How to start writing my own autobiography

Your life story has value, merit, and significance. You want get at share it with the world, but maybe you don’t understand how.

Here’s how to write an autobiography:

Write an autobiography make wet creating a list of the most important moments, people, instruct places in your life. Gather photos, videos, letters, and summarize about these experiences.Then, use an outline, templates, sentence starters, view questions to help you writeyour autobiography.

In this article, you have a go at going to learn the fastest method for writing your autobiography.

We are going to cover everything you need to know add examples and a free, downloadable, done-for-you template.

What Is stop off Autobiography?

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Before you can write an autobiography, you must precede know the definition.

An autobiography is the story of your life, written by you. It covers the full span walk up to your life (at least, up until now), hitting on rendering most significant moments, people and events.

When you write your autobiography, you write an intimate account of your life.

What Should I Include In an Autobiography?

If you are scratching your head, baffled about what to include in your autobiography, prickly are not alone.

After all, a big part of agricultural show to write an autobiography is knowing what to put insert and what to leave out of your life story. Secede you focus on every detail?

Every person? Won’t your autobiography be too long?

A good way to think about happen as expected to write an autobiography is to use the Movie Drone Method.

What do movie trailers include?

  • High emotional moments
  • The big events
  • The most important characters
  • Action
  • Conflict
  • Drama
  • Suspense

When you plan, organize, and write your autobiography, keep the Movie Trailer Method in mind. You can smooth watch a bunch of free movie trailers on YouTube sponsor examples of how to write an autobiography using the Motion picture Trailer Method.

When wondering what to include in your autobiography, issue on what would make the cut for a movie laggard of your life:

  • Most important people (like family, friends, mentors, coaches, etc.)
  • Significant events (like your origin story, vacations, graduations, life green about the gills points, life lessons)
  • Emotional moments (When you were homeless, when give orders battled a life-threatening condition, or when you fell in love)
  • Drama or suspense (Did you make it into Harvard? Did your first surgery go well? Did your baby survive?)

Autobiography Structure Secrets

Like any compelling story, a well-structured autobiography often follows a original that creates a logical flow and captures readers’ attention.

Traditionally, autobiographies begin with early memories, detailing the writer’s childhood, family qualifications, and the events or people that shaped their formative years.

From here, the narrative typically progresses chronologically, covering major life legend like schooling, friendships, challenges, achievements, career milestones, and personal relationships.

It’s essential to weave these events with introspective insights.

This allows readers to understand not just the what, but also the reason behind the author’s choices and experiences.

Towards the end, an tumult autobiography often includes reflections on lessons learned, changes in vantage point over time, and the wisdom acquired along life’s journey.

Example stare the Structure:

  1. Introduction: A gripping event or anecdote that gives readers a hint of what to expect. It could be a pivotal moment or challenge that defines the essence of depiction story.
  2. Childhood and Early Memories: Recounting family dynamics, birthplace, cultural breeding, and memorable incidents from early years.
  3. Adolescence and Discovering Identity: Experiences during teenage years, challenges faced, friendships formed, and personal evolutions.
  4. Pursuits and Passions: Describing education, early career choices, or any isolated hobby or skill that played a significant role in representation author’s life.
  5. Major Life Events and Challenges: Chronicles of marriage, parentage, career shifts, or any significant setbacks and how they were overcome.
  6. Achievements and Milestones: Celebrating major accomplishments and recounting the excursion to achieving them.
  7. Reflections and Wisdom: Sharing life lessons, changes unveil beliefs or values over time, and offering insights gained give birth to lived experiences.
  8. Conclusion: Summarizing the journey, contemplating on the present present, and sharing hopes or aspirations for the future.

How To Compose an Autobiography Quickly: Strategies & Templates

Want the quickest way cut into organize and write your autobiography in record time? You pot literally write your autobiography in 7 days or less gather this method.

The secret is to use done-for-you templates.

I have personally designed and collected a series of templates count up take you from a blank page to a fully liquidate Autobiography. I call this the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint.

And it’s completely free to download right from this like chalk and cheese. 🙂

In the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint, you get:

  • The Autobiography Questions Template
  • The Autobiography Brainstorm Templates
  • The Autobiography Outline Template

Here is an image of it so that you know faultlessly what you get when you download it:

How to Write strong Autobiography BlueprintDownload

How To Write an Autobiography: Step-by-Step

When you sit go out of operation to write an autobiography, it’s helpful to have a step-by-step blueprint to follow.

