What is Biography?

A Biography is a third person’s record of someone else’s. It contains significant information about the subject’s life—like their place of birth, their education, and their interests. A Biography may also include relationships with family members and other important events and incidents that play a role in shaping the Biography’s purpose. It may as well have influential people in his life. It influenced their upbringing—all in all, it is a detailed third-person record of another person’s life. As Professional Biography writers includes significant incidents and accomplishments on the person, it doesn’t really being and end only around facts and figures—life stories with a purpose play a role throughout the Biography. 

Why Do We Need A Biography in First Place?

The initial reason for writing a biography is to share a different person’s life with an audience/readers. Suppose the chosen subject’s story is interesting and consists of themes that affect our lives today. In that case, this may serve as the top reason to write a biography. However, that isn’t the only reason. We’ve seen a few authors write Biographies on interesting topics but have little to no information (or the information is outdated or some major points are missing from the existing Biography.)

Biographies give the readers a sense of encouragement by highlighting the achievements or hardships (trauma, divorce, horrific incidents) a particular figure went through and pointing out how it gets better at the end of the day. Few biographies serve as cautionary tales—warning readers of what they shouldn’t become or do.

The idea behind a Biography is to focus on someone else’s existence to a group of people. A writer may decide to compose a memoir since they discover the subject’s story intriguing or have topics that apply to life today. A few writers choose to write Biography because of the absence of data about a fascinating matter or to refresh people in general with realities that may have been missed. Personal stories can be fascinating—featuring the accomplishments of a specific figure, bringing up ways the subject conquered difficulty—giving the peruses a feeling of support. Memoirs can likewise fill in as useful examples, notice peruses on who not to turn into.

Few Famous Biographies 

• A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film the Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges.
• Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston.
  E=mc²: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis.
• Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera.
• The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.
• Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson.
• The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro.
• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel.
• Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.

How to Write a Biography: 

To put someone’s whole life on a piece of paper sounds impossible but trust us, the process gets easier. You can’t solely rely on facts and figures—biographies are way more than that. A good biography comprises moments of adversity, achievements, major turning points, breaking down, traumas, any incident that helps to shape the book, etc. The best Biography can abridge a person’s life without losing the sensitivity and emotions attached to it. Pinning down everything in a way that readers do not lose their attention and enabling them to enough information, so they feel a personal connection with the character is when the key to go. If you’ve come this far and haven’t run back, here are five tips to help you get on track:

Permission. 

Permission is highly necessary. If you’ve chosen to write about someone’s life, you need to seek their approval. Of course, in some cases, this isn’t possible (for example, the figure you have chosen is deceased or a public figure), but getting permission will make a huge part (the research part) of your work quite easy. You can ask the subject if they are willing to be biographed. You can interview them and ask them significant questions and details about their life. Ask them what they felt at a particular moment. It will help your writing about them more enthralling and captivating. Remember: details matter the most.  

Research. 

An extensive amount of research is always required to paint the picture of your subject, regardless of your knowledge related to them, including information relevant information about how they lived, how it affected the people surrounding them, etc. Go through emails, interviews, journals, social media apps (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), etc. You can also check documentaries and magazines; however, make sure the information is accurate. 

Thesis.

The thesis will be the first paragraph (or chapter) that should inform the reader what they should expect. Be clear to tell them what they will be learning about the subject. A thesis will serve as a declaration that the rest of the Biography provides relevant data to support. 

The timeline.

Biography usually constructs the main idea of a person’s life in chronological order. Make a timeline and put down all the important events in order before you start writing. This helps you avoid hassle and having to reorganize while you are writing down the story.

Flashbacks Help.

While flashbacks may be tricky to write, they will help you introduce relevant information about the subject’s past to the ready without pinning down paragraphs and paragraphs for the background exposition. Jump between past and present (can be: high school and adult life) but maintain a little consistency while adding flashbacks.

Your thoughts.

Now, you may think, why are we asking you to include your thoughts? Don’t worry, let us explain.

Biography isn’t only about facts and figures. You are allowed to share your opinions, feelings, and thoughts on your subject’s life. If you add a certain event, you can conclude it by writing why did you feel it was significant or how you think it was affected by the time, and what it meant for society as a whole? This will establish further why your subject deserves to be written about and why the readers should keep reading from the first word till the very last.