Biography and Memoirs - Depiction of the Personal and the Professional Sides

Biography and autobiography are probably the best literary forms that attract amateurs into the literary field. The best part is that biography writing does not require prior experience unlike arts and crafts as it involves personal experiences that the writer think are worth sharing with the readers.

Biographies are of different types including memoirs and journals. Biography is a description of someone's life and experiences. It can be published in the form of a book, a film or in some cases a collection of books. A biography would sketch out the personal details and experiences in an elaborate manner and might also include the analysis of the personality of the author. Though biographies are non fictional woks that are based on truthful facts, fiction also can be used to portray the life and experiences of the subject.

In the early middle ages, there was a sharp decline in the awareness of the classic European culture. During this period the only sources of information were the biographies written by monks and hermits, though the subjects were largely confined to the church fathers and popes. These were basically intended to enhance the interest in Christianity among the general public and were used as tool for conversion into Christianity.

Memoirs though form a division of autobiography differ in their style and structure. It is more focused that an autobiography and the chronological freedom gives its more flexibility. Memoirs are written by politicians, film stars, military leaders and businessmen and these typically focus on the career and professional lives of the subjects rather than their personal lives unlike an autobiography. Like most autobiographies, memoirs are also written from a first person's perspective.

Memoirs can be written for legacy or recreational purposes and are often assisted by genealogists, or even by ghostwriters. Historically, memoirs have focused on public matters, rather than personal, and in many cases; the readers might not even get any information even about the writer as the memoir would be dealing with other people and incidents that happened in their lives. However in many cases, the content of the memoirs might not be 100% true. While writing memoirs, many writers opt to leave out the bad experiences totally and focus only on the good, which makes it less credible.

Four Simple Basic Factors to Consider When Writing a Memoir or Biography

In this article I would like to share with you four key attributes to consider when writing a memoir or biography. By the virtue of you being a human being, you are qualified to write a memoir or biography. So let us get on with these four attributes:

A memoir or biography should come from the position of truth. It should be absolute truth. Spinoza's famous words apply in force here. Verum est index sui et falsi ('truth is the index both of itself and of falsehood'). This means by telling sticking with the truth you reveal lies.

The next two attributes coming up after being truthful is "sine ira et studio;" do justice to every person and event; and stand in the centre of human society, where you may be able to see all points in the circumference objectively. It is about connections in both ways. In the first instance memoir and biography writing is about connection with the person being written about and secondly connection with the reader. As a memoir writer you should join with the life of the person you are writing about - even if the person has passed on - become part of his or her life, the mindset and life's epochs. Okay - sympathy may be too much to ask, but empathy is essential, not just looking at issues and events in the person's life but feeling with times, the people around and the ideas she or he projected - and be careful of taking things out of contexts and thereby presenting a false projection. People and events should not be just relayed, in every situation the biographer must provide the reader with his or her understanding of the situation.

So there you have three key attributes about writing a memoir or biography; first your memoir or biography should come from the position of absolute truth, second you should do justice to every person or event involved, and third you should connect with your subject and the reader.

Further than these three attributes, there is the fourth one; and that is: the biographer and memoir writer should like the sun, both reveal and enlighten all that is dark. The memoir or biography should be enlightening and shed life about person being written about. You should be able to place events and issues in perspective and in the context they emerged while presenting them in the manner that will be lively and helping to the reader - that is getting the reader involved in the process. It is not that difficult; just put yourself in the mood where you will be able to hear your feelings, once you hear them pick up the pen and write. The point is not to be wholly right, for being wholly your efforts will be lifeless and un-enjoyable to the reader.