significant career
accomplishments.

Historical fiction biography


A historical fiction biography features a subject who is a real historic figure but
contains fictionalized elements. This can generate a compelling, entertaining story.
Writing a historical fiction biography requires extensive historical knowledge, and it
can be helpful to consult a historian to make sure you get all the details right.

Fictional biography
A fictional biography is a biography in which the subject of the story is a fictional
character. Typically, the author creates the character. Often, fictional biographies
contain many realistic elements.

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