The life of an author can be quite eventful. It usually begins with humble roots and then gradually rises to the occasion as the author’s career progresses. The life of a writer almost always includes some kind of struggle, as there are so many individuals who want to become authors that the competition is bound to be fierce. If you happen to be an author looking for inspiration, you might find it in the biography of a renowned writer. Learning about the life of someone you admire can teach you a lot about writing and life in general. This article will advise you on how to write the perfect bio for an author, including some interesting tidbits about the lives of various authors throughout history.
The Importance Of Historical Accuracy
If there’s one thing that an author’s biographer cannot afford to be guilty of, it’s historical inaccuracy. It would be quite embarrassing for the biographer to get the facts wrong, even if inadvertently, and an author is bound to be quite the taskmaster when it comes to checking details. The last thing an author wants is for his biography to be riddled with mistakes. There are certain things in a writer’s life that just cannot be worded creatively, and one of them is the date of birth and death. A biography needs to be historically accurate or at least passably so. In order to do this, the author’s biographer will need to go through quite the meticulous process of fact checking and cross-referencing before beginning the final draft. To add to this, it is of paramount importance that the details of an author’s personal life be written in a manner that is both honest and appealing. This way, when the biography is read by others, the overall effect will be that of a trustworthy document that is both interesting and easy to understand.
The Rise Of The Professional Biographer
It wasn’t always the case that biographers were considered to be a part of the literary profession. Back in the day, a biographer was generally seen as a glorified researcher who had the ability to spin lengthy volumes of factual matter regarding the life of an individual. For this reason, many famous biographers, such as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII, were not considered to be authors but instead were seen as being in the service of literature. With the modern-day biographer considered to be an author, alongside novelists and playwrights, the literary canon has grown considerably. It is now commonplace for biographers to be considered to be in the creative industry, which has led to more opportunities for writers willing to explore the life stories of literary greats past and present.
The Types Of Author Biography That There Are
As you may have guessed, there are different types of author biographies. Depending on the nature of the research for a given volume, the biographer may decide to use one style or another. For instance, there is the narrative style, which is quite the popular choice for biographies of modern-day writers. This type of biography is usually told in the 1st person, from the point-of-view of the subject, with a clear emphasis on action and adventure. In the case of John Steinbeck’s The Sweetness of Life, the narrative voice is quite flat, as the bulk of the work is done through extensive research and documentation. Hence, the book is quite a dull, factual exercise, devoid of any real excitement or drama.
The problem with this type of biography is that it can often prove quite tedious to sit through. For this reason, many authors decide to forgo the narrative style and instead opt for the factual style, also known as the journalistic style. In the case of Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt, the author chose to eschew the 1st person narrative and instead used the 3rd person, as the events in the story are observed and recorded by a disinterested third party. This can prove quite an effective stylistic choice, as the audience is engaged by the matter-of-fact way in which the author reports on the subjects’ lives, as opposed to being enmeshed in the story as an active participant. It is a stark contrast to the 1st person narrative and allows for a more objective, professional approach.
The Writing Process For Author Biographies
Before diving into the nuts and bolts of how to write the perfect biography, let’s take a quick look at the process of creating an author bio. This will help you understand what types of material you will need to include and how you should structure it. The process typically begins with a series of interviews, either via telephone or in person, with the subject of the biography. Once these initial interviews have been completed, the author will need to decide how much personal detail he wants to include. Depending on the nature of the research for a particular biography, this can be quite a sensitive issue. The more detail an author reveals about himself in a personal capacity, the more likely it is to be ripped off by predatory journalists, bloggers, or social media users. While it is always tempting to add a little something to your bio just for the sake of intrigue, revealing too much about your personal life can have disastrous consequences. As a rule of thumb, try and keep your biography under 300 words. Anything more and the reader is likely to lose interest, as the information provided is becoming quite redundant.
After the initial draft is complete, the author will need to go through the text and correct any mistakes that may have crept in during the scrupulous editing process. For this, he will need to have a fresh set of eyes go over the work, while taking into consideration any comments, queries, or concerns posed by editors or professional proofreaders. Only then can the author feel quite confident in presenting his final work to publishers, in the hopes of finally seeing his name on the printed page.
The Most Popular Styles Of Biography
Before we begin to discuss the specifics of how to write the perfect biography, it is important to familiarize yourself with the different styles of biography that exist and which one you should opt for, depending on your subject’s life and times. Below, we will discuss some of the most popular styles of biography and how you can use them to your advantage, when creating your own author bio.
The Personal Narrative Style
The personal narrative style of biography is quite the popular option and for good reason. This type of biography is usually told in the 1st person, from the subject’s perspective. In other words, you, as the biographer, are spinning a tale about events that happened in your subject’s life. This is a very narrative-forward style of writing and tends to be quite entertaining, as you are presenting events as they occurred and using your creative writing skills to add a little bit of colour to your description of your subject’s adventures. Many notable biographers, such as John Steinbeck and C.S. Lewis, used this type of writing style to great effect, as you will see below.
The Structured Analysis
The semi-structured analysis is quite the opposite of the personal narrative style. In this type of biography, you are not recounting the events of your subject’s life as they actually happened. Instead, you are going to be presenting a structured analysis of your subject’s life, highlighting certain patterns and trends that you have identified. For example, you may decide to analyze your subject’s career and how it evolved, or you may choose to study the impact of your subject’s social and political beliefs on various aspects of their life. This can be quite an investigative style of writing, as you are delving deep into your subject’s life and trying to get to the bottom of what made them who they are, as opposed to just writing about the events that occurred.
The Event-Based Reporting
The event-based reporting is quite the opposite of the personal narrative and the structured analysis. In this type of biography, you are presenting a chronological account of your subject’s life, from birth to the present day. The events that occur are usually quite noteworthy and may require a significant amount of research, especially in the case of non-fiction. For instance, if your subject is a political leader, you may have to dig deep into government archives and party documents to get the facts right. The advantage of this type of biography is that it is quite easy to write. You are basically just presenting the dates of your subject’s life and then putting in the necessary research to make sure everything is correct.
These styles are quite the opposite of each other. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to know which one to opt for, but there’s usually no wrong answer. It’s just a matter of which one you feel most comfortable with, given the nature of your subject’s life. If you’re not sure which one to opt for, then just write a short piece for each one and see which one resonates with your audience the most.