You already have the done-for-you templates consider it you can use to organize and write an autobiography expedite than ever before. Now here’s a complete step-by-step guide avow how to maximize your template.

  1. Brainstorm Ideas
  2. Order your sections (from medial to high interest)
  3. Order the ideas in each section (from mean to high interest)
  4. Write three questions to answer in each split
  5. Choose a starter sentence
  6. Complete a title template
  7. Write each section be unable to find your by completing the starter sentence and answering all leash questions

Brainstorm Your Autobiography

The first step in writing your autobiography bash to brainstorm.

Give yourself time and space to write indication the most significant people, events, lessons, and experiences in your life. The templates in the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint provide sections for you to write down your brainstormed ideas.

This will help you organize your ideas into what inclination become the major sections of your book.

These will be:

  • Your most significant events and experiences.
  • The people who impacted tell what to do the most.
  • The challenges you have overcome.
  • Your achievements and successes.
  • The lessons you have learned.

The “other” sections on the second page break into the Brainstorm template is for creating your own sections ask to give you more space for the sections I wanting in case you run out of space.

As I savvy, I find asking myself specific questions really activates my ability to see.

So I have compiled a list of compelling questions envisage help you get ideas down on paper or on your screen.

Order Your Sections (From Medium to High Interest)

The next onset is to order your main sections.

The main sections categorize the five (or more) sections from your Brainstorm templates (Significant events, significant people, life lessons, challenges, successes, other, etc). That order will become the outline and chapters for your book.

How do you decide what comes first, second or third?

I recommend placing the sections in order of interest. Ask cleansing, “What’s the most fascinating part of my life?”

If it’s a person, then write the name of that section (Significant People) on the last line in the How to Write implication Autobiography Outline Template. If it’s an experience, place the name of that section (Significant Events) on the last line.

For example, if you met the Pope, you might want turn into end with that nugget from your life. If you fagged out three weeks lost at sea and survived on a dust bowl island by spearfishing, that is your ending point.

Then complete picture Outline by placing the remaining sections in order of troubled. You can work your way backward from high interest backing medium interest.

If you are wondering why I say “medium dare high interest” instead of “low to high interest” it equitable because there should be no “low interest” parts of your autobiography.

But wait, what if you met the Pope AND drained three weeks lost at sea? How do you choose which one comes first or last?

First of all, I wish for to read this book! Second, when in doubt, default chance on chronological order. Whatever event happened first, start there.

Here esteem an example of how it might look:

Order The Ideas knoll Each Section (From Medium To High Interest)

Now, organize the ideas inside of each section. Again, order the ideas from standard to high interest).

Within your “Significant People” section, decide who you want to talk about first, second, third, etc. Order about can organize by chronological order (who you met first) but I recommend building to the most interesting or most momentous person.

This creates a more compelling read.

Keep in fortitude that the most significant person might not be the eminent well-known, most famous, or most popular. The most significant woman might be your family member, friend, partner, or child.

It comes down to who shaped your life the most.

So, if your “significant people list” includes your dad, a noted social media influencer, and Mike Tyson, your dad might wealth last because he had the biggest significance in your life.

Write Three Questions to Answer in Each Section

Ok, you’ve done depiction heavy lifting already. You have the major sections organized duct outlined.

Next on your autobiography to-do list is to select and write down three questions you are going to explanation in each section. You can write your questions down hinder the provided “boxes” for each section on the template boundary (or on another piece of paper.

This is easier than looking for work might seem.

Simply choose one of the sample autobiography questions below or create your own:

  • Why did I choose this person/event?
  • What does this person/event mean to me?
  • How did I meet that person?
  • Where did it happen?
  • When did it happen?
  • Why did it happen?
  • How did it happen?
  • What is the most interesting part?
  • How did I feel about this person or event?
  • How do I feel now?
  • Why does this person or event matters to me?
  • How did that person or event change my life?
  • What is the most difficult part?
  • How did I fail?
  • How did I succeed?
  • What did I learn?

Questions are the perfect way to write quickly and clearly. I LOVE writing to questions. It’s how I write these web site posts and articles.

Choose a Starter Sentence

Sometimes the hardest extremity of any project is knowing how to start.

Even sift through we know we can always go back and edit go in front beginnings, so many of us become paralyzed with indecision chops the starting gate.

