my family biography example

11 Do’s & Don’ts of Writing Family Biographies

June 19, 2015 by Elly - Legacy Tree Genealogists Project Manager 11 Comments

Our team has completed thousands of hours of writing client biographies. Review our tips for writing family biographies that will help make your ancestors come to life!

Recently, we published a post on tips for writing a family biography that others would want to read. Perhaps that article inspired you to begin your own, or to dig up an unfinished manuscript and take a closer look. Maybe you’ve got the organization part figured out, but your writing itself needs some polishing.

At Legacy Tree Genealogists, we have a lot of experience writing – not just on the part of our researchers, but also by our project managers and editors, who look over each report and make sure it is ready for publication. As you can imagine, the daily application of these skills has been very educational. Here, then, are eleven do’s and don’ts of writing family biographies using real examples from real biographies that we’ve really written…or rewritten.

1. Do Begin with an Interesting Story or Detail to Engage The Reader's Interest

“With no way of knowing that a ceasefire would be signed exactly one month later, James Ralph Wilson registered for the Great War draft on 1 September 1918 in Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama. He was 33 years old. As a salesman for the Shapleigh Hardware Company of St. Louis, Missouri, James Ralph Wilson had no home of his own and gave an address at the Edwards Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi. His nearest relative was his mother, Mrs. R.O. Wilson, living 250 miles away in Irondale, Alabama.”

2. Don't Use Overly Sentimental Verbiage

This is not a romance novel.

“devoted friends” “tears could never compensate for the loss” “mother’s arms and sweet lullabies” “saddened the hearts”

3. Do Use Wider Local and National Historical Context to Bring Your Ancestors’ World to Life

“As disastrous as the Civil War was, particularly for the South, Jonathan was one of the fortunate ones who made it back home alive. This was especially amazing in view of the fact that his regiment participated in many of the most gruesome, storied battles of the whole conflict: John’s baptism by fire occurred at Williamsburg as part of the Peninsula Campaign shortly after his enlistment. He would also have been involved at the Battle of Gettysburg in summer 1863, which had the highest death toll of the entire war.”

4. Don’t Use Clichéd Idioms (Unless it is a Specific One that Plays an Important Role in Your Family’s Verbal Culture!)

“pillar of society” “across the pond” “needle in a haystack” “kill two birds with one stone” “barking up the wrong tree” “went over it with a fine tooth comb”

5. Do Look Outside Typical Genealogy Sources to Glean Supplementary Details

“This invoice, for the cutting of cloth for a vest and coat, suggests that Washington was embarking on some adventure which required a new suit. Since we know that Washington married his wife, Nancy, in 1843, it is possible that the new vest and coat were for courting purposes.”

6. Don’t Paraphrase Existing Biographies or Histories. Beware of Plagiarism!

Either include a direct quote, or rewrite the facts in a completely different order in your own words. Footnotes with citations are always helpful, too!

“‘John P. Osatiuk immigrated to Canada from the village of Waskevche, Bukovina, in Ukraine and came to the Canora district. He spent the winter in Canora, married Katie Boychuk of Buchanan. Her family was also from the village of Waskevche and came to Canada in 1906. They moved to Preeceville area in 1907 and took up a homestead, south of Lady Lake N.E. 10-35-5.’” [1]

John P. Osatiuk came to Canada from the small town of Waskevche, Bukovina, Ukraine. He wintered in Canora and then married Katie Boychuk of Buchanan. Her family also came from the same village of Waskevche, arriving in 1906. John and Katie took up a homestead in the Preeceville area in 1907.

7. Do Use Visuals to Add Interest

If you don’t have photos of your ancestors, consider using screenshots from Google Maps of places they lived, historical maps, images of historically-relevant artifacts, or illustrations of historical events.

8. Don’t Data-Dump

Hint: If you cross out the names, dates, and places and there are hardly any words left , you need to rewrite.

“ ⊠ married ⊠ ⊠ in ⊠. The couple had nine children, the first six born in ⊠ : ⊠ was born ⊠ , ⊠ was born ⊠ , ⊠ was born ⊠ , ⊠ was born ⊠ , ⊠ was born ⊠ , and ⊠ was born ⊠ .”

9. Do Include The Hard Parts

It’s good for us to remember that our ancestors were people, too.

“In 1850, Alden Harrington was found living among approximately 175 prisoners of the Connecticut State Prison in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Interestingly, the census enumerator recorded the prisoner’s crime in the far right column—Alden’s was listed as theft. In addition to this extra information, the enumerator also listed a year next to the prisoner’s name. No notation could be located in the census that explained this year, though it was likely the year in which the prisoner entered the prison. Next to Alden’s name was recorded the year 1850, suggesting that he was imprisoned the year the census was taken. The crimes of his fellow convicts ranged from murder and rape to horse stealing and adultery.”

10. Don’t Pass Judgment on Your Ancestors

Tell the facts and let the readers draw their own conclusions.

“If Maude’s birthdate is correct (as several documents will attest), she was only about 13 or 14 years old when she and Howard—who was 18 or 19—married, and she had her first child before the year was out. Although average age at first marriage has fluctuated historically and often been lower than we would consider normal in the 21 st century, even this degree of youth was unusual for the time. It appears likely that Maude had found herself pregnant, and the wedding was hastened in order to legitimize the baby and guarantee support. It seems that something more than young love must have acted as the catalyst to the union.”

“It is possible that Maude became pregnant, and the teenage couple married in order to legitimize the baby and guarantee its support. However, without their marriage record (and its exact date), we can’t know for certain.”

11. Do Ask For Help!

Instead of procrastinating indefinitely, let us help you share your ancestors’ stories with the world. Contact us to learn more and to speak with a project manager.

[1] Preeceville Historical Society (Saskatchewan), Lines of the Past (Preeceville, Saskatchewan: Preeceville Historical Society, 1982), pages 714-175, Family History Library book 971.242/P4 H2L.

Family history is more than just dates & names! Bring your family history to life by following these 11 do's & don'ts of writing family history biographies.

June 19, 2015 at 11:47 pm

I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/06/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-june-19-2015.html

Have a great weekend!

June 23, 2015 at 1:03 am

Thanks Jana!

