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What is Biography?
Th word ‘Biography’ in English means “life writing” and originally is derived from medieval Greek Bios meaning ‘life’ and Graphia meaning ‘writing’. Biography is a non-fictional account of an individual’s life. It is a written record of an individual which describes their childhood, coming-of-age-events, relationships, failures, successes.
A biography could be about someone who is alive, or lived centuries ago, someone who is globally famous or an unsung hero. Biographies require a great deal of research. Writing a biography could focus on one-on-one interviews with the individual themselves. But when a biography is written for a person who is already dead, it takes an ample amount of time to find their life data. The biographers then focus on their relatives and friends and all their lives that they’ve life behind.
Biographies give one a chance to be curious about the world of an individual and how they became who they are. A biographer focuses on the questions relating to the achievements and something that made them extraordinary. Did they change the world? Did the world change them? Did they rise above in the times they live? How? The morale that one gains from a biography gives them such a meaningful position.
Relevant Links for Biography Writing
- Bibliography for Project: Subject-Wise Samples for Students
- Why Do You Need to Write a Biography?
- Let Your Story Shine with Aimlay’s Tailored Biography Writing Services
- How to Write a Biography? Process of Biography Writing
- Format of Writing a Biography | Biography Writing format
- Literature Review as a Research Methodology: An Overview and Guidelines
Importance of Writing a Biography
By immersing ourselves in the lives of extraordinary individuals, biographies help one in getting inspired. An individual’s morale is boosted with the real-life stories of these extraordinary people who were once struggling through their lives as well. Importance of Writing a Biography is stated below:
- Perserverance of a History: Biographies help in shaping the lives of an individual. Biographies are written for people who have worked in any field including culture, science, politics, and more. Biographies are also something which lives for centuries and is an ancestorial document for an individual’s family.
- Educating and Informing: Writing a biography also helps other people to educate themselves and learn about past industries and how the world operated on. It gives an individual an idea of their surroundings and their own societies. Biographies also help in detecting the changes that have come through after all these years.
- Source of Inspiration: Biographies as one knows acts as a source of inspiration for any and everyone. They contain within themselves the power to change an individual in the ways they think and see the world.
- Reflects Personal Identity: Writing a self-biography can make an individual aware of the values they hold and the beliefs they agree on. It helps them further to define themselves with their own narratives.
Types of Biography
A Biography is the story of an individual whether alive, dead, famous or unknown. Some of the biographies also focus on a group of individuals. Writing a biography over a period is still viable, but an individual might forget that there exists a different type of biography. Below is a common, compiled list of them:
- Authorized Biography: An Authorized Biography is written with help a permission of an individual or his close relatives if he/she is dead. It works on the principle of ‘asking’ before even beginning to write.
- Unauthorized Biography: Unauthorized Biography is usually penned down without the permission of an individual. It usually is controversial, and something which criticizes the concerned person.
- Autobiography: Also known as Self-Biography, an autobiography is a self-written biography by the subject with sometimes the help of a ghostwriter. They are written in first person perspective detailing and highlighting their lives and values which held them together for a longer period of time. Joothan by Om Prakash Valmiki is one such example.
- Memoirs: Memoirs are usually like autobiographies, but they focus on one particular event of their lives that shaped them. The purpose of a memoir is to establish an emotional connection with their readers than stating facts and presenting them with a history.
How to Write a Biography: Step-by-Step Guide
A biography is more than a chronological arrangement of events. It is an exploration of a person’s essence. Writing a biography can be quite a task, especially when it is your first time. Writing a successful biography requires one to capture the unique voice of an individual with respect to their experiences. Below is a short guide to help to pen down a biography:
- Select your Subject: The first step is to choose a subject whether you want someone who has already died or someone who is alive. When you choose someone, whose life resonates with you, it will captivate you more than anything.
- Researching and Identifying the Theme: The next step is to research profusely to understand your subject’s life journey. One could delve into the existing articles, research papers, documentaries- anything which resonates with the subject’s journey. After that, one should provide a depth and structure to the biography through thematic exploration. It will help you in guiding the narrative on a correct route.
- Structured Approach: When you begin to write about the subject’s life journey, make sure to use the correct structure of the biography. For instance, following a chronological structure of the life events from birth to death which will help in enabling a deeper exploration of the subject’s life and much easily.
- Enchanting Details: An eye-catching introduction should be written which could enchant and attract the readers. Maybe a thought-provoking quote could encapsulate the subject’s essence. Use of sensory imagery is very important when an individual is penning down a biography. You need to be in the moment when the subject was accomplishing something and must pen it down with your feelings.
- Balanced Perspective: A balanced portrayal helps in adding depth and authenticity. One needs to discuss the vulnerable and hard times of the subject’s life journey which helped them in the pursuit of a successful future.
6 Powerful Tips to Write a Biography for Beginners
- Tell Stories and Not just Facts: Writing a biography requires an individual to pen down words in the form of stories. For instance, the readers who are interested in reading an autobiography are more interested in the story format of the subject’s life journey rather than talking about the deep-rooted struggles of the society that they passed.
- Gain Permission: While this is one of the most basic tips, it is also one of the most helpful ones. Gaining permission from your subject (unless they are deceased) helps you further in getting information for your research and makes it easier to work on.
- Indulging in Research: While writing an autobiography, it is very crucial to research deeply about the subject’s life and find enough material for the same. Primary Resources are the accurate sources to provide a life history of the subject. These sources include journal entries, emails, interviews or memoirs.
- Forming a Thesis: A chapter at the beginning of the biography should focus on what the book consists of and what one will gain by the end of it. It is very important to, in a way, summarize the contents of the biography.
- Make a Timeline: It would be beneficial for a biographer to make a timeline of the events while researching. This could come in handy while writing the biography as it provides them with the information they have and segregating them out.
- Including your Thoughts: A biography isn’t just an amalgamation of facts. A biographer is free to add their own thought process to further rectify the biography. Writing a biography is also about penning down your own emotions. You can try to exaggerate an event in the subject’s life to make it more engaging.
Conclusion
Biography Writing in modern times is very crucial. It showcases the history that is dead and history that is always in making. Biographies of famous people like Anne Frank, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Jawaharlal Nehru, Mother Teresa and many more have helped the world to believe in humanity and foster inspirationally hard-working values.
A biography could be about someone who is alive, or lived centuries ago, someone who is globally famous or an unsung hero.
Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous biographies.
Amar Jiban by Rashun Dhari Devi was the first biography written by a woman.
Plutarch wrote Parallel Lives which acts as a foundational model of the literary form of writing biography.
Yes, it is considered important to seek the required permission from the individual concerned. This also helps an individual in gaining resources firsthand from the subject.
