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Writing a biography

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How to Write a Biography

Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us.

While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Primarily, though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led an incredible life.

In this article, we will explain biography writing in detail for teachers and students so they can create their own.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal-clear definition of one.

What Is a Biography?

A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of childhood to the present day or, if the subject is deceased, their death.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality and experience of life.

Full Biographies

Teaching unit.

Teach your students everything they need to know about writing an AUTOBIOGRAPHY and a BIOGRAPHY.

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Features of a Biography

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of a Biography. An excellent way to determine how well they understand these essential elements is to ask them to compile a checklist like the one-blow

Their checklists should contain the items below at a minimum. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement summarising the biography’s main points.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach clarifies how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography

Biography writing tip #1: choose your subject wisely.

There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:

Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.

Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.

Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.

Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice in the form of a biography?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! Research! Research!

While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.

As with many types of writing , research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If students wish to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.

An effective way to approach the research process is to:

1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life

2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:

•      Physical looks
•      Character traits
•      Values and beliefs

3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:

• Childhood : Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
• Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
• Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
• Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.

As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.

Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.

Research Skills:

Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:

• Gather relevant information
• Evaluate different information sources
• Select suitable information
• Organize information into a text.

Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).

These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘ fake news ’ and misinformation after all!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing

Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.

Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.

One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life. For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.

Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Biography Examples For Students

• Year 5 Example
• Year 7 Example
• Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:

This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.

Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.

When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:

• Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
• Which biographies didn’t?
• Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
• Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?

Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.

When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:

This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.

Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.

Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:

This session aims to get students into the researching phase, then prioritise and organise events chronologically.

Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.

Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.

They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:

Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.

Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.

This is known as the thematic statement . With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

• Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
• Explore the language and perspective of both.
• Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
• Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
• Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
• A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

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To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.

Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.

HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO BIOGRAPHY WRITING

How to write an Autobiography

How to Write a Historical Recount Text

15 Awesome Recount & Personal Narrative Topics

Personal Narrative Writing Guide

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Biography Worksheets

Related ela standard: w.6.10.

Biographies are detailed written accounts of people's lives. It often will follow in chronological order with the primary goal of showing how the person's upbringing and choices lead to their own personal outcome. Biographies can also be written by the person that is the subject of the writing this is called an autobiography. You don't need to be revolutionary to have a biography written about you, you just need to have a good story. These worksheets will help students explore many different things that a biography touches on.

Biography Worksheets:

Due the Research – A nice fact sheet to help you prepare to write.

Write a Bio Poem – A short poem that describes a person or thing is called a biography (bio) poem. The form of bio poems can vary, but below is a typical example.

Writing a Biography – Select a person that has accomplished something notable that interests you and whom you would like to learn more about. Do research and reflect to answer the following questions about your subject. Then write a short review of the life of a person.

Bio Part 2 – This sheet is continued from the previous worksheet.

Elements Checklist – A biography has the following components, and is typically written in chronological order. What you will be writing should contain all of the following kinds of information and meet all the criteria outlined below.

Character Traits – Thinking about the biography you just read, choose two character traits that best describe the person you have been reading about.

The Bio Poem – In the space below, try writing a bio poem about a historical figure you have studied recently. Follow the format.

Writing a Eulogy – A Eulogy is a speech that is typically given at a funeral or a memorial service that commemorates the life of a person who has died.

Eulogy Paragraph 3 and 4 – Finish off that eulogy you started previously.

Bookmarks – Students should use bookmark to take notes of key information as they read the biography.

Biography Organizer – A graphic organizer specific for this type of work.

Chart What You Learned – Summarize what you learned from the biography you just read to complete the chart below.

Cereal Box Project – Imagine that you have been hired to create a cereal box design commemorating a famous historical figure. Your job has the following milestones. Check off each milestone as you complete it.

Famous People – Think of a famous person that interests you. Answer the questions below about the person. Then begin to compose a story based on that life.

Famous Continued – How did the person feel about the world and their life as a child? As an adult? In their later years?

Even More Famous – What was the first or the defining event or achievement that made this person famous?

Your Thoughts – How do you feel about the person? Why?

Bio Brainstorm – Complete the organizer below in preparation for writing a short biography.