June 24, 2015 at 4:23 am

I really appreciate all of this information. It is nice to know that Legacy Tree cares about how we write our family legacies so that future families will want to pass it on and not allow it to be discarded in future years. Thank you

June 24, 2015 at 8:02 am

Thank you! We love working with you.

June 24, 2015 at 5:17 am

The “11 Dos and Don’ts” was very good. Perhaps Legacy could do a short “Roots” lecture at the 2016 “RootsTech” Conference in SLC. Also, maybe Legacy could evaluate/comment on someone’s draft family history book (or mini-book) and/or hold a 1 day or 2 day course on “11 Dos and Don’ts” before or after the “RootsTech 2016” in SLC.

June 24, 2015 at 8:01 am

That would be fun Wayne! We’ll keep your thoughts in mind as we plan our participation in RT for 2016.

July 1, 2015 at 1:59 am

Loved these writing tips, especially that you gave the definition and then offered illuminating examples. Especially helpful was the list of overly sentimental verbiage, adding visual interest, and avoiding data dump.

August 11, 2021 at 10:28 am

This post helps me very much. I got the answers for all of my questions. I would like to visit again for more interesting articles. Thanks for for sharing such a greatest prince of content!

August 12, 2021 at 9:07 pm

Sughra, we are glad the post was helpful! Subscribing to our blog is a way to have our posts delivered to your inbox each week!

December 28, 2021 at 5:31 pm

I have spent many years researching family information back to immigration in the 1600s from England to Massachusetts to the west coast of America.

Writing a family biography I can provide to my relatives is my goal for putting my project together in a way that informs the family as well as enjoying a compelling story.

I am trying to decide upon the best Point of View for writing my book. Third person omniscient is a POV style that I am considering. Would you recommend that, or can you give me a better idea for putting my information into a creative biography that of course will be based upon factual data gathered that will also include general history contexts. Will you advise. I would appreciate it very much!

December 29, 2021 at 11:23 am

Hi Laura, thank you for contacting us. It’s so nice that you are writing a family biography to share your research with your relatives. Third-person omniscient is the most common for this type of writing; however, if you would like to make the biography more personal and fun, you might consider writing each section in the first person from a different family member of that era. It could be an interesting way of bringing out specific concerns or facts from that period. Congratulations on researching back to the 1600s!

11 Tips On How To Write A Personal Biography + Examples

We’ve all been there: agonizing over how to write a bio that doesn’t sound too self-promotional or fall flat with modesty.

“What is a biography?” you may ask. A bio is a piece of work that details a person’s life. In addition to basic facts, like education and employment, it is meant to portray their lived experiences as well.

Writing a biography that’s professional and actually sparks interest can be tricky. And optimizing it for greater visibility in search engines can make your job even harder.

In many cases, your personal biography will define your first impression online when you’re Googled by:

A potential employer or client before an interview.
Someone at a networking event who wants to learn more about you.
A potential client or customer looking to get more info before working with you.

And when someone finds your social media profiles, personal website, or company bio page, your bio will be there to greet them.

It can make or break whether someone wants to take the next step and work with you.

So it’s important to make it count.

1. How to write a bio about yourself that checks all the boxes.

When it comes to writing a personal or professional bio, there are a few items that are standard to include. While a bio may not have all of these things, if any of the following apply to you, then they should be included. Use the following bullet points to write out a list of information about you. From there, you can draw info from each line item to start crafting your bio.

Your current role
Hometown/Current place of residence
Work experience
Education history
Special skills & attributes
Professional accomplishments
Personal accomplishments
High-level personal goals & aspirations
High-level professional accomplishments
Hobbies & pastimes
Personal passions
Awards or Accolades
Press Mentions
Miscellaneous (What makes you unique!)

Starting with a list ensures you won’t leave anything out.

2. Introduce yourself… like a real person.

This is one of the most important pieces of understanding how to write a personal biography. Always start with your name.

When many people start learning how to write a bio, they skip this important part. People need to know who you are before they learn what you do. Remember that your most important details should go in the very first sentence.

Keep the first sentence short and sweet, either by describing what you do at a high level or going into more detail about your specific role. Aim to describe yourself in a way that’s professional…but also human.

3. Watch your word count.

When you start writing a bio about yourself, determining the length may seem like an afterthought – something that just happens once you stop typing. However, it is something that you need to think about before you start writing – and your ideal word count may shift depending on your primary focus.

From an SEO perspective, the more words you use in your personal bio, the better. If you are filling in the bio section of a profile, find out the word or character limit – that’s how long your bio should be. If you are writing the bio on your personal website, the longer, the better. Plan to write 500 words – minimum. If you have 1,500 to 2,000 words in you, that’s even better.

From a branding perspective, you may have a different take on the length of your bio. Perhaps you would prefer to keep things short and sweet or don’t feel the immediate need for a 1,500-word count. If so, that’s fine too. Cater your personal bio to your goals. Start small. The length suggestion can change based on your situation and ultimate goals.

4. Write your biography in the third person.

This is one of the most common steps that you may struggle with when learning how to write a bio about yourself. While it can feel strange to talk about yourself in the third person at first, there are some very clear benefits from doing so:

From an SEO perspective, writing a bio in the third person allows you to include your full name throughout the bio. This lets search engines know that this lengthy, original, and well-written piece of content is about you . While making it clear that this awesome work is about you is important when it comes to search engine optimization, don’t let speaking in the third person become too much of a good thing.

Never overuse your name when writing a bio or include it in a way that seems unnatural. Instead, use your name when it is appropriate. By dropping your name too frequently, search engines may think that the article looks suspicious/spammy – or isn’t written very well.

5. Write a story, not a list.

When writing a personal bio, it can be easy to fall into the trap of rattling off accomplishments, but that’s what your resume is for. Your bio should go above and beyond your awards and get to the core of who you are and what you’re about.

Now, that may seem like a tall order, but with a bit of planning, you can pull it off. You can understand how to write a bio from a technical standpoint, but looking at it through this lens will help be your guideline going forward. Ask yourself questions like, “Who is your audience?” or, “What are the main takeaways for your reader?” and “What events in your life best illustrate those main points?”. Turn your biography into a story that engages the reader.

Those who have mastered the steps of how to write a bio spend a lot of time doing this. If you approach writing a bio like a story, you’re giving yourself the opportunity to differentiate yourself from others and truly connect with the reader.

