How To Start Writing A Book About Your Life With 8 Tips.
We are more than people know about us. There’s a lot more hidden inside us that is often unseen or misunderstood. Our struggles, sentiments, and life situations are a legacy that speaks for us. But this legacy is often unexpressed. And to express your instincts, writing is the finest way. But are you skeptical about your writing?
The process is simple.
Start with collecting all the important events in a journal. You can free-write your life events to synchronize the flow of your story or ideas. Then, select a genre or theme of your book. Create an outline as per your genre. Add your friends, family, important people and old photographs to your book. Finally, edit your manuscript.
That’s an effortlessly straightforward method to start writing a book about your life. But here are in detail eight of the brilliant tips to start writing.
Tip #1, Journal your life event
The simplest way to channel your inner self is through free writing in a journal. The journal gives you enough space to step out of the writing conventions and boundaries. And start putting the natural thoughts on the paper as they are.
When starting a book about your life, you can grab a journal and start to key events of your life. These are those events that you want to tell your readers about.
Mostly, people who have been journaling since their teens or childhood, have the advantage of getting the series of events right. Yet, if you aren’t journaling your whole life, it is your time to pick a journal.
Tip #2, Choose a theme and outline
Once your journal has ideas streamlined, pick a theme. A theme or genre is a crucial part of the book to give it a direction. To decide on a theme, you need to consider how you are trying to represent your life. What’s that one idea your life story revolves around? For example, you are a CEO of a leading company. Your theme could be motivational, personal development, business, self-help etc.
Now, once you have decided on your theme, create an outline. The outlining of the book involves breaking down the ideas, events, or characters of your story. It will give you a clear road to streamline the progress of your autobiography. You can outline the story in different ways, such as building ideas or chronological order i.e.; from past to present.
Tip #3, Use a chronological order
We strive to make our writing as unique as possible. But writing about your life is already the stand out from the rest. Simply give it a chronological order, from past to present.
As per your memory, register the events which lead one to another. This way your story will connect and have a unique semblance of your book. Also, it will provide easy readability for your readers to connect the dots.
Tip #4, Add Significant people and Old photographs
There’s no story without characters in it. So, while writing your life story, adding some of the important people is a beneficial step. These people can be your friends, family, colleagues and other fellows.
They can help you improvise your story. Because with time you might skip some of the memories. Your fellows can help you remember the exact memory of time. You can also use their ideas and information to strengthen the plot of your story.
Tip #5, Start Writing first draft
Now, when you have an outline and everything collected, start writing your manuscript. A manuscript is an unpublished text, typically written or typed by the author.
While you are working on your first draft you have to remember a couple of things,
Find a dedicated writing space for you and cut the divergence for a clear focus.
Keep your writing tools and books near to you. Keeping books near to you means, getting books related to your theme in easy access. So, if at some place you might have writer’s block you can read someone else’s ideas for inspiration.
Plan your opening lines. Because when you know how to start you can seamlessly propel your words towards the ending.
Follow your outline and incorporate the plot you created while free writing in your journal. Cut if there are any distractions which feel cunning in the story.
Add dialogues, introduce each of the characters, and openly express your emotions and ideas. It will help your readers to connect, relate, and continue to finish the book.
Tip #6, Use elements of storytelling
A brilliant autobiography covers all the elements of storytelling. Brilliant Media is a ghostwriting service which uses storytelling techniques to create a brilliant autobiography for you. This element makes your story stiff and unique.
Storytelling elements include characters, plot, setting, theme, conflict and resolution. These conflict and resolution element has a climax in between which connects the two. They are necessary to ignite the idea or story of the book. This process is called a narrative arc.
The purpose of the narrative arc is to introduce a problem and bring characters and dialogues to describe the problem. After that, the writer takes the problem to its peak, also known as the climax. Finally, the problem is solved through a series of events. This pulls the readers into the story and leaves a cliffhanger at multiple places, creating suspense.
Tip #7, Keep your readers in mind
As mentioned at every stage, the readers are the most important characters of your book. Make sure you consider your target readers while selecting a theme.
Understand their attributes, choices, personality, and preferences. While you write, try to match their emotions. Write in such a way that could relate to your readers.
Tip #8, Proofread before publishing
Once you have your manuscript ready, make sure you reread it before publishing. Here’s a simple break-down for proofreading,
Divide the manuscript into small text chunks. Deal with one chunk at a time.
Proofread one error at a time, for instance, if you are reading for punctuation, don’t try to cope up with grammar.
Check spelling mistakes and grammar. But besides using tools for grammar and spelling, get it checked once by a professional as well.
Read the writing backwards so you won’t skip any sort of error.
Focus mainly on spelling, grammar, vocabulary and punctuation while proofreading.
Biography vs Autobiography vs Memoir: Differences Explained
While, the three have the same basic purpose; to describe someone’s life, but the method is different. Here’s an explanation of the differences between biography, autobiography and memoir.
Starting with biography is an event of someone’s life written originally by someone else. It highlights the first-hand information of someone’s journey, experience, missions and accomplishments that motivate and inspire others. The writer uses the second person singular verbs to write. It follows a series of events and chronological order.
Meanwhile, autobiography is a history of someone’s own life that originally is written by himself. It technically talks about personal achievements, growth, personal background, events, and impact on society. Usually, the writer has to use first person subject and verb when narrating a biography. It also follows a series of events and chronological order.
Whereas, a memoir is also written by the person about the memories of their life. But a memoir doesn’t have the story of whole life. Instead, it merely highlights some of the incidents or events which has a message or motive. It doesn’t follow a chronological order.
Can I write a book based on my life?
If you have a vibrant life story to talk about with people, you should of course write a book based on your life. Al though make sure your life story covers the important events which have a message. You write a book for your readers. So, beware that your book leaves an important impact on your readers. Impact in a way that registers your words and name in their memory for years to come.
Such an impactful story which follows all the principles are carefully written by a professional writer. At Brilliant Media, several skilful ghostwriters have a special command of writing skills, grammar rules, and narration techniques. You will have a book on your life which will be remembered for ages.
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