Timelines – In preparation for writing a biography, complete the timeline of important events in the life of your subject.

Summing Up a Life – The titles of biographies are very carefully selected to convey a sense of the subject’s life. Sometimes the title is taken from something the subject said.

What Are Biographies?

A biography is an important component of English literature. It is simply the life of a person that is written by another person or writer. There is a special name for the author of a biography. He or she is called a biographer. On the other hand, the person whose life is being narrated in the work is known as the biographee or subject. A biography is usually written in a narrative form. It proceeds in chronological order. All the events and aspects of the person's life are represented to the reader. Cynthia Ozick is an amazing author of America. She believes that a good biography is like a novel for the readers. It should represent the stages of a person's life in a triumphal or tragic way. It should be with the birth of the subject and then move towards his or her mid-life. If the subject is no more, then the story should end at the death of the protagonist.

Writing A Biography

Many writers try their hand at writing one. If you want to write a piece such as this, it is essential that you conduct proper research on the subject's life. You can find the newspaper clippings, academic publications, and other such resources to get accurate facts. Misrepresenting the subject is one of the major issues that writers make when composing such works. It is important to stay completely unbiased while writing, other wise the work suffers. The key is to be objective in presenting the details of a person's life. This is the reason why many people prefer reading biographies rather than autobiographies. Autobiography is written by the subject himself. Therefore, there are huge chances of bias and misrepresentation in autobiographies. It is also easier to write a biography than an autobiography. Because you can view things much more objectively since you are not at the center of it.

Knowing what to cover is always the toughest thing. People (your audience) are expecting much more of narrative than they could read then by just Googling the person’s name. The best way to discover this is to do background interviews, not only with the subject but also the people that knew him best. It is often helpful to look for people that adored the subject and those that may have not taken a liking to them. This way you can project a much more balanced story. Most of these works start off with basic facts such as where they were born and where they grew up. I find that understanding the family dynamic that they had when growing up is often key to understanding how someone turned out. Some subjects will be very forthcoming with that and others will shy away. If you have the opportunity to interview their parents or old family friends, that can often be key to telling a good story and finding reasons for motivation throughout their life.

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• Teaching primary

Working with biographies

The biography section of portfolios is a documentation of the learners' personal language learning history and can include, for example, a short narrative about the summer camp they attended and for which they may include a certificate of attendance in the passport section.

This biography lends itself well to ‘show and tell’ sessions when learners can talk to the class about their own experiences. In this section too, learners may include any plans they have for taking an English exam, visiting an English-speaking country, or having English-speaking visitors at home.

Age:  Older primary

The type of things which learners can include in their biography are:

• Learner checklist
• A narrative about a trip to an English-speaking country
• The day an English-speaking friend came to stay
• Plans for the future
• I start the class by putting some pictures on the board and tell the class I’m going to tell them about my trip to an English-speaking country. The pictures include some famous landmarks, photos of my friends there and a picture of myself on the trip.
• I ask the class to guess which country I visited and then brainstorm any information they know about the city. I put vocabulary on the board which will help in the following task. This activates top-down knowledge, personalizes the task and gives the group time to think about their own experiences.
• We then read the story of my trip to Liverpool together. At this stage I point out that the story is in the past, that it is divided into three parts and that each part is a paragraph.
• There are lots of ways to check comprehension, sometimes I ask questions as we go along, or ask the class to answer questions at the end of the reading task.
• Finally, using my story as a model I ask the group to write about their own trip.

Of course there are many children in the class who won’t have visited an English-speaking country or were too young to remember the trip. I tell them they can write about someone they know who went abroad or about an English-speaking visitor to their home.

One of the objectives of working with portfolios is to raise learners' awareness of the many different ways English can be learnt and practised. It tries to move away from the idea that it is a school subject and that it is useful and necessary outside the classroom.

Finally, it's always a good idea to put work up around the class for the group to read at the end of the activity. It’s a valuable activity for children to share their experiences and find out about what others do. Also, reading about their own classmates’ stories in English is useful for reviewing grammar and vocabulary.