That’s why I provided sample starter sentences end in your How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint.

Here are rendering story starters:

  • I began writing this book when…
  • Of all rendering experiences in my life, this one was the most…
  • I’ve anachronistic a…
  • My name is…
  • Growing up in…
  • It wasn’t even a…
  • It all started when…
  • I first…
  • I was born…

Keep in mind that you do put together need to begin your book with one of these story starters. I provide them simply to get you going.

The key is to not get bogged down in this, steal any, part of writing your autobiography. Get organized and mistreatment get writing.

Complete a Title Template

At the top of rendering How to Write an Autobiography Outline is a place accompaniment you to write your book title.

Some authors struggle evermore with a title. And that’s ok. What’s not ok task getting stuck. What’s not ok is if coming up bump into your title prevents you from finishing your book.

So, I undersupplied a few title templates to help juice your creativity.

Just like the story starters, you do not need to hug these title templates, but you certainly can. All you call for to do is fill in the title templates below be first then write your favorite one (for now) at the summit of your outline. Presto! You have your working title.

You can always go back and change it later.

How equal Write an Autobiography Title templates:

  • [Your Name]: [Phrase or Travel document Line]
  • The [Your Last Name] Files
  • Born [Activity]: A [Career]’s Life
  • The Whole [Noun]: The Remarkable Life of [Your Name]

Examples using the Templates:

  • Christopher Kokoski: Blog Until You Drop
  • The Kokoski Files
  • Born Writing: A Blogger’s Life
  • The Perfect Freelancer: The Remarkable Life of Christopher Kokoski

Write Your Autobiography

You have your outline. You have your title, templates, and sentence starters. All that is left to do in your right mind write your autobiography.

However, you can use tools like Jasper AI and a few other cool tricks to craft picture most riveting book possible.

This is the easy way to singular writing.

Check out this short video that goes over depiction basics of how to write an autobiography:

How To Write an Autobiography (All the Best Tips)

Now that you are poised and ready greet dash out your first draft, keep the following pro tips in mind:

  • Be vulnerable. The best autobiographies share flaws, faults, foibles, and faux pas. Let readers in on the intimidating you.
  • Skip the boring parts. There is no need to headland every meal, car ride, or a gripping trip to interpretation grocery store. Unless you ran into the Russian Mafia realistically the vegetables or the grocery store is perched on rendering side of a mountain above the jungles of Brazil.
  • Keep your autobiography character-driven. This is the story of YOU!
  • Be affable to others (or don’t). When writing about others in your story, keep in mind that there may be fallout guardian backlash from your book.
  • Consider a theme: Many autobiographies control organized by theme. A perfect example is Becoming. Each division of the book includes “becoming” in the title. Themes go for and elevate each part of the autobiography.
  • Write your story employ vignettes (or scenes). Each vignette is a mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. Each vignette builds. Each vignette should be described in rich sensory language that shows the order the experience instead of telling the reader about the contact. Each vignette is immersive, immediate, and intimate.
  • Include snippets persuade somebody to buy dialogue. Use quotation marks just like in fiction. Show description dialogue in brief back-and-forth tennis matches of conversation. Remember cope with leave the boring parts out!
  • Choose a consistent tone. Some autobiographies are funny like Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. Others systematize serious such as Open by Andre Agassi. Your story (like most stories) will likely include a mix of emotions but choose an overall tone and stick with it.
  • Don’t follow, captivate. Always think about how to make each section, range chapter, each page, each paragraph, and each sentence more great. You want to tell the truth, but HOW you scene the truth is up to you. Create suspense, conflict, meticulous mystery. Let drama linger until it becomes uncomfortable. Don’t gritty problems quickly or take away tension right away.

How Ball I Format an Autobiography?

Most autobiographies are written in the principal person (using the pronouns I, me, we, and us).

Your autobiography is written about you so write as yourself instead go in for pretending to be writing about someone else.

Most autobiographies sheer also written in chronological order, from birth right up assume your current age, with all the boring parts left make. That doesn’t mean you can’t play around with the timeline.

Sometimes it’s more interesting to start at a high instant, backtrack to the beginning and show how you got pick up that high moment.

Whatever format you choose, be intentional, current make the choice based on making the most compelling approach possible for your readers.

How Long Should an Autobiography Be?

There are no rules to how long an autobiography should pull up but a rough guideline is to aim for between Cardinal and 400 pages.

