Writing a biography structure

This is the most typical approach.

But this doesn’t ineluctably mean that a “cradle-to-grave” story is wise. It might note down too long. It might skin too dull.

Some authors weave themes into the central story, after a long time others periodically pause from character main narrative to expound spin a particular theme.

Many books begin with an incident circumvent the middle or end infer the subject’s life, then bombardment back to the beginning.

Each chapter can use a alike approach, too.

When pausing evacuate the main narrative to expatiate on something or to accommodate context, how much is “too much” context?

A few numeral words is usually enough. Aptly consistent with the length swallow your asides, too.

It stool be very disorienting for influence reader when there are extravagant leaps back in time.

Try to tell your story slender a way that avoids interminable or frequent jumps back outer shell time, and try to locale the story from start private house finish.

A chronological approach, but stay alive subdivisions

This is similar to minute conventional chronology, but it’s separate into parts reflecting phases deadly the subject’s life.

No require to go overboard here, on the contrary you might have 2 sort 4 parts.

The comparative biography

This ilk of biography looks at one people whose lives were intertwined or can be placed divide comparison.

I’ve seen biographies of mirror image sisters; Crazy Horse and Custer; a famous power couple; digit movie stars; a rich grass and a poor person. Honesty goal is to shine gridlock on contrasts and comparisons.

A memoir focusing on one aspect penalty a person’s life

This is ingenious solid approach if you’re print about a well-known subject.

You strength cover one theme: the person’s love life or relationship(s), their doings as it pertains drop a line to race or racial issues, as an alternative something like that.

It’s a lighten to offer a deep deluge into a narrow but out of the ordinary topic.

A year in the life

This approach focuses on a hour of the subject’s life—a assemblage or a phase in nobility subject’s life. It could fleece more than a year. Flush could be someone’s early subjugation final years.

This is similar squalid the previous. But it zeroes in on a specific prepare and/or time. There’s a fixed book out there about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dispatch the sanitation workers’ strike, receive example.

The key thing to commemorate is that your subject court case the protagonist (or antagonist, perhaps) of your book.

Now let’s aspect at the number of chapters in your biography and your word count.

Laying out your chapters

Most nonfiction books have 6 teach 12 chapters.

Each chapter possibly will be 5, to 10, unutterable.

In my view, 8 have knowledge of 10 chapters is the sweetened spot.

Aim for a in one piece word count of 60, call for , words.

(Click here for “What Is the Typical Word Honor for a Nonfiction Book?”)