Research and insight

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Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

FREE RESOURCE

Biography Outline Template

Craft a satisfying story arc for your biography with our free template.

While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

Book Proposal Template

Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character arc to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in medias res , Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to self-publish your biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and self-edit your manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing software , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

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A- Study the following biography example

Elvis Presley was born in Mississippi on January 8, 1935, but he lived in Memphis, Tennessee. He married Priscilla in 1967. They had a daughter in 1968? They named her Lisa. Elvis died in 1977. He was a talented singer and actor. He played guitar and the piano. He starred in 31 movies. He gave more than 1000 concerts. He sang more than 700 songs. 

B- Use the following information to complete the biography :

Mark Zuckerberg was born in New York, USA, on …………… … ………………………………………………….

Download the full worksheet: biography writing

• biography writiong

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7.2: Emily Dickinson

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• Page ID 40447

• Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap
• City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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A Life of Seclusion

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet who was born in Massachusetts. She grew up in a successful family with strong community ties, but she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Among the locals she was considered an eccentric, and she became known for her reluctance to greet guests and for always wearing white clothing. In her later life she hardly ever left her room, and her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Dickinson was a private poet, and very few of her poems were published during her lifetime. After her death, her sister found nearly eighteen hundred poems stashed away in a bureau drawer. Emily Dickinson's poems are characterized by short lines, and they most often lack titles. The poems often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with the themes of death and immortality.

Listen to the song performed by Quoting Napoleon while watching slides about Emily Dickinson and her poetry. (YouTube: Emily Dickinson Tribute Song)

Tasks and Activities

• How would you describe Emily Dickinson's life and personality?
• Emily Dickinson often wore a white dress. Why do you think she did this? What does this color symbolize?
• Do you think the music they have chosen fits the content? Why/why not?

Poems and Tasks

"Hope is the Thing with Feathers." "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"

Read the two poems by Emily Dickinson below and answer the questions about both of them.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chilliest land And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

Comprehension

• Describe what this poem is about using your own words.
• What sort of connotations does the image of a bird give you? What is its significance in this poem?
• Give an account of the images from nature that Dickinson has used in this poem.
• Why do you think identity is often claimed to be a central theme in this poem?

I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260)

I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one's name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

• Using your own words, try to explain what this poem is about.
• Describe the speaker in this poem. Who is “Nobody”?
• Dickinson uses the word “frog” in this poem. What connotation does the image of a frog give you? What are the qualities of a frog?
• Why can one say that this is a poem about recognition?

Study Emily Dickinson's biography further, and try to decide whether this can be said to be a biographical poem. Biography

Watch video clips of these poems on the web. Search for

• "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" Emily Dickinson
• "I am Nobody" Emily Dickinson

Then consider the following questions:

• How are the poems interpreted in these video clips?
• In what ways does the interpretation differ from your own understanding of the poem?
• Feel free to add your own personal comment to the video clips on YouTube. There is a commentary box below each of the videos.

Discussion Board

Find Emily Dickinson poems on Emily Dickinson and her poetry and contribute in the discussion board on Emily Dickinson and her poetry. The website is free, but you have to provide a log in name and password.

Listen to Poems

Listen to actress Julie Harris read the two poems above: "This is my letter to the world"

Further Research

Do you want to know more about Emily Dickinson's life? Here is a biography.

Contributors: NDLA, " Emily Dickinson - Life and Poetry ," writer: Eli M. Huseby (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Hernan Cortes Biography Writing Unit | Year 5 or Year 6

Subject: History

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Unit of work

Last updated

21 May 2024

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A biography writing unit about the life of the famous Spanish conquistador and explorer, Hernán Cortés. The NO PREP unit has been split into four separate lessons and is perfect for students in Year 5 or Year 6.

Included in this PDF printable resource:

• Four fact sheets which students need to cut out and sort into paragraphs
• Writing templates for four draft paragraphs
• Two prompt sheets for students to write their introduction and conclusion
• A template for students to write up their neat biography text
• A crossword puzzle & wordsearch activity to consolidate learning

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This resource is great for:

• In class learning
• Independent work
• Creative writing sessions
• Assessment practice
• Emergency sub plans

The first lesson is interactive and involves students cutting out facts, and then sorting these facts into paragraphs. In the second lesson the students need to use these facts to write four paragraphs. Then, in the third lesson children need to choose the most important facts and include these in an introduction; after this they need to answer several questions on a prompt sheet before writing up their conclusion. In the final lesson students need to check their draft paragraphs for mistakes before writing up their work on to a neat copy on the template provided.

