Thanks to modern printing techniques, the Dream of an autobiography in book form does not remain unfulfilled. When writing the memoir, I can have you write it in phases or completely Support, even to the point that you only need to tell. You don’t have to worry about the rest as far as the printed form if you don’t want to. I will accompany you, if necessary and desired with a team, also selectively in individual phases of writing your life story. I usually support the writer or narrator, but I work with editors, proofreaders, designers, researchers, or subject matter experts on special issues as needed. You can turn to me with any questions at any stage of your biography.
Contents of this page
If you decide to write your memoir yourself, the following are a few Tips, especially to start with the task.
What you should keep in mind when starting. How to overcome later motivation lows. Before you begin: Which type suits you better – memoir or autobiography?
Get support for your memoirs!
Planning a memoir or autobiography the right way
Already in the Planning phase you can make preparations that will help you not to lose track of things and thus prevent delays.
Prepare your book, like a good menu.
Recording life memoirs – The beginning
Often people face a lot of unanswered questions at the beginning of recording their memories. "How should I even begin to work on my biography?" is a question often asked. Since the work on the self-written autobiography can not be done in a few days, is a good basis extremely helpful. However, in my opinion, the most important thing to do with recording memoirs is to to start immediately. You can always postpone the work, once you have written down what is on your mind. To get into the habit of writing everything down right away, not only makes the work easier, but also helps you get through phases when the motivation wanes. If you follow some principles, and remain consistent, you will inevitably progress and overcome obstacles.
To begin, one should not set out to write the whole book at once. Make plans to tell your story little by little and in small portions to tell. And prepare the first portion, just as you prepare a good dish: Get the ingredients, put them on the worktable. Your ingredients might be pictures, letters, documents, conversations with friends or family members, and notes. then preserve the ingredients. For the time you prepare the menu.
Faster and easier is, of course, to tell the memories to someone who will write them down. With trained interviewers, you will get to the result in a fraction of the time. However, even if you decide to get help writing your autobiography, you can prepare the conversations in this way. You will add a lot of fun to your "My Biography" project Use it in every case. And give you a lot of fun!
Difference memoir – biography -autobiography
Variegated Memories of self-delirium from your own point of view, subjective, varied, loose and often very entertaining – that’s what memoirs are. Most beautifully summarized in a book with pictures.
"My Memoirs"
First of all, I would like to point out the basic differences between a memoir and a biography or autobiography, as I have already mentioned elsewhere. I make a distinction between these terms in that books that are "My Memoirs" are not "My Memoirs" included in the title, point out that the narrator (almost) only wrote down what they remembered personally remembered. This means that Give memoirs a more subjective character have. They are recorded memories of events and experiences that seem important to the writer at the moment of telling and that she wants to share. you raise neither the claim to be complete, nor that to be objective.
Memoirs are therefore a selection of events from the life of a person, which he describes from his point of view. They are usually very entertaining to read and probably more entertaining to write. It is like in a conversation with good friends, one remembers good and not so good things and describes one’s own perception. Memoirs can contain anything the author, or narrator, wants, but need not feel beholden to anything or anyone.
Those who are aware, what kind of memoirs are suitable, will find it much easier to get started and continue with pleasure.
There is several forms biographical or autobiographical books. Autobiographical notes" are also nice, because this form leaves room for all kinds of content. It can be a round dance from experienced and experienced, garnished with insertions of philosophical or artistic nature. The narrative form is quite free and also here (self-photographed or drawn) pictures can enrich the texts. In this way, real portraits of a person can be created, enriched with a lot of self-designed things.
"My biography" or "My Autobiography
"Biography" in the title does not automatically mean that the narrator himself wrote, suggested or edited this book. If so, the writing is usually subtitled "My Autobiography". Biographies can also be written by third parties and even by people who do not know or could not know the sitter at all, because it is about someone who has long since died. If you want to write a book with the title "My Autobiography would like to write, indicates thereby a largely accurate, verifiable Form of telling your own life story, as someone who writes memoirs.
The effort, documenting facts and figures and the aspiration to at least most also objectively important events of the life to touch, distinguish biographies. Of course, all these data and facts are interesting for readers, they give the book a seriousness and by placing it in the framework of these external norms, biographies and autobiographies get a special weight. Usually with biographies additionally researched.
At least temporarily biographies leave the purely subjective level now and then. For example, if you don’t necessarily want to write about your first marriage, you should consider calling your memoirs "My Memoirs" rather than "My Biography rather than "My biography".
Practical tips – The craft box
Two folders can be helpful: one as a "database, where all the information is collected, the second as a "manuscript, in which notes, scenes and elaborations of the text find place.
I recommend that at the beginning two notebooks to. Ring binders are best suited for this purpose with two rings, as you can easily punch various note sheets yourself with a standard hole punch and add them later on. Transparencies are useful because they protect documents or pictures and you can still staple them in the folder – right away in the right place. You should always either make copies of pictures or have them printed separately. originals should be put back in their original place right after, be it an album, a collection, a box, a drawer, whatever. Only duplicates should be used during the work. A thick red pencil. Marker in different colors to mark topics. Post-its in different colors for the same reason. Paper, perforated or printer paper.
a ring binder serves as Memory database. Here come sheets with facts and dates that come to your mind in the course of work. A few words are usually enough to record a thought so that it is not lost and, on the other hand, you are not distracted by it while writing it. As you write, you will probably notice how these thoughts, if you read them again and again "interest" carry. One memory will evoke another and multiply. I call this ring binder "database".
The other ring binder serves actual writing the story. Whether you write your memoir by hand or with a typewriter or computer, you can put the written or printed pages there. As you write, you can add, rearrange, remove pages, or make annotations. You should be relative while writing a lot of space between the lines (if you write by hand) or leave it in the margins for corrections and additions. I call this ring binder "Manuscript".
Depending on your inspiration you can work on one of the two ring binders, sometimes you will work on both at the same time.
Handwritten notes will be a valuable pool for your later text work or when narrating your memoir. A pad and pencil are often easier to have on hand than a computer. Quick impressions, sudden ideas or new tasks can be quickly and easily noted down and later transferred to the appropriate program. Often just a few keywords are enough to make more detailed entries later in the appropriate program or on the appropriate page in the binder.
Your memoir database
To start writing an autobiography, it is best to create a basic analog database. One adds about 50 blank pages in the ring binder, one for each subject. Topics can be those that come to your mind. Your parents, or family, your school years, friends, education. You can expand these pages later, for example, to include events such as Christmas, gifts, favorite scents or first love. To get started, 50 or so pages of topics that seem important to you will suffice for now. Then write in the upper right corner with a red pen the consecutive number and assign it a subject. It doesn’t take much time and hardly any effort to build this foundation of a database, but you should do it at the beginning of your memoir work. Then you can write down thoughts at any time and thus keeps order and overview. There is hardly a better method if one wants to write one’s own autobiography and not have it written. So on the first sheet you will find in the upper right corner: 1 – Birth. The next sheet is headed 2 – toys and so on.
You can take a similar approach if you create the database on your computer. Here, not only the conventional word processing programs, such as Word or Open Office are suitable. There are special programs that allow you to insert links or pictures and graphics. These programs can be used to quickly create a clear structure that can be expanded at any time. Examples are OneNote from Microsoft or Evernote. Both assist in collecting, organizing and finding notes, documents and photos in various formats.