Biography is a hit nonfiction genre. People of different ages commonly read these books. Although many may think that biographies are not that interesting, they will be surprised upon discovering the beauty of these books once they read it. Moreover, writers often narrate the story of their lives or of people that have inspired them. Different tales of courage, growth, downfall, and hope evoke a wide array of emotions from the readers urging them to take action, understand themselves, and be motivated to continue their way through life.
Perhaps many might think that writing a biography is easy. All you need is to put your experiences into writing and publish it. When you really try to look at it in a better angle, it is not that easy. There are many rules to follow in order to create a captivating work. So if you plan to write one, then here are some of the things to avoid in writing a great biography that you should know.
Don’t incorporate false information to enhance the quality of writing
Fact — this refers to the information or events that are proved to be true. The main goal of a biographical work is to give readers a primary detail about your life or the story of a particular person. Hence, everything must be factual. Do not compromise your work by mixing fictional events with the hopes of making it more interesting. Keep it real and simple. Biographies that aren’t based on facts lose their integrity, realness, accuracy, and precision. Once the readers come to know about the fabricated events in the story, you immediately lost their trust and attention. It is the rawness that keeps a biography magnificent, always take note of that. So, stick to the facts.
Don’t rely on the given time frame, back it up with a researched data
Sometimes, your mind can become deceiving. There are times that your memory flashes an event but doesn’t directly show the time when that activity happened. In writing biographies, the dates are always the trickiest part. Imagine trying to remember a fragment of your life that happened 10 to 20 years ago. That is definitely difficult. Hence, avoid solely relying on your memories. Try researching to back up that fact. You can interview people that you have been with during that particular moment or call those that are present around that time frame to confirm whether that event happened or not.
Don’t excessively center everything on you
Writing a biography can become overwhelming. The thought of having to write everything about yourself can linger on your mind. But, you should eradicate that concept. The truth is that even if you are the subject, your work should not project self-indulgent and self-pity. Every event must be balance. Hence, don’t forget to write about the people that you have interacted and made adventures with. Also highlight the events on the things or individuals that helped you grow and mature. Take for example, how Beyond Barriers talked about God’s purpose on David’s life by Anne Davey Koomans. The author didn’t focused the spotlight David’s life, but incorporate other figures and elements to make the story more captivating instead.
Don’t tell the readers, show them instead
Showing is a more advantageous and better option than telling. Even though biographies are works of nonfiction, you shouldn’t compromise your writing technique and creativity by directly telling the readers the events that took place. Merely telling the readers what happened will lose the flavor and beauty of your biography. Thus, start enhancing your storytelling game by showing readers everything that happened. This will eventually magnet the readers to the tale with absolutely immersive descriptions and terms. It will better the development of the story, making it more interesting to dive into.
Biographies might be simple to look at; but, it is definitely hard to write one. Looking into the don’ts of writing a remarkable biography might help you create a more promising work. Thus, make sure to know what points to avoid and what aspects to follow. Because no matter how wonderful the images that you memory flashes, it all goes down to who wrote it with genuineness.
The Damsel’s Files 