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A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

Emergency Sub Plans | Aztec Empire Bundle | Year 5 or Year 6

These easy to use, no prep, substitution plans give you an ideal back up plan to have ready in your classroom just in case. The bundle contains six reading comprehension activities about key events or influential figures from the Aztec Empire, two biography writing units, an informational writing unit, and an opinion writing unit. Ideal for emergency sub plans in Year 5 or Year 6. 20 Lessons, or 20 hours of activities, with NO PREP needed! ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ Firstly, there are five reading comprehension activities, or informational texts, about: * An Overview of the Aztec Empire * Key Advancements of the Aztecs * Emperor Itzcoatl * Moctezuma II * Hernan Cortes * Religion in the Aztec Empire These activities require NO PREP and have a body of text that students need to read through thoroughly; then they can use the text to find the comprehension and grammar answers. All texts then have an extension activity, a crossword and a wordsearch for those fast finishers. Answers, for teacher use, are on the final page of each document. Then, there are two biography writing units about Moctezuma II and Hernan Cortes. The units have been split into four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Then, there is an informational writing unit about the Aztec Empire. The unit has again been split into three or four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Finally, there is an opinion writing unit about who was the most influential figure from the Aztec era: Itzcoatl, Moctezuma II or Hernan Cortes. This unit has again been split into three or four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Good luck, I hope you find the resource useful! ⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚ For more great resources follow my store ⇉⇉ CLICK HERE

Aztec Empire Mega Bundle of Activities | Year 5 or Year 6

This bundle contains six close reading activities about the Aztec Empire, key advancements, religion and and influential people from the era; a timeline display and sorting activity; two biography writing units about Moctezuma II and Hernan Cortes; an informational writing unit about the Aztec Empire and an opinion writing unit discussing the most important figure from the period. 23 Lessons, or 23 hours of activities, with NO PREP needed! ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ Firstly, there are six reading comprehension activities, or informational texts, about: * An Overview of the Aztec Empire * Key Advancements of the Aztecs * Emperor Itzcoatl * Moctezuma II * Hernan Cortes * Religion in the Aztec Empire These activities require NO PREP and have a body of text that students need to read through thoroughly; then they can use the text to find the comprehension and grammar answers. All texts then have an extension activity, a crossword and a wordsearch for those fast finishers. Answers, for teacher use, are on the final page of each document. Then, there are two biography writing units about Moctezuma II and Hernan Cortes. The units have been split into four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Then, there is an informational writing unit about the Aztec Empire. The unit has again been split into three or four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Also, there is an opinion writing unit about who was the most influential person from the Aztec era: Itzcoatl, Moctezuma II or Hernan Cortes. This unit has again been split into three or four separate lessons which will take students approximately 40-50 minutes each. Finally, there is an Aztec Empire Timeline Activity and Display. It is perfect for introducing students to the some of the key events and people of Aztec era. There are 25 posters or task cards that include many of the key events from the period. ⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚ For more great resources follow my store ⇉⇉ [CLICK HERE](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/CreativePrimaryLit)

Hernan Cortes Comprehension & Biography Bundle | Year 5 or Year 6

Two great activities that would span five lessons about the famous Spanish conquistador and explorer, Hernán Cortés. Perfect for students in Year 5 or Year 6. NO PREP is needed! Firstly, there is a reading comprehension activity where children need to read through an informational text, and then answer comprehension and grammar questions, before completing an extension activity. Secondly, there is a biography writing unit which has been split into four separate lessons of reading, sorting and writing. Included in the close reading activity: * An informational text * A comprehension activity with ten varied questions * Two grammar questions about the text * An extension writing activity * An answer page for self-assessment or teacher use * A crossword puzzle & wordsearch activity to consolidate learning Included in the biography writing unit: * Four fact sheets which students need to cut out and sort into paragraphs * Writing templates for four draft paragraphs * Two prompt sheets for students to write their introduction and conclusion * A template for students to write up their neat biography text This resource is great for: * In class learning * Independent work * Homework * Creative writing sessions * Guided reading sessions * Reading & writing interventions * Assessment practice * Emergency sub plans ⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚⏚ For more great resources follow my store ⇉⇉ [CLICK HERE](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/CreativePrimaryLit)