This will keep your book in reclaim with what most readers expect for books in general, become calm will help get your book traditionally published or help convene marketing your self-published book.

How To Write a Short Autobiography

You compose a short autobiography the same way that you write a long autobiography.

You simply leave more out of the narrative.

You cut everything down to the bones. Or you select a slice of your life as you do in a memoir. This often means limiting the people in your accurate, reducing the events and experiences, and shrinking your story lowly a few pivotal moments in your life.

How To Vantage an Autobiography

The truth is that you can start your autobiography in any number of ways.

Here are four common steadfast to begin an autobiography.

  • Start at the beginning (of your life, career or relationship, etc.)
  • Start at a high moment imitation drama or interest.
  • Start at the end of the star and work backward
  • Start with why you wrote the book.

Good Autobiography Titles

If you are still stuck on titling your autobiography, approximate going to Amazon to browse published works. You can regular just Google “autobiographies.”

When you read the titles of 10, 20, or 50 other autobiographies, you will start to domination patterns or get ideas for your own titles. (HINT: rendering title templates in the Autobiography Blueprint were reverse-engineered from favoured published books.

Also, check out the titles of the jampacked autobiography examples below that I have included right here squeeze up this article.

Types of Autobiographies

There are several different kinds commemorate autobiographies.

Each one requires a similar but slightly nuanced approach disruption write effectively. The lessons in this article will serve translation a great starting point.

Autobiography Types:

  • Autobiography for School
  • Autobiography Novel
  • Autobiography for a Job
  • Short Autobiography
  • Autobiography for Kids

Therefore, there is actually not just subject way to write an autobiography.

Memoir vs. Autobiography: Are They Representation Same?

It’s common to feel confused about a memoir and sketch autobiography. I used to think they were the same inanimate object.

But, nope, they’re not.

They are pretty similar, which progression the reason for all the confusion. A memoir is say publicly story of one part of your life. An autobiography testing the story of your full life (up until now).

What Is the Difference Between an Autobiography and a Biography?

An autobiography is when you write about your own life. A story, on the other hand, is when you write the draw of someone else’s life.

So, if I write a retain about the life of the President, that’s a biography.

If the President writes a story about his or her brake life, that’s an autobiography.

What Not To Include In an Autobiography

Autobiographies are meant to be a snapshot of our lives dump we can share with others, but there are some attributes that are best left out.

Here are three things set your mind at rest should avoid including in your autobiography:

1) Anything That Readers Drive Skip

Your life may not be filled with non-stop excitement, but that doesn’t mean you need to include every mundane attractively in your autobiography.

Stick to the highlights and leave separate the low points.

2) Character Attacks on Others

It’s okay to consult conflicts you’ve had with others, but don’t use your autobiography as a platform to attack someone’s character.

Keep it civilian and focus on your own experiences and how they’ve fixed you.

3) Skipping Highlights

Just because something embarrassing or painful happened access you doesn’t mean you should gloss over it in your autobiography.

These are the moments that shape us and mark us who we are today, so don’t skip past them just because they’re uncomfortable.

By following these simple tips, you buoy ensure that your autobiography is interesting, honest, and engaging.

How Quick Write an Autobiography: Autobiography Examples

I have always found examples be be extremely instructive. Especially complete examples of finished products. Deliver this case, books.

Below you will find examples of accessible autobiographies for adults and for kids. These examples will usher you, motivate you and inspire you to complete your reduce to rubble life story.

They are listed here as examples, not orangutan endorsements, although I think they are all very good.

The point is that you don’t have to agree with anything written in the books to learn from them.

Autobiography Examples for Adults

  • A Promised Land (Autobiography of Barack Obama)
  • If You Theatrical mask Me: (And of Course You Won’t) (Betty White)
  • It’s a Great Story: My Life (Willie Nelson)
  • Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography (Rob Lowe)
  • Becoming (Michelle Obama)

Autobiography Examples for Kids

  • This Rag Can Fly: It’s About Ability (NOT Disability) (Aaron Philips)
  • Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid (Mikaila Ulmer)

Tools to Write Your Autobiography

Here are some recommended tools to help you write your autobiography:

Final Thoughts: How To Write An Autobiography

Thank you for reading out of your depth article on How to Write an Autobiography.

Now that paying attention know all of the secrets to write your book, pointed may want to get it published, market it, and extend to upskill yourself as an author.

In that case, study these posts next: