The biography writing format is essentially putting together a chronological narrative of your subject’s life; this may be of an actual person or for fiction.
Creating a fantastic biography is to write a story that captures the interviewer’s imagination and is interesting enough to pull a reader in. Writing a good biography can be achieved by following some of these rules.
A well-written biography is a terrific way to promote yourself and your work online. Biographies can be written for personal websites, online portfolios, business websites, etc. If you feel like writing one – but don’t know where to start, this article is for you.
Features of a perfect format on how to write the perfect biography:
Writing a Biography – The Opener
A good biography serves as an introduction and invites readers to learn more about the person being written about. In this sense, the opening of a biography needs to be intense and captivating, much like the first paragraph of a novel.
- To set the tone for your biography, you could begin with a question that immediately captures your reader’s attention.
- For example:” Did you know that Michael Jackson’s pet chimp was named Bubbles? Or that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber?”
- The first paragraph of your biography should cover the basics, such as your name, your position, and a summary of your accomplishments.
- For example, “Jane Doe has been the CEO of ABC Company for 12 years. By successfully leading two different departments at ABC, she increased profits by 150 percent.”
- Don’t get too wordy in this opening paragraph. You want it to capture the attention of readers who are interested in learning more about you and not bore others to death by providing too many details upfront.
The Body
Body paragraphs are the heart of your essay since you will be using the body to prove your thesis statement. Each paragraph should have at least 8-9 sentences in it. You can do more if you want, but no less.
- In each paragraph, you should begin with a new idea. This way, you will be able to show that you are capable of moving from one point to another throughout the paper.
- As much as possible, try not to repeat what you have already said before in the same paragraph or previous ones. If you do this a lot, it will become very uninteresting for your readers, who may decide not to finish reading.
- The second half of your author bio should be the longer, more detailed section. This is where you tell people what you do and how you can help them.
- Here’s where you’re going to want to use that “how I help” statement from earlier. Explain who you work with and what kind of problems you help them solve.
- Of course, if you’re writing for a general audience, it might not be practical for you to mention specific groups of people in this section. In that case, think about the overall goals or intentions of your readers.
- For example, if I were writing a biography for a business blog, I might write something like this.
- Robby is a content marketing consultant who helps SaaS companies attract qualified leads and close more deals using content marketing. He also hosts The Sales Engagement Podcast and is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Outbound Sales Prospecting.
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Writing a Biography – The Background
To categorize the person’s background into a biography, you need answers to these questions:
The beginning is the background of your subject –
- Who are they?
- Where are they from?
- What kind of family did they grow up in?
- When did they start developing an interest in their field?
- How did they get their start at what they’re famous for now?
- What were their early successes and failures like?
To get the answers, you will have to pay attention to the fellow person’s life a bit personally. You can interview his/her family members, colleagues, or friends to collect information.
Personal Life
It is always good to start with the early years of the subject – childhood and adolescence – as these have a great impact on the person’s future life.
- Think of what has shaped his or her personality and try to find out if there were any significant events in their younger years that would eventually affect their adult life.
- The later years are often easier because there are more documents and records available for research purposes.
- You pay attention to the person’s childhood days, who he/she was closer to from the family, and what the person did as a kid.
- The details you mention may include his/her interests or hobbies that he developed during the person’s childhood or anything related, which is worth mentioning in the biography.
- You can also mention any events that impacted him during his childhood or teenage years (either negative or positive).
- You should write about what kind of person he was before reaching adulthood and what changes occurred after that, making him who he is today.
- This helps understand the person’s personality better.
Significant Events/Achievements
The best format will be a chronological listing of significant events and/or achievements.
- The events can either be listed in order of occurrence or importance.
- Teachers usually assign this type of biography when the student is asked to write about someone who has influenced him or her in some way.
- An alternative to a chronological listing of events is to focus on a single event that changed the person’s life and write about it in depth.
- This type of biography is often written as part of a job application when the applicant wants to highlight one accomplishment that sets him apart from others applying for the same position.
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In the end, writing a biography comes down to telling your subject’s story. The order of the stages is not that important as long as the most important facts are included. It is a more creative than analytical process. It’s more about capturing someone’s essence than compiling a dry list of their accomplishments. And it’s not as difficult as it seems.
Any examples of writing biography