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7 Writing Exercises To Help You Find Your Writer’s Voice

February 27, 2020

People new to writing are often advised by teachers, mentors and other established writers to find their voice .

But before we delve into exercises to help you discover your own writer’s voice, let’s surmise what we mean by this phrase.

A writer’s voice describes the themes they write about, their perspectives on these themes, and the moods and tones they employ to explore them.

Your writer’s voice influences your writing style . It determines how you structure your sentences and how you choose the words within those sentences.

For example, your writer’s voice might be characterised by a light writing style that uses short sentences punctuated by quirky life observations.

Or your writer’s voice might stack sombre similes in descriptive prose that expresses the complexities of being human in such a way that your reader feels the emotion of every character .

There isn’t a right or wrong writer’s voice. It is simply who you are: your personality, your experience, your uniqueness.

Use the following writing exercises to learn more about yourself as a writer and to discover your writer’s voice.

Exercise #1: Make a List

This exercise involves listing your five favourite writers and noting what it is about their writing you most enjoy.

Make your list on a blank page (hard or soft copy). Start by making a table with two columns and five rows.

Dedicate one row in the left column to each of your five favourite writers. Then, in the corresponding row in the right-hand column, jot down words or statements that answer why you enjoy reading that particular writer.

If you want to go a step further, make a note of the name of their work you most enjoyed and why.

Note: This exercise isn’t about copying your favourite writer’s voice. Copying them would be unfair to you and to the world, because it robs readers of your unique voice.

This exercise simply confirms the influences and aspirations of your writer’s voice.

“When you are trying to find your writing voice don’t try to emulate any writer, not even your favorite. Sit quietly, listen, listen again, then listen some more and write out everything the voice says with no censoring – none – not one word.” — Jan Marquart, The Basket Weaver

Exercise #2: Create A Three-Word Tagline

If you’ve written work that others have read , ask them to give you a three-word tagline.

Netflix now uses this technique to describe and categorise its movie offerings. For example, the series The Crown has the three-word tagline ‘Lavish. Intimate. Period Piece’, while The Matrix’s tagline is ‘Mind-bending. Dystopian. Dark’.

Ask one or two of your readers to give you your own three-word tagline. The results will give you an indication of how others view the style of your work.

If you’re not ready to share your writing , think about three words you’d use to describe your writing to a stranger, and use these words as your tagline.

Exercise #3: Try Freewriting

Freewriting can be daunting at first. Sometimes called stream-of-consciousness writing , it’s the practice of writing without purpose or structure.

Freewriting is an exercise in permitting yourself to write whatever the hell you want to, with no thought or rules involved.

It’s about tapping into your subconscious. Letting go of your inner critic by writing so fast that you drown out its constant nit-picking voice.

If this is your first try at freewriting, use your smartphone, a kitchen timer, or an online tool like Tomato Timer to set a two-minute time limit.

Two minutes might not seem very long, but if you’re not used to this practice, it can feel like an eternity. For those who have practiced freewriting before, consider setting your timer to five minutes or more.

Before you press start, make sure you’re in a comfortable position. Have your writing tools ready, and promise yourself you won’t let distractions stop you.

Clear your mind. Take a deep breath. Roll your shoulders. Tell your inner critic that this is your time.

Don’t edit as you go. Don’t delete or strike through any words. If you’re stuck with what to write about , write exactly that. Write every single word that flows through your mind.

What you write probably won’t make sense. It doesn’t need to make sense. It’s not for other people’s eyes… ever!

This isn’t to say that magic doesn’t happen. Sometimes ideas springboard from this practice .

A new character might introduce themselves to you. A wonderfully strange plotline might emerge on the page.