6. Edit ruthlessly, analyze with free tools, and update constantly.

Your online bio is the authoritative source for you. That means that it needs to reflect you in the best light possible. This also means that it should be kept as up-to-date as possible. The proper action plan for how to write a bio is never truly finished because of this.

A lengthy, well-written, and regularly updated piece of content is like search engine gold. So when you complete your initial version of the longer personal bio that you will use on your website, know that you’re not finished.

As you gain more experience or perhaps shift your professional focus, include these changes in your bios. And keep asking other people that you trust to take a look at your main bios to edit them. Writing a bio is an ongoing process that you should never ignore for too long.

Read your bio aloud to yourself, use free editing tools like the Hemingway app , Slickwrite , or any other number of free resources that will help you write a great bio about yourself that keeps readers interested.

7. Link to your work.

Regardless of your profession, it’s likely that you have samples of your work that are pertinent to the audience reading about you. In addition to being an introduction to who you are and what you do, let your personal bio act as a marketing tool. In case you need some ideas, see this good real estate marketing teamwork where you can draw ideas. Many people want to learn how to write a bio effectively, but they don’t spend enough time learning how to use it as a promotion.

You can do this by including links to your product, company, or service. Avoid doing this in a heavy-handed way since nobody wants to read a direct sales pitch when they’re trying to learn about a human being. Mention the product, company, or service in a way that helps you tell your own story in a natural way.

These links should enhance and illustrate what you’re already describing yourself. This shouldn’t be a distraction or take anything away from the main thrust of your personal narrative.

If you have a lot of work and accomplishments to choose from, be selective! Highlight work that’s impressive, relevant, tells your story and makes you proud.

If you don’t currently have much to link to within your personal bio, don’t worry.

Start by learning more about personal branding . Make a note in your calendar, planner, or journal that this is something to work on outside of creating your personal bio. But don’t let this fall by the wayside. Set some time aside in the next few weeks to actively work on fixing this.

Whether it’s writing an article on your company’s website, submitting a post to a site that’s related to your industry, or finally getting your passion project’s website live… do it! For instance, if you’re passionate about cryptocurrency, you could write an in-depth review of a bitcoin casino utan svensk licens . Once that is live, get the most out of it by linking to it in your bios. Look to other professionals in your field who have a well-developed online presence for inspiration.

8. Don’t forget to share your contact information.

Even if you have a contact page on your site, or perhaps widgets on your website that link to your social media sites, make a point to include the most direct mode of connection at the end of your personal bio. This could be your email address, a link to your contact page, or a link to your LinkedIn account. When it comes down to it, understanding how to write a biography aids you in creating new and valuable connections.

By including this type of information at the end of your bio, you’re not only letting your audience know how you prefer that they get in touch with you but directing them to another hub that lets them learn even more information about you (if you so choose). Give some thought about what you want your audience to do after they have just been introduced to you through your personal bio.

9. Write a bio for all of your different profiles.

As you build your online presence, you will need different versions of your bio. They’ll vary in length depending on where you place them. So to start, don’t feel like you have to fit your entire life story into one bio.

It’s important to have multiple versions of your bio for two main reasons:

From a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) perspective, unique content helps your profiles and websites rank better in search results. Why? Because search engines like Google want to provide a broad range of information, not content that seems plagiarized (even if you just plagiarized yourself).
From a branding perspective, it’s helpful to have different versions of your bio at the ready for different platforms. For example, your Twitter bio will be very short due to character limitations, but your LinkedIn bio (called your summary) can be longer.

Both of these reasons fit into the bigger picture of managing your online presence. A lot goes into this process, which is why we put together this comprehensive online reputation management guide .

10. Use an online tool to ensure the bios on all your profiles are well-branded and optimized to rank high in search engines.

Understanding how to write a bio is a lot easier when you have a little help. At BrandYourself, we’ve built reputation management software that walks you through building an impressive online presence.

It includes a useful personal bio analyzer that helps you ensure your bios across all profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, About.me, your website, etc.) are well-branded and optimized to show up as high as possible on Google. Just submit your profiles and quickly find out which bios need improvement.

If you want to analyze the bios on your own profiles, create a free account now . Just submit your main profiles, then click “optimize” on each one to see a list of ways you can improve them – including enhancing your personal bio.

11. Get help from an expert.

Sometimes you just need a second pair of eyes on your personal bio – or you can have a specialist write it for you. That’s part of the larger reputation management services we provide at BrandYourself.

If you’re interested in working with one of our in-house reputation specialists, we can help. As part of your kickoff strategy session, we’ll help define the most powerful way to talk about yourself, position yourself effectively against others in your industry, and ensure your bios are working for you across all your online profiles and websites. Our reputation specialists understand the ins and outs of how to write a bio that helps you achieve your goals, and it’s one of the first things they go over with you.

To learn more, check out our reputation management services here . Otherwise, don’t hesitate to check out our other blog posts as you continue your journey in building your brand. And if you don’t want to miss out on similar tips and tricks in the future, just scroll up and subscribe.

Personal Biography Examples

1. noah kagan.

Read Noah’s full bio .

This is a good biography example that does a lot of the things we’ve mentioned well. Noah links to his work, writes with a friendly style, and even connects the reader with the people he works with.

The reason why we’re highlighting this bio, though, is that Noah makes it easy to get in touch with him via email. So many biography examples that you might find will include links to social media accounts only, which is fine. However, if you want to build up a fast connection with someone who just found you, email is the way to go.

Not only that, but because he wrote this bio in a fun and conversational style (the little mention about taco gift cards), it actually encourages people to reach out. Noah is great at building connections with people, and this biography example is no exception.

2. Katerina Jeng

Read Katerina’s full bio .

The biography example from Katerina Jeng illustrates how to introduce yourself like a real person while demonstrating professionalism at the same time. Katerina covers her background, useful traits, current work, and hobbies – all while keeping things light and conversational.

The balance in this bio example can be tough to replicate, but it’s worth exploring if it fits your writing style.

Going too casual or stuffy can leave a bad impression professionally and won’t give you the best possible opportunity to stand out. This is a good example of how to write a bio that does both.

3. Barack & Michelle Obama

Read the full bios .

