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Autobiography is not the story of a life; it is the recreation or the discovery of one. In
writing of one's experience, you will discover yourself, and in the writing create the
pattern you seem to have lived. Often, of course, autobiography is merely a collection
of well-rehearsed anecdotes; but, intelligently written, it is the revelation, to the reader
and the writer, of the writer's conception of the life he or she has lived. Simply put,
autobiography is a reckoning. This page will helps you shape a diverse and colorful
assortment of personal vignettes and stories about your being into a graceful, coherent
narrative that conveys the larger story of your life.
WHY WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY?
- to leave a message to future generations
- to pass on your heritage
- to put closure to a period or episode
- to process experiences
- to preserve family history
- to share what and who you are
"Autobiographies have been written since A.D. 400 when an early Christian leader,
Saint Augustine, wrote his." An autobiography is information about one's own life
written by that one person. In it, it tells what that person's life is all about. When
writing your own autobiography, use interesting facts to explain as much about
yourself as you can.
However, if you're not a writer the task can seem overwhelming. Here are some
suggestions.
Under each category, write down a word or two to identify some event that you
want to remember.
Next, narrow each life-list to 10 core life events which will be the most
significant or memorable events to demonstrate that category. Write about each
of your core events. Start with a rough draft in which you simply concentrate
on getting all the information down on paper.
Then go back and polish for details, grammar, and tone. If you're not confident
in your writing ability, you may enlist someone else's help to edit or go to the
Writing Lab on campus for help. But remember, in an autobiography, it's
important to retain YOUR VOICE in the final narrative.
Your personality should come through. One style that can be used is Narrative, in
which you give a pretty much linear account of events without much reference to
underlying emotions or moods.
Then there's Descriptive writing, which is appropriate when you want to paint a
picture of something for your reader, either because of its beauty, its ugliness or
simply because it's very different from what that reader may know.
There's Emotional writing, when you have strong feelings about your topic and want
to evoke some emotional response in your reader. Action writing is characterized by
short sentences with strong verbs. This type of writing is for exciting events, when
you want to carry your reader along in a headlong rush to find out what happens next.
When you've done all you can with your autobiography, you're ready for finishing.
Organize all the pieces you've written into some kind of order. Your autobiography
must be word processed in single spaced 12 point font. This is also the time to engage
an outside editor if you so desire. You can even create your own cover or title paper
which can be a creation of your own. Remember to include a photo of yourself.
The most important thing is to BEGIN.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------When writing an autobiography, focus on FOUR major things: (1) who you are in life
(how would you describe your personality), (2) what life means to you, (3) what
major life events or critical issues have had an impact on your life, and (4) what your
outlook on the future is.
The first thing you do when writing an autobiography is start off with a lot of facts
about your life; for example,
when and where you were born,
where you live (city and state),
where you go to school and who you live with.
You have to give a lot of information so your reader can clearly understand what is
going on. Once you have written this introduction, you are ready to start your first
paragraph of the autobiography.