The important element of freewriting, particularly when finding your writer’s voice, is to continue the practice so the vocal cords of your figurative writer’s voice become limber and strong and all yours.

Exercise #4: Stage An Interview

Imagine you’re being interviewed in a magazine or journal about your latest publication. How do you think the interviewer would approach you?

Are they going to try to be witty because your works are full of humour? Or will they come to you with bigger questions about life, death, relationships, politics?

What questions would you want them to ask you? And how would you answer those potential questions?

This exercise will reveal even more nuance about your voice as a writer – what it is currently like, and what you would like it to be.

Exercise #5: Explore Your Interests

Imagine you’ve been asked to give a five-minute talk on a topic that interests you. What would that topic be? How would you talk about it?

In other words, what interests in life do you have that you could be using to inspire your writing but aren’t, for whatever reason?

Are you an avid gardener? Or are you particularly interested in Norwegian metal bands?

We don’t mean you have to jam your work full of facts about your topics of interest.

But if you could speak through one of your characters about the music of the most intriguing heavy metal band in Norway, you’d be putting more of your voice into your own work.

Exercise #6: Take A Reality Check

Read your latest work. As you do, ask yourself:

• Is this something I’d read?
• Is this something that would pique and keep my interest?
• Did I enjoy writing this, or was I influenced by something else: deadline/expectations/publication type?
• Does this writing feel true to me as a person and a writer?

Ultimately, you need to decide how much of yourself you will write into the page.

The best writers explore and pick apart themes, and delve deep into their characters’ motivations.

They breathe life into a story by sharing parts of themselves with their readers, being vulnerable, and adding snippets of their own life experiences – even the raw, messy, hurtful ones.

Exercise #7: Get Some Perspective

Your writer’s voice is about your perspective as a human in this world.

Of course, you can explore characters in your work that have differing perspectives in life. However, the themes you choose to write about , and the way your characters’ stories unfold through your particular lens, is a major influence on your voice as a writer.

If you give five different writers the same theme to write about, each will reveal different perspectives of that theme.

Do you know what your perspectives are? How do you feel about the big things in life: love, loss, forgiveness? What about the little things?

Our own perspectives dictate what we write about and how we write about it. Set aside some time to ponder your own perspectives about life. Meditate on them, and describe and explore your revelations in your writing.

Be prepared to capture new ideas that are unearthed during this exercise.

Ultimately, finding your voice as a writer is about discovering and knowing who you are in the world.

It’s about embracing the very essence of your uniqueness – your particular insights, your passions, your personality, and your experiences.

Readers seek out work with a strong writer’s voice because they know their investment of time and/or money won’t be wasted. Publishers, too, favour writers who know their voice.

The above exercises will help you get closer to truly understanding your writer’s voice, and becoming a writer that publishers will want to work with and readers will fall in love with.

So what are you waiting for? Go forth and let your voice be heard.

This post was written by Flavia Young

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Strategies to Overcome Writer’s Block

What is writer’s block.

Writer’s block is a phenomenon experienced by writers that is best described as an overwhelming feeling of being stuck in the writing process without the ability to move forward and write anything new. There are a few hard truths we must face before talking about “overcoming” writer’s block though:

• You do not overcome writer’s block by refusing to write until you feel “inspired.”
• You do not overcome writer’s block by floundering & feeling bad about yourself.
• You do not overcome writer’s block by being unkind or cruel to yourself.
• You do not overcome writer’s block by procrastinating or making excuses.
• You do not overcome writer’s block by doing everything but writing.
• You do not overcome writer’s block by believing in writer’s block.

Turn Down the Dial on Self-Doubt

Sometimes we hear a critical voice in our head that make statements like “no one will think this is any good” or “there’s already a better scholar in your field.” Part of our writing practice should be learning how to turn the volume down on that voice, which has no place when we’re sitting down at the blank page. That voice might be helpful later down the line when we’re editing, but it’s not helpful before we even begin writing. There can be a lot of emotions that can make writing difficult: frustration at the rules of writing or the publication process, anger that past attempts at writing went unnoticed or underappreciated, and/or fears that we might not be good enough. Being aware and acknowledging these negative thoughts and feelings can be an important first step to overcoming writer’s block.