On Barack and Michelle Obama’s page, you can find textbook biography examples that show you how to write your bio in the third person without making it awkward to read. So many people struggle with this, so hopefully, these bio examples will make things easier by seeing it in action.

Both of these bios do a great job of not going overboard and varying the kind of third-person mentions you can include. This makes your biography more natural to read while still ensuring that it has the best chance of being seen when someone looks you up.

4. Darren Rowse

Read Darren’s full bio .

Using ProBlogger as a biography example for our tips is a perfect fit. When you check out the page, you’ll see that Darren wrote this bio to be comprehensive but also lead viewers right into his offerings (very smart).

He is mindful of his word count and makes sure to expand a bit more after he’s done talking about his background by continuing into what he’s working on now. This biography is a perfect example of how not being too brief can help the bio you wrote rank well in search engines while also catching the reader up if it’s their first time hearing of you.

5. Tim Ferriss

Read Tim’s full bio .

Tim is a master at promoting his work, and when he wrote his bio, he took full advantage of the opportunity.

Throughout Tim’s bio, he seamlessly links to his work, credentials, social media accounts, and books he’s written. If you had never heard of him before, he makes it quite easy to get up to speed and find out about his work.

One thing we like about this biography example is that he alternates between lists and paragraphs to help break things up. So many times, people write their bio as an extremely dense and text-heavy monster that ultimately never gets read fully. If you give the reader a break (especially in this age of skimming), more will be consumed in the long run.

6. Pete Kistler

Read Pete’s full bio .

Pete’s bio works in both his personal & professional story. Instead of being just a list of facts, it includes the story of how he was mistaken for a drug dealer in Google — and how it became the turning point in his career that led to BrandYourself .

38 Comments

Thank you for your post. A bio accompanied with a powerful and enticing resume are your two most important sales tools.

When presenting these documents you only have on chance, first impressions count. Your blog goes a long way in creating the correct image with a bio.

Thanks again

This info was very helpful. Is there any info on creating a health bio?

Thanks for the input. One way I was able to create my own personal brand was by using a new website called personavita.com. it was really helpful in bringing all my thoughts ideas and accomplishments together. It builds credibility and others can validate my work. You can also create different Bios based on who you are showing it to. ( Future/existing employers, family, friends etc.) I think it really sets me apart.

Thank you for the tips. Being in the process of publishing my first book I’ve had to generate a bio and despite the fact that I call myself a writer I had a tough time with it. This site has given me a much better feel for the whole thing. Keep an ey on my site for the updated version.

I had the same problem lol I call myself a writer, author but this at first was so freaking difficult to write until I found this web site to break it completly down to like what first grade level for me. lol now it makes so much since. I’m glad we got it. 🙂

I know more much than the bio rules of the kindes of the people

Thank you. These tips are easy to follow and I didn’t know about the 3 bio rule! I really enjoyed the breakdown of the other bio and used that to help me get started writing mine.

Thanks again!

Thanks this was nice and simpe and easy to use.

Thanks! As a novice this was really helpful.

Thanks for posting this tool to the web. Over and over again, I recreate the wheel college course after college course and more recently for my introduction into the civilian arena. I am more confident now that I have this standardized method of writing bios in hand. Army Strong!

@Craig: Thanks, glad you loved it!

@Martin: Absolutely! Your bio is one of the most powerful tools to control first impressions. It’s got to pack a concise and serious punch.

@EASanders: The principles of bio writing apply to all fields. Think about what you’ve done that is noteworthy, and say it in as few words as possible 🙂

@Tim: Good luck with your book, Tim!

@LaKaye: I’m glad both of my bio articles could help. Sometimes it takes inspiration from other people to compellingly talk about ourselves.

@Rose: Thanks for the kind words!

@Martie: We’ve got a bunch of other excellent articles on resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc. if you’re looking to work on your entire career toolkit.

@Sapp: Great! The beauty of your bio is that once you consciously sit down and write it once, then you have a strong foundation that you can tweak for the rest of your life.

– Pete Kistler CEO, Brand-Yourself.com @pete_kistler and @brandyourself

Go get ’em tiger!

Thanks for Guding ….. Wonderful tips..Thanks a lot

Guiding

hi thanks so much for this wonderful guide. am so grateful.

great article – thanks for the tips! you guys rock!

The tips are so helpful . Thanks

thank you for the tips

great tips it helps me alot….

Thank you for this amazing and helpful tip.

supper is ready yum, come and get your biscuits!

tips are very useful. thank you so much

The best I’ve see yet

thank you so much this will really help me get in to the film fest from cruisinwithkenny

useful tips for me

thanx helped me alot

helpful tips…thanks!

That’s what I looked for . Thanx for that ♡♥

if you want to make a biography you need to know all about you ,family , and friends so you can write a biography

Really good information…especially the getting feedback part. While we may not want to hear it, we NEED it sometimes. Good friends who know what they’re doing can be very valuable in this situation.

So many things I wouldn’t even consider. Thanks for the tips. They are timely, since I am just going through a total rebrand!

You raise a good point, in fact you are ‘fixing’ something right now. You are adding your unique perspective as an ‘innovator’ in the information age that can assist other unlikely writers to get branded and ranked. Maybe it would be a great idea to answer questions in Quora, Yahoo Answers and the like. That can be your links to your ‘works’.

Nice article. thanks for share.

Surely in your many years of experience there are some good/funny/genius problems/solutions or stories you’ve lived or caused. Share them. 🙂

Thanks! TIps #3, #5, and #6 were especially helpful for me. I also find useful this article on how to write a biography so I recommend reading it as well. I also find really helpful suing samples. At least, it’s really helpful for me!

Thank you so much for this great blog. You wrote lot of valuable information about how to write Personal Biography . I like your post. I agree to all of your points that you have mentioned.

For me, the key to this article is section 6. Anymore, I DON’T think the expectation is a list of your accomplishments. I think the people who make the decisions based on biographies are looking for something different, a way to truly distinguish one person from another. A list says one thing about a person–a STORY says something much different. It SHOWS you are creative. A story gives you a lot of flexibility and opportunity to qualify yourself; a list is often reduced to a quantity. Dylan makes an excellent point about ‘sources’ or achievement; in a technician’s role, resolution can be rote, but my experience is solving problems presents lots of opportunities to get creative. David also makes an outstanding point: even if you truly don’t have anything that qualifies as an accomplishment, in this day and age, there are numerous ways to create demonstrable achievement. I believe that’s what the Gig Economy is all about. Dave mentions two specifics; there are dozens more opportunities. This could be an important consideration if you have been stuck for a while in a job that TRULY sucks. I’ve been in those. Then, the story REALLY comes in handy–’cause you don’t have to dwell exclusively on work related stuff. Never hurts to show people you are compassionate, or generous, or kind.

