How to Write an Autobiography or a Memoir

Put your life on paper

Everyone has a story to tell. Writing your memoir or autobiography is an excellent means of passing along details of family events to family members. It also can bring life to your family photos for future generations. Anyone can write a memoir or autobiography; all it takes is time and dedication.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• notebook
• pen
• computer
• memoir books
• memoir software
• a time line

1. Setting aside a period of time, every day or every few days, to work on your autobiography or memoir. An hour, three times a week is a good place to begin. You need enough time to let things start to flow, but not so much time you become bogged down.

2. Sit in a comfortable, quiet location with a notebook and a pen. Gather information from your memory bank. Pick any 10-year period,and make a note of one or two highlights from each year that you can remember. Keep it brief as possible, no more than a sentence. If something sparks your interest, begin writing there. If not, do the same thing with another 10-year period. Always put the most interesting events at the top of the list, and eliminate any that seem less important later on. This will help you find your starting point, which does not have to be the chronologically earliest point in your story.

3. Begin writing based on the starting point you found. Speak from your heart as much as possible as this will put life into the facts. A string of facts is seldom of interest to anyone, even family members. It is how you felt, thought and reacted to the events that others will find irresistible. The facts will be told in the process.

4. Keep a notebook and pen handy at all times. As you begin to write and think about your past, new memories are apt to arise at times when you least expect them. You want to be able to write them down and save them to consider for inclusion in your autobiography or memoir.

5. Edit it for duplicate content and inconsistencies, and filter out stories and recollections that turn out to be not as interesting as you once thought. You may also find that a theme has developed and a few stray memories no longer fit. If it has turned out to be too long, now is the time to fine tune the content. If key information seems to be missing, add more details.

   Finally, when you have done all you can turn it over to a professional editor -- if you plan to try to get it published -- and ask her for an evaluation or final editing. If you have one or two other people whom you trust to be objective, ask them if they would give you some feedback. It is very hard to be objective when you write your first or only autobiography or memoir.

6. Take the criticisms you received from your friends or professional editors as a means of personal growth and the development of the craft of writing. Go back through your text, using their suggestions when appropriate to make your writing better.

Tips & Warnings

• There are lots of help sources online for an writing autobiography or memoir. See links below.

• Do your best to stay organized by keeping everything together in one place

• If you are working on a computer, back up your work every day.

• Take a class on writing a memoir or autobiography

References

• Oprah Magazine: How to Write Your Own Memoir; August 2008
• Reader's Digest: How to Write Your Memoir; January 2009