Creating a Productive Work Environment

One possible reason you may be struggling to begin writing could be connected to your writing (and by extension, your study) environment. Here’s a quick little exercise to get in touch with your writing needs. Take out a sheet of paper and answer the following questions:

• Where do you prefer to write at? What spaces feel most productive to you? Do you prefer to be at home or out at a coffee shop? Library? Grad carrel?
• Are you energized by being around other people—or is that distracting?
• Is there a time of day that works best for you? When can you carve out writing time?
• Do you need to incentivize yourself to get work done? Do rewards work on you? (For example, brewing tea, having snacks nearby, burning a favorite candle…)
• Do you like to listen to a certain type of music—or is silence preferred?

After you’ve spent a few minutes outlining what you value in a writing environment, consider how your current work environment compares to your ideal, and if your current situation needs any enhancements or changes.

Practice Prewriting Exercises

One way to take off some of the pressure of producing your next great work is acknowledging that you don’t have to go straight into writing the thing itself. There are a number of “prewriting” (i.e.: planning) exercises to help you begin to generate thoughts and words without putting the onus on yourself to begin your magnum opus. These activities include freewriting, list-making, brainstorming, mindmapping (clustering), looping, and/or outlining. Resources:

• University of Kansas Writing Center on “Prewriting Strategies”
• Berkeley Student Center on “Before You Start Writing That Paper…”
• Peter Elbow on Freewriting

Use Apps to Help You Organize and Focus

• If you get distracted easily, there are timer-based apps (for example, Self Control or Freedom) that allow you to block out websites, social media, and other internet-based distractions so you can focus on your writing. There are also plenty of “Get Things Done” (GTD) apps you could embrace, such as Notion, OmniFocus, Evernote, Trello, Google Keep, and ToDoIst. There are also apps to track your research/citations, including Mendeley, Zotero, & EndNote. Try researching a few and experimenting with them—one of them may become a great resource for your writing practice! Resources:
• Google Keep
• SelfControl
• “How to Choose a Citation Manager” Article

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

You’re going to be overwhelmed and doing yourself a disservice if, say, you try to write an entire dissertation chapter in one day. “S.M.A.R.T.” is an acronym that encourages us to make sure our goals are targeted and able to be reached. Therefore, your goals should be specific, able to be measured, actually achievable, relevant (or reasonable), and time-sensitive.

• S pecific: Well-defined, clear, unambiguous
• M easurable: Create criteria that measures your progress
• A chievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
• R ealistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant
• T ime-based: Create a clearly defined timeline that has a start date, benchmarks, and an anticipated deadline
• University of California SMART Goals Guide

Strengthening Your Writing Practice

Below is a short list of ways to thwart writer’s block and get closer to your goals. This is an assortment of ideas for you to try:

• Try a smaller, manual task to get yourself moving right before you plan to write, such as washing the dishes or taking out the trash. Engaging in a smaller activity can get us doing something , even if it’s not writing, which helps push away the apathy and malaise and resentment we can experience sometimes toward the blank page.
• Don’t wait until inspiration strikes. Create a writing schedule for yourself using your S.M.A.R.T. goals to start building in a writing routine.
• Try working in blocks of time, such as using the Pomodoro Technique.
• If you’re in a rut, try mixing things up. Try writing in a new environment, or working on a different chapter or section of your writing project. If you feel like you’re pushed up against the wall, try to think outside the box and approach your writing from a different angle.
• If you tend to be a perfectionist, find small ways to take the pressure off, such as drafting is an “ugly” font or avoiding titling your paper or sections until the end. Naming something can give it power, so try and find small ways to ignore the desire to be great.
• Create an accountability group with friends so you’re all working on writing together and can support each other.