Comments are closed.

Automated page speed optimizations for fast site performance

Warts And All

Writing, Scrapbooking, Podcasting My Family History

5 Templates To Quick Start Writing Your Family History

Researching your family history usually begins with finding names, dates & places. It doesn’t take long before you have a list of births & baptisms, deaths & marriages, occupations & residences. The thrill of the chase keeps us searching and our lists grow longer. But who wants to read lists? Now is the time to take those lists and turn them into something else. Something your family will enjoy reading!

The first post I wrote for this blog, (Not The Beginning) was not intended to be a cryptic clue. It was simply my way of dealing with the belief that, as I could not write a novel I would write what I know about my family history as I found it. Using the magic of ancestry research I accumulated a plethora of names, dates, occupations and roots in many English counties. Unexpected stories turned up in Canada, ( Finding Hidden Stories In Military Records ) and a family secret saw the light of day ( What A Tangled Web We Weave) The process I went through each time was chaotic and in many instances I lost and found important information many times over. The better I became at finding information the more disorganized I became.

I began by using research recording forms but I found the final product was just a different shaped list! What I needed was something between a list and a short story. In school they were known as “Pen Portraits” If you’re stuck at the “list” stage or if you want to take a “one step at a time approach” to something bigger then writing family history templates is the easiest, most stress free way to start. All you have to do is………………………. Choose, Write, Now!

Family History Template #1

Short story.

The focus of this template is a short story about one family member. It is the perfect solution for those times when you stumble upon a story that you can’t wait to write about. In my case it was my Great grandfathers criminal record.The profile facts took second place to the story line. The one thing it has in common with the writing template I did choose, (see below) is that it is minimal, clean and easy to use. The colour schemes are a personal choice and can always be changed. Using images of your ancestors brings your story to life but, if you don’t have photographs of your relatives images of the church where they were married, gravestones or local area will also add to the short story.

Family History Template #2

Short story floral.

This template works well when you know the subject personally or have access to someone who does. Personal stories tend to be the first family history stories written. They were the first stories to be posted on my blog and when family members asked for copies I presented this completed writing template as a gift rather than copying the post from the blog. This particular bundle includes two “empty” pages for those of you who have extra photographs, lots of stories or perhaps even newspaper articles to add. Remember all templates can be modified to fit the research material you have. It maybe you can only fill one page in which case the other pages will keep until your research turns up more information. Completing one page could be all the motivation you need to give impetus to your research.

Family History Template #3

Short story boxed.

This is the family history template I used for “When Great Grandfather Went To Town”. The researched material for Theophillus Adcock fell into my lap courtesy of his unusual name. Using the British Newspaper Archives his court case, living arrangements and social standing provided all I needed for a more extensive piece of writing. This template allowed me to take all my material and place it into the social history of the times. Even with limited facts the social history added supporting material. For example I knew from finding out the living costs of basic food items that Great grandfather outlaid a lot of money on alcohol! Like all templates extra pages can be added as your research turns up more material.

Family History Template #4

Easy modern.

This family history template is another example of less is more. The design is simple with plenty of ‘white’ space for easy reading. It differs from the other templates in that it gives extra space to the lives of the siblings. The focus of the family history is still the main character but with the added information about the siblings. The result gives the main character a place in the family. Knowing that your relative is the youngest in a family of 10 can help your research. For example. when I couldn’t find a name on a census, knowing he was the youngest of 12 children, led me to searching successfully with elder siblings in another county. If the “greenery” on the short story page is not to your taste it is simple to remove.

Family History Template #5

Family tree.

My end goal when researching is always to find stories that I can share with my extended family. My first blog post centered on my immediate family and, surprisingly it was my Great Niece who responded so positively that gave me the motivation to keep posting. I was also fortunate to latch on to a Canadian Military enthusiast who guided me to the story behind the emigration of my Great Uncle from the East End of London to fighting in the Canadian Army (Finding Hidden Stories in Military Records) Like many family historians I often find myself chasing a lead that is two generations away from where I should be! When you put this along side the habit of earlier generations of naming their first born son after the father it is not surprising that I often find myself wondering how John Smith managed to produce three children before his 10th birthday! My solution to this muddled approach was to have a simple family tree template within easy reach. There are two ways of using this family template. I either use a split computer print the template and add names manually. Adding it to any of the templates above is also an option. For those family members who are not used to following family trees, I strongly recommend you choose one if only to avoid brain freeze!

Support For Family History Templates

If you are new to the world of templates my advice is persevere as they will save you time once you master the process. It is unlikely you will ever find a template that ticks all your boxes which means you will have to learn some new skills. The text boxes may be too small, font choice not to your liking or the colour scheme does not match your “brand”. The only solution is to learn how to change and adjust the template that is closest to your needs. Everything you need is on the tool bar….you just have to find it. The download below will get you started with a few basics.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow Goethe

How to Collect and Record Memories

Writing family biographies in just 7 easy steps, let’s start with all your concerns about writing biographies:.

“I don’t have time to do this.”
“I’m not a writer.”
“I’m not creative. My brain doesn’t work this way.”
“I don’t know where to begin.”
“No one wants to read my memories.”
“Nobody cares about our family stories.”
“This is going to be sooo hard.”

Sorry to be blunt, but these are pretty weak excuses … Collecting and recording your family stories and biographies does not require one bit of professional writing skills, creativity, publishing know-how, or any other special skills.

Anyone, and everyone, can and should do this!

The only requirement to record and preserve family stories and biographies is that you passionately care about your family..

Do you love them? Do you want to show them that love? Do you want future generations of your family to understand who they came from and what was important to the family?

That’s what we thought.

You’re doing this. Let’s get started !

7 easy steps to collect, record, and preserve your stories.

