Exploring the genre
“A retrospective prose narrative produced by a real person concerning their own existence, focusing on their individual life, in particular on the development of their personality.”
A story one writes about oneself.
Author, narrator, and protagonist share a common identity.
This common identity could be similar, but it’s not identical.
Not a completely factual representation of the author’s actual past self.
Key themes: identity of the self, and self-reflection and introspection.
The Autobiography
The longest and the fullest story about yourself.
Write it for your personal use in order to structure and perpetuate your memories.
An autobiography covers the period from the day of your birth until today.
Information included in an autobiography that provides a good example for others: how you have achieved your goals and success and how you got your autobiography published.
Examples
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Describes the early years of American writer and poet. It’s a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kamf – Autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany.
The Memoir
Collection of memories.
It is focused on one particular event, relationship, place, or period of your life that has influenced your personality a lot.
Don’t be afraid to express your personal feelings and ideas in your memoir, as it shouldn’t be simply a brief list of facts, but the reflection of your inner world.
Examples
Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? – Collection of essays that offer some of her keen observations about life that helped her get to where she is. In it, she details her thoughts about friendships, romance, immigrant parents, and finding success as an Indian woman in the world of show business.
Dana Schwartz, Choose Your Own Disaster – A hilarious memoir-meets-internet-personality-quiz mashup in the style of a “choose your own adventure.” In it, Schwartz details the disasters of her 20s.
The Personal Essay
An extremely emotional and intimate type of writing.
Characterized by a sense of intimacy and a conversational manner.
Your audience should have an opportunity to see the event or person that you’ve written about through your eyes and understand your feelings.
Any personal essay has two main aspects: the description of a particular situation and how it has influenced your worldview and life.
Generally, the personal essay is the shortest form of autobiographical writing.
Examples
My Year Without Makeup – Meredith Talusan: An essay of a trans woman, who explores makeup in terms of cisnormative beauty ideals, and decides to stop wearing it entirely.
I Don’t Owe Anyone My Body – Kirsten King: My Tinder date stopped seeming like a nice guy the second he couldn’t hear me say ‘no.’
Check out more examples here:
Writing Tips
Catch attention from the very beginning.
Provide a good impression in the introduction. Convince your audience that your story is unique, original, and is worth their time. If you are going to write about an episode from your childhood, use a feeling of nostalgia to create a tight connection between readers and your own memories. We live through similar experiences every day, so you should use these similarities to make your writing attractive for the general public.
Add sensory details.
If you want your readers to feel the atmosphere of your writing, vivid details should be an indispensable part of your essay. Let your audience see, smell, touch, and feel the world of your story. Create a full picture of your personal universe and let your readers be your guests!
Make your characters feel alive.
If you are not the only character in your story, introduce your characters to your audience. Describe them at least in a few words and add some dialogues to give them personal voices. If your characters represent real people, ask for permission or use fake names.
Choose one verb tense.
This is a crucial aspect for any kind of storytelling. Decide what verb tense you will use before you start writing, and stay consistent throughout the text. You can use both past tense or present tense to write about past events. However, don’t change the manner of writing in the middle of your essay.
Use first-person narration.
This is your autobiographical essay, and you write about your own life. Use the words “I,” “my,” and “me” without hesitation. An autobiography differs from academic writing, where you will avoid personification. When you write a personal essay, readers should hear your personal voice, as it is your primordial purpose!
Prompts
The following titles are chapters from real autobiographical pieces. Using them as inspiration, write your own piece that would reflect that chapter.
The year I played Piano and cried a lot
Finding kindred spirits in unlikely places
You’re not in love, you’re 17
The in-betweens of blacked out drunk
In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much Manner Of a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Victory!
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