What is a biography?
A biography is an in-depth account of another person’s life from a third-person perspective. The memoir covers the basics of the subject’s life, from where they were born and raised to their educational and professional pursuits, hobbies, and passions.
Biographies often include information about the subject’s family relationships, formative years, and the impact of pivotal events on the person’s upbringing.
The numerous accomplishments and life events of a natural person are documented in detail in a biography, but a biography is more than just a collection of facts and numbers; instead, it is brought to life via the telling of beautiful stories that begin at the beginning and end at the end.
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What Is the Purpose of a Biography?
To obtain insight into the lives of another person, readers are encouraged to pick out biographies. If the author finds the subject’s story exciting or instructive, or if the subject’s life can be used to illustrate broader themes, the subject may be the subject of a biography.
Biographies are written for various reasons; some authors choose to correspond with them because there is a lack of material on a fascinating topic, while others want to give readers information that was left out of a previous biography.
Biographies can inspire readers by including details about the subject’s successes in the face of hardship and highlighting the significance of the subject’s achievements. However, when read with an eye toward care, biographies warn against bad choices.
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6 Tips on How to Write a Biography
If you want to do an excellent job of telling someone’s life narrative, you need more than just the bare facts. A compelling biography deeply explores the most exciting aspects of the subject’s life, such as their most notable achievements, the most demanding challenges they overcame, and the defining moments in their journey.
The best biographies provide an engaging overview of the subject’s life while giving the reader enough background information to honestly get to know them as people. If you are interested in writing a biography, the following guidelines can help you get started:
1. Seek Authorization
The next step in writing a biography is securing permission to write about the subject of the work. Though consent isn’t always required (if, say, your subject is a public personality or has already died away), it will make your research phase much simpler if you do get it.
A more interesting and informative biography can be written if the subject is receptive to the concept of being the topic of one.
2. Do some research
No matter how well-versed you are in your subject area, you will still need extensive research to present a thorough portrait of your subject. For example, if the person being discussed is a historical figure, be sure to provide details about the era in which they lived and how it impacted their choices and actions.
Generally speaking, the most credible accounts of your subject’s life will be found in primary sources, which are accounts written or spoken by the issue. This could include diary entries, emails, interviews, and even autobiographies.
Primary sources can include anything the subject has created themselves, such as a website, Twitter account, social media profile, or professional bio. Secondary sources, such as journals or movies, can be used if the information they contain has been proven reliable.
3. Come up with your thesis
The first paragraph or chapter of the biog raphy should give the reader a sense of what they can anticipate learning about the subject.
A biography will typically begin with a thesis statement, an overarching claim about the subject of the biography, and then provide supporting evidence throughout the rest of the biography.
4. Build a schedule
Biographies often follow a chronological order, beginning with the person’s birth and ending with their death.
A rough plan of how your novel’s major events will unfold before you begin writing might save you a lot of time and energy later.
5. Take advantage of your memories
You can weave in and out of your subject’s high school years and adult life experiences in the biography’s body text as you see fit. In addition, flashbacks allow the author to convey important information about the past to the reader without burdening them with tediously detailed explanations.
6. Include your thoughts and observations
A biography is more than just a list of achievements and responsibilities. Biographies often include the author’s reflections on the subject’s life and work. For example, suppose the subject participated in a noteworthy event. In that case, the author may discuss why they think it was necessary, how the era influenced it, and what it meant for society.
This will back up your claims about why this person is exciting and worthy of being written about, and it will keep your readers engaged from the start to the final sentence.