Here are the seven easy steps you’ll follow to collect, record, and preserve your family stories and biographies. Each step has free resources and tools to help keep you moving.

Step 1: Collect stories and memories

Step 2: collect photographs, step 3: collect other artifacts, step 4: write an outline.

Step 5: Arrange stories and images

Step 6: Pick a format

Step 7: Print and enjoy!

This can be one of the most time-consuming, but enjoyable steps of your family memories or biography project – collecting the stories! There are many ways to do this:

Write down your own life memories
Write down your favorite family stories
Write down your memories about a specific family member
Interview a family member about his/her life and memories
Interview several family members about a loved one who has passed away
Interview many family members about a beloved (and still living) family member

Collect as many memories and stories as you can. You’ll edit and prioritize later. Right now you just want to get them typed into your computer! When you’re writing your own memories, start with our 200+ interview questions to get you started. If you don’t have a computer or aren’t fond of typing, you can write your memories on paper and sweet talk a friend or family member into typing them.

Another option is speaking your memories into a recording device, like your smartphone or a small voice recorder. You can transcribe your notes or pay for a transcription service. It’s well worth the $1/minute fee many of them charge. Go to the Resources page for recommendations on voice recording apps and transcription services.

Nothing complements your heartfelt memories and beloved family stories like good photographs of the people and places in them. Unlike collecting memories and stories, too many photographs can quickly send you down a rabbit hole and stall your project.

Don’t go for quantity, go for quality photos. List the most prominent people mentioned in your memories and stories and look for a few relevant, high-quality photographs for each. It’s nice to have a mix of old and current photos. Now list some of the major events and places in your stories and memories. If you have sharp, high-quality photographs of these exact places or events, add them to your photo pile.

Once you have your photos, you’ll need to scan printed photos so you have digital versions of them. It’s likely any current photos will already be digital files. Head over to the Resources page for tips on how to scan photos.

There’s no need to dig deeper and search for related artifacts, but some people like to include them. What are artifacts? An artifact is a printed item that relates to the people, places, or events in your stories.

Common artifacts include:

Newspaper articles
Pictures, paintings, or other artwork
Handwritten or typed letters, cards, notes, stories, inscriptions, etc.
Event programs, ticket stubs, autographs
Official documents, like licenses, diplomas, etc.
Maps, brochures, travel guides, itineraries
Anything else interesting you find!

Like photographs, hunting for artifacts can quickly eat up time and delay your project. If you find them and they’re relevant to your story, awesome! But don’t worry if you can’t find them, or don’t want to. These artifacts can always be collected in an envelope and kept with your memory book.

If you find artifacts that you want to use in your memory book, you will need to scan them and create digital files. Look at the Resources page for recommendations on how to scan artifacts.

You’ve now collected everything for your memory or biography book. Good job! The hardest part is now finished. The rest of your project will go more quickly. Read some inspirational biographies to get started. There’s one key tip to remember at this stage: don’t overthink it.

Keep your memory or biography project outline simple and straightforward. There are a couple of ways to write your memory or biography book outline:

Chronologically – This can be an easy, no-nonsense way to organize your stories: put them in the order they occurred.
Life stages – Instead of trying to determine what years each story occurred, just group them together by major life stages: childhood, adolescence, young adult, career, retirement, etc.
Major events – Similar to life stages, this approach will group your memories and stories by significant life events, like birthdays, school years, weddings/anniversaries, births, deaths, vacations, career/jobs, military service, etc.
Family members – Thinking about your readers (your family members) one of the nicest ways to organize your memories are by them! You could have a chapter for each family member, or group them by generation, like parents, siblings, spouse, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so forth.
Random – For all you free spirits out there, this style is for you! This approach is less about organizing by topic, and more about creating many chapters of random, unrelated but interesting stories.

Step 5: Arrange your stories and images

Now it’s time to arrange your stories into one document. Your outline will be a good starting place, but you might decide there’s a better way to organize them. Don’t be afraid to change it and try different approaches. Your goal is simply to make it easy and enjoyable to read. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

When you’re finished, you’ll have a big document with a lot of text. Nobody, not even your loving family who is interested in these stories, wants to read page after page of text. It’s time to make your stories more reader-friendly.

Depending on how you organize your biography or memory book, there are different writer’s tricks you can add to really make your stories shine. Consider adding:

Headlines and subheads: Write a headline and subhead for each section or story. This lets the reader quickly scan and understand what they’ll learn.
Pull quotes: These are super interesting quotations you want to emphasize and draw attention to. For now, just highlight, underline or bold the quotes or sentences you might want to emphasize.
Sidebars/information in a box: Sometimes you have an interesting tidbit about a place or event that doesn’t quite fit into your story. Turn these facts or historical research into a sidebar. Again, don’t worry about the design, just find and label paragraphs that would make good sidebars.
More paragraphs: If you’re looking at your document and there is a wall of text with no paragraph breaks, you need to add some. Don’t worry about grammar rules – this is about making your text easier to read.
Space between stories: Add more white space between stories or sections in your book.
Lists: A great way to quickly educate and entertain a reader is by turning big blocks of text into a list. Look for paragraphs that could become a list of bullet points.

Now it’s time to match up photos and artifacts to your stories. No need to insert your digital images into your document. Instead, list the photo or artifact file names you want to use at the start of the corresponding story. This makes the design process much easier and faster.

Check out our story template in the Resources section for an example of how to set up your document.

Step 6: Pick a format for your project

It’s time to decide how you want to finish this biography or memory book project. You’ve put a lot of work and effort into these memories and family stories, and they deserve a high-quality finish! There are so many do-it-yourself publishing companies that make it easy and affordable to design and print hardcover copies of your biography or memory book. See our top recommendations for book printers in the Resources section.

Here are a few options and the general cost of each:

Basically free: Design the book yourself, print it at home, and preserve your hard work in a nice binder or folder.
Inexpensive: Design the book yourself, print it at a local copy shop, and have them add a clear or vinyl front cover, coil bind, or other finishing options.
Moderately expensive: Use an online printing service to design and print a soft- or hard-cover book.
More expensive: Hire a company like Circa Legacy to edit, design, and print your biography or memory book for you.

Step 7: Print your project

Hip hip hooray!!!! You did it! You’ve created an amazing gift for yourself, you family, and future generations. You should be so proud of yourself! All that’s left is to print multiple copies of your beautiful biography or memory book and present it to your family members.