Resources :

• The Pomodoro Technique

Practice Wellness & Use Your University Resources

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, remember to take care of yourself. Writing—especially bigger writing projects like dissertations—can be mentally taxing. Listen to your body and don’t forget your needs as a human: sleeping and eating and even remembering to take a break from the computer screen to move your body or do some light stretches. We also have counseling and therapy services here at the university that you may want to take advantage of if you feel that your writer’s block might be connected to other parts of your health and overall wellness. Resources:

• Counseling Center
• Psychological Consultation Center
• Couple and Family Therapy Clinic
• Wellness Resource Center
• Well-being Coaching

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Cramming for an exam isn’t the best way to learn – but if you have to do it, here’s how

Senior Teaching Fellow in Education, University of Strathclyde

Disclosure statement

Jonathan Firth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Strathclyde provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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Around the country, school and university students are hitting the books in preparation for exams. If you are in this position, you may find yourself trying to memorise information that you first learned a long time ago and have completely forgotten – or that you didn’t actually learn effectively in the first place.

Unfortunately, cramming is a very inefficient way to properly learn. But sometimes it’s necessary to pass an exam. And you can incorporate what we know about how learning works into your revision to make it more effective.

Read more: Exams: seven tips for coping with revision stress

A great deal of research evidence on how memory works over time shows that we forget new information very quickly at first, after which the process of forgetting slows down.

In practice, this means that very compressed study schedules lead to a catastrophic amount of forgetting.

A better option is to space out learning a particular topic more gradually and over a longer period. This is called the “spacing effect” and it leads to skills and knowledge being retained better, and for longer.

Research has found that we remember information better when we leave a gap of time between first studying something and revisiting it, rather than doing so straight away. This even works for short timescales – a delay of a few seconds when trying to learn a small piece of information, such as a pair of words, for instance. And it also works when the delay between study sessions is much longer .

In the classroom , spacing out practice could mean reviewing and practising material the next day, or delaying homework by a couple of weeks, rather than revisiting it as soon as possible. As a rule, psychologists have suggested that the best time to re-study material is when it is on the verge of being forgotten – not before, but also not after.

But this isn’t how things are learned across the school year. When students get to exam time, they have forgotten much of what was previously studied.

Better cramming

When it comes to actually learning – being able to remember information over the long term and apply it to new situations – cramming doesn’t work. We can hardly call it “learning” if information is forgotten a month later. But if you need to pass an exam, cramming can lead to a boost in temporary performance. What’s more, you can incorporate the spacing effect into your cramming to make it more efficient.

It’s better to space practising knowledge of a particular topic out over weeks, so if you have that long before a key exam, plan your revision schedule so you cover topics more than once. Rather than allocating one block of two hours for a particular topic, study it for one hour this week and then for another hour in a week or so’s time.

If you don’t have that much time, it’s still worth incorporating smaller gaps between practice sessions. If your exam is tomorrow, practice key topics in the morning today and then again in the evening.

Learning is also more effective if you actively retrieve information from your memory, rather than re-reading or underlining your notes. A good way to do this, incorporating the spacing effect, is to take practice tests. Revise a topic from your notes or textbook, take a half-hour break, and then take a practice test without help from your books.

An even simpler technique is a “brain dump” . After studying and taking a break, write down everything you can remember about the topic on a blank sheet of paper without checking your notes.

Change the way we teach

A shift in teaching practices may be needed to avoid students having to cram material they only half-remember before exams.

But my research suggests that teachers tend to agree with the idea that consolidation of a topic should happen as soon as possible, rather than spacing out practice in ways that would actually be more effective.

Teachers are overburdened and make heroic efforts with the time they have. But incorporating the spacing effect into teaching needn’t require radical changes to how teachers operate. Often, it’s as simple as doing the same thing on a different schedule .

Research has shown the most effective way to combine practice testing and the spacing effect is to engage in practice testing in the initial class, followed by at least three practice opportunities at widely spaced intervals. This is quite possible within the typical pattern of the school year.

For example, after the initial class, further practice could come via a homework task after a few days’ delay, then some kind of test or mock exam after a further gap of time. The revision period before exams would then be the third opportunity for consolidation.

Building effective self-testing and delayed practice into education would spell less stress and less ineffective cramming. Exam time would be for consolidation, rather than re-learning things that have been forgotten. The outcome would be better long-term retention of important knowledge and skills. As a bonus, school students would also gain a better insight into how to study effectively.

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