How to write a biography?

thy A biography is more than just a story about a person’s life. It is a narrative that captures the impact of their existence, the essence of their journey through life. Writing it is not an easy task and it requires following a series of steps to be able to face the challenge it poses. Do you want to know how to write a biography? Save this blog to your favorites and discover everything you need to do it.

How to write a biography in 10 steps?

Table of Contents

Many people who love to write consider writing an autobiography at some point. This involves narrating aspects of one’s own life, so it is a genre that avoids fiction and tries to focus on real experiences. When we write a biography we cannot add tension, motivation, and extra suspense to a scene, but we have to find a way for that reality to adapt to our message (or find the message that adapts to reality).

Broadly speaking, we can find 10 steps on how to write a biography that will help you clarify your ideas. Take note:

Choose your protagonist

It can be someone famous, a member of your family, or even yourself in the case of an autobiography. Whoever the protagonist of your story is, make sure that their life and the anecdotes you tell are interesting and relevant enough to capture the reader’s attention.

Collect information

Use a variety of sources: books, articles, interviews, historical documents… Anything that will help you gain a full understanding of the subject’s life. It’s important to go beyond the basic facts and look for details that will give a more vivid picture of who the person was.

Organize the content

Once you have enough information, organize it logically and along a chronological line. Divide your protagonist’s life into significant periods, such as childhood, education, career, or notable achievements, for example. This structure will help you maintain the narrative flow and highlight key moments in his or her life. Of course, if you have another structure in mind, feel free to experiment with it; nothing is stopping you.

Focus your narrative

We’ve already mentioned it at the beginning of this blog: a good biography goes beyond listing facts. It must tell a compelling story, it must engage, and it must make the reader identify with the protagonist and experience the growth, challenges, and transformation in the subject’s life. To do this, use literary techniques such as description, dialogue, and characterization to bring your narrative to life.

Add details

Anecdotes and details are what make a biography come alive. Include significant stories and moments that illustrate the personality and character of your subject. Not only will this make your narrative more interesting, but it will also help readers engage emotionally with what you are telling them.

Be honest

It is difficult to be objective in a biography, especially if it is about ourselves and our past experiences, but we have to try. Although it is tempting to idealize the protagonist, we must maintain a balanced and honest picture of his life and include his mistakes and weaknesses. This will not only add credibility to the work but will show respect for truth and historical integrity.

Add cultural context

If we’re telling a story that took place in the early 2000s, it’s important to provide some context about what the culture was like at the time. What technology was available? Was social media used? How did people get information? How did they spend their free time? Put your subject’s life in context and explore the events and trends that influenced their life and career, as well as the impact on the world around them. This will help you better understand the meaning and relevance of your subject’s life within a larger framework.

Edit and review

Once we have completed the first draft, it is advisable to let it sit in a drawer for a few weeks. After fifteen days, we take the draft back and proceed to carefully edit and revise our work. We will look for grammatical errors, factual inaccuracies, sections with a narrative that could be improved…

An important aspect of the revision phase is to seek external feedback. This step, however, is recommended when we have already made 3 revisions to our text, for several reasons:

Don’t waste your friends’ time with a text that you know can be improved.

To hone your narrative skills and improve your writing, you need to be aware of your mistakes.

We will avoid embarrassing ourselves over obvious errors that could have been corrected with a simple review.

It is better to exhaust our ideas to improve them first before submitting them to others.

Avoid letting outside opinions affect the story more than your own.

Add visual elements

This is optional, but is often used in biographies of famous people or to illustrate places of special relevance to the protagonist’s story. You can add photographs, illustrations, or maps to help enrich the reader’s experience and offer a visual perspective of the character’s life.

Share it

Once you’re happy with the result and have received feedback from your peers, it’s time to share your work. Consider publishing it online or in print, and contact a publisher to discuss editing. Sharing your subject’s life can inspire, educate, and entertain readers, and they can see your work as a valuable contribution to their legacy.

The process of writing a biography is hard and complex. It requires not only time, but also great discipline and, of course, the narrative techniques necessary to bring words to life and create empathy and connection with the facts in the reader. Do you want to learn how to do it?

Get the boost you need with the Master’s in Writing and Narrative offered by Escuela Des Arts. Sign up now!