This is no regular gift. You poured your heart and soul into this. Don’t just shyly slide it over to them at the end of a family dinner. Put it in a box or nice envelope. Wrap it. Include a little note about why this was an important project for you and what you hope they will get out of it. And then, you can give it to them.

Have a friend or family member who wants to write an autobiography or memory book but doesn’t know where to start? Take a look at our Products page for fun and easy do-it-yourself story kits to help them get started.

Read the Blog

Grab your free checklist, shop custom book packages.

Shop Products
Our Services
Obituary Writing

Start typing and press Enter to search

The Genealogy & Family History Social Network

Most Active Groups
Surname Groups A-E
Surname Groups F-Z
Add a Group
All Members
Advanced Member Search
Certificates
Virtual Meeting
Join the chat
Community Guidelines
All Blog Posts

Writing a Family Biography (Part 2)- A Handy Template

Posted by Lynn Palermo on February 1, 2010 at 12:40pm

< Previous Post
Next Post >

You need to be a member of Genealogy Wise to add comments!

Join Genealogy Wise

The link in the article isn't working. The correct link is:

http://www.genealogywise.com/profiles/blogs/family-biography-a-less...

Welcome to Genealogy Wise

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service

Hello, you need to enable JavaScript to use Genealogy Wise.

Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator.

Write a Personal History

1 Introduction
2 Why Create a Personal History?
3 When Should I Create My Personal History?
4.1 Written Biographies
4.2 Journals
4.3 Narratives
4.4 Records of Milestones
4.5 Scrapbooking
4.6 Oral Histories
4.7 Electronic Recordings
4.8 Online Photo Books
5.1 Potential Subjects for Your History
5.2 Start Writing
5.3 Other Things to Include
5.4 Writing Challenges
6.1 After the Review
7 Decide How You Want Your Finished History to Look
8.1 Websites
10 Websites
11 See also

Introduction [ edit | edit source ]

A personal history is one way of leaving a legacy for descendants to treasure for generations. It is important to retain accuracy of information when creating your personal history. If you leave it to someone else to create it, he or she can only rely on their memories of you and secondhand stories that may not accurately reflect your life.

If you feel overwhelmed about where to begin, go to jrnl.com (Sign up; it’s free!) On the site, there is a section titled “All About Me.” This is a great starting point, because not only does it ask questions to trigger memories, it also allows you to document your answers right there within the form. The questions are categorized to keep details organized.

Also, see this FamilySearch blog article about this subject, New Year's Resolution: Write Your Life Story #52Stories .

Why Create a Personal History? [ edit | edit source ]

Ask yourself these questions – if your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors did not leave life histories, do you wish they had? Do you wish you could read about their lives? If so, it is likely for your descendants to feel the same way if you don’t. A record of your life can be a great gift to those who come after you. Words in print can be read and reread, pondered over, and returned to. The words your teenager rejects now may become clear and precious when he or she rereads them later in life.

You could have a great effect on those who follow you. Your example, trials, and triumphs can strengthen and motivate others. A famous, biblical example is Job of the Old Testament, who suffered many trials. “Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!” he mourned (Job 19:23-4 KJV). His words were written, and so his triumph over tragedy and his faith have remained an example of devotion to people of the world for thousands of years.

Writing your history can also provide you with an opportunity to evaluate your life. It may help to clarify your direction in life. Writing about your past, even if it was not idyllic, can help you cope with feelings and create an opportunity to find understanding and forgiveness. See also 2: Writing a Family History” in the FamilySearch Learning Center . Many of the same reasons also apply.

When Should I Create My Personal History? [ edit | edit source ]

There is no better time than now. Do not put off writing until you believe you’ll have more time, or until you’ll retire. Our expectations of how much time we have to do all that we need or want to so do not usually match that of what happens. In addition, you never know how long you may live, so do not procrastinate.

No one else can write your personal history the way you can. The story is about your life, and it should be written by you. However, the longer you wait to write it, the more details are likely to slip away and be forgotten.

When writing your story, set realistic and specific goals. For example, you could set a goal to complete a first draft in three months. A final draft could be ready to review within six. By the end of nine months, you could have a finished copy ready for distribution to your family members. The time allotted to write your history is subjective. It may be more reasonable for you to write a chapter a week for the next years or write about one subject per week or even a page per day. Do what you can, but do it regularly and consistency.

Your history isn’t limited to just subjects. It may be easier to write about the different stages of your life like preschool, grade school, high school, etc. Breaking up your history into segments like these makes the task easier to accomplish.

Different Types of Personal Histories [ edit | edit source ]

You can preserve your life history and memories in many ways. The following are a few ideas:

Written Biographies [ edit | edit source ]

A written biography is a great way to record personal histories for those who enjoy writing. They can include any of the following:

Personal account of events in your life. Cyndislist is a good website to help you get started.
Photographs of events, family, friends, homes you grew up in, places you’ve traveled, and other experiences of interest in your life. Photographs are good visual aides to supplement your history.
Copies of family records, such as your birth and marriage certificates, school records, diplomas, religious certificates, awards, and other records of interest.

What you decide to include is up to you, and any physical documents or images can help round out your words.

Journals [ edit | edit source ]

Journals are excellent to preserve your history. Where a personal history tends to be broader in scope and generally covers a greater period of time, a journal can preserve the day-to-day or week-to-week events of your life. A journal provides a more intimates and detailed account of your daily experiences.

They may be easier for someone to write. Although journal writing can span over large amounts of time, it is done in small increments rather than covering a lot of information at once.

Journals have a more personal feeling to them. They often contain insights, expressions or emotion, observations about events and how they affect you and those around you, musings, and much more.

You may also choose to include drawings or photographs within the journal, which can add interesting dimension.

Journals are not only a good way for those after you to see into your personal, but also a medium for you to reflect on during your life to see how you’ve grown.

Narratives [ edit | edit source ]

Narratives are another form of personal history. This particular kind of narrative documents memorable events and are usually brief.

Many people find it useful to set aside a time each week to write their narratives. For example, one woman spends an hour writing each Sunday afternoon while her young children take a nap. During each session, she writes two or three short narratives.

These narratives can later be polished and compiled into a longer history.

