iUniverse Tips for Penning your Autobiography

With all the books at the iUniverse Bookstore and Amazon available, who would come to mind if you had to choose an autobiography to read?

It could be yours!

If you do decide to write your memoirs then first you need to shape your own narrative, it’s a good idea to show the readers where you are now in your life and then lead them backwards to your roots, and eventually forward again. So be sure it’s cohesive and as factual as possible. To aid you delve into your past and to put it together in print, we have outlined some suggestions to get the clouds to clear on your own life’s story.

iUniverse gives reasons why should you write an autobiography?

• To share who you are now and how you became that person
• To pass on your heritage and family history
• To leave a message to a future generation
• To understand and deal with an experience you had
• To have closure on an event or experience

iUniverse explains how to begin

Writing an autobiography is task not for the fainthearted. At times it can be overwhelming. Not just researching facts and events, but the experiences you might dredge up already forgotten for good reason. Giving birth to them again may bring those old feelings to the fore. With that firmly in mind, here are some ideas for starting you off:-

• Make Lists: List your immediate family and relatives and move backwards as far as you need.
  
  Second, your relationships with your mother/father and siblings, boyfriends or girlfriends, wives and husbands.
  
  Third, places you have lived, the period and age you stayed there.
  
  Fourth, the schools, colleges and even military service locations.
  
  Finally, what type of pets you had and their names if necessary.
• Choose a Category: Illnesses or hospital stays, holidays with or without family, your job or military service. As you write others will occur to you, so don’t worry too much.
• Secondary Category: Under each main category highlight two or three things you will use to jog your memory of that occasion or time.
• Narrow down the Lists: Once you have categorized your life, try and fine tune your most memorable or significant events to around 8-10 episodes. Then sit down and create your first draft. As you work, more memories will uncover themselves without too much thought.

iUniverse says choose your style of writing

When you write your own personality should come through. Using a narrative style allows you to account events using underlying emotions or moods, and how you perceived what happened at that period of your life.

If you are using descriptive writing in sections, you can highlight very well the beauty or ugliness of what happened. Maybe a family member was unaware of an incident occurrence or surprised to learn about it, allowing them to see the real you.

Emotional writing can bring your reader along at a hectic pace, especially if you use short sentences and strong verbs. All three styles will undoubtedly create a masterful piece of writing for your friends, family and readers.

We hope you enjoyed iUniverse Tips for Penning your Autobiography, we look forward to giving you more tips and advice in the future.