Appendix A of this lesson gives a list of subjects for personal narratives. You do not need to limit yourself to these topics, though. They may, however, remind you of other events that you would like to write about.

Records of Milestones [ edit | edit source ]

Creating a record of milestones is similar to keeping a journal, except it tends to be added to less frequently.

It is a record of important events like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, death, life-changing experience, and major accomplishments. They also include your feelings regarding the milestones.

Scrapbooking is one method some people use to chronicle their own milestones.

Scrapbooking [ edit | edit source ]

This is also a popular form to preserve memories and can be a great alternative or addition to a written personal history. Scrapbooks focus on documenting special events using photographs and other memorabilia.

Scrapbooks tend to not be as comprehensive as written history, but they provide excellent visual documentation.

Scrapbook supplies and classes are often readily available.

Keeping a journal and a scrapbook together can help you create an excellent, full history of your life. Narratives and journal entries help provide insightful background to each photograph in your scrapbook.

Oral Histories [ edit | edit source ]

An oral history preserves the voice of someone. It is a great alternative for those who do not feel that they have the skills or desire to write. Those who struggle with writing may find it easier to sit down and talk about their lives. For many people, having someone record someone from their lives is a fun and deeply touching experience.

Electronic Recordings [ edit | edit source ]

With the development of electronic devices, like video equipment and tape recorders, recording history is easier than ever. Using this equipment to record your history, you can include much more than is typically found in a written history.

These can include recordings of your voice, of you singing or playing an instrument, among other visual and auditory images.

A thing to be aware of when deciding to record electronically is that they can deteriorate or become outdated. Computer discs, hardware, and software programs can become outdated over time, and this process is becoming faster, with technology changing vastly over a few short years. After a few years, you may find that you have difficulty finding a computer or program that will read what you have recorded.

You should review the medium your recorded with on a regular basis. Once a year it best. Tapes should be played back annually to prevent the sound from bleeding through the tape.

Before it gets harder to find equipment to play or read what you have recorded, it is a good idea to transfer your history to an updated medium.

If you plan to record your history electronically, be aware that electronic media does not retain quality for long. Electronic recordings should be transcribed onto archival quality paper. If it is digitized, it will last forever.

Online Photo Books [ edit | edit source ]

With the availability of the Internet, it is possible to create a fine quality history book online and have it delivered to your door. You can add at many photographs and as much text as you would like. The company then prints out as many books as you want and ships them to you. These can then be distributed to friends and family members.

Before You Begin Writing [ edit | edit source ]

After considering your options, decide what method you would like to use to record your history. Whether you are going to write, video tape, or make a photo- or scrapbook, you should consider doing the following:

Gathering everything you can find about your life that might help you remember events.
Organizing the items per the type of history you plan to create.
Carrying note cards with you to record memories as they come to mind. Often memories will come up at inconvenient times. Note cards provide an easy way to record them, regardless of when they arise.
Elaborating on some of your memories as you have the time. Add more details that what you may have written on your note cards.
Talking into a tape- or video-recording device to record some preliminary ideas. Memories may also come easier and with more detail if you are speaking them. You may want to transcribe the recording alter or use it as a starting point for writing.
Asking relatives and friends to share memories and stories they have of you. These recollections are extremely valuable; others often remember events that happened when you were too young to remember them, or they might remember things that didn’t seem important to you when they happened or memories you may have forgotten.

Potential Subjects for Your History [ edit | edit source ]

Listed below are general topics you might consider as you prepare to write. Appendix A provides an additional list of questions to prompt your memory.

Below are some general topics to consider as you prepare to write. Appendix A provides an additional list of questions to prompt your memory.

A list of life events in the order they occurred (a chronology)
A list of the ten most important things in your life now and details about them
A health chronology if there are health issues that might affect your descendants
Family traditions
Personal convictions and learning experiences
Childhood memories
Family members – ancestors and descendants
Funny or embarrassing experiences
Society, geography, and entertainments surround you – anything that gives context to your life
Examples of your talents (poems, artwork, songs, etc.)
Challenges and how they shaped you
Stories of your life experiences
Stories or comments about you contributed to by other people
Advice you’d like to share with future generations. These words may be the most precious words you leave to your loved ones.

If you plan to create something to be printed and published formally, check with a few publishers. They will be able to tell you what you need to know to prepare your material for publication. This information could prevent the extra effort of retyping or reformatting your work later.

Start Writing [ edit | edit source ]

Do not be too critical of your writing skills. In the beginning, it is more important to get the information, stories, feelings, and events recorded first. Late, you can polish what you’ve written. These suggestions may help you begin your personal history:

Begin your narrative at an exciting point in your life. You do not have to begin by listing your date of birth. Get your readers interested first, and then they will enjoy learning the facts later.
Do not worry about style, grammar, punctuation, or other composition technicalities at the beginning. Write however feels most comfortable for you.
Be visual with your words. Include background information about the location or local history at the time a memory or event took place. Describe clothing, rooms, expressions, and so on that were involved. Try to recapture the emotions of people. Give enough detail about the situation to make things interesting (See an example in the Teacher Suggestions section at the end of this lesson). Do not let your writing become just a list of dates and places with stories and a background to bring them to life.
Be willing to laugh at yourself. Let your personality and humor shine through in your writing.
Do not be afraid to write about your weaknesses, as well as your strengths. If you feel comfortable writing about mistake you’ve made, elaborate on what you learned from them and what consequences followed.
Always be truthful and honest about your life. If something is too uncomfortable to share, just exclude it and move on.
Be wary of extremely sensitive issues, especially if other people were involved. It’s important to be careful of libeling or embarrassing others.
Remember your story doesn’t have to be told in chronological order. Digress whenever you feel like; these digressions may just be the most interesting parts of your story.

Other Things to Include [ edit | edit source ]

In addition to writing about your memories, you may want to include some of the following items of interest. They can be part of the body of the history or can be added as an appendix.

Photographs of family, friends, homes, wedding day, yourself at milestone ages, a few vacation highlights, homes you have lived in, schools you attended, and so on
Your feelings about social, religious, or personal issues
Lessons you have learned
Feelings about loved ones
Dreams for the future
Excerpts from journals
Poems you have written
Newspaper articles about you or events you took part in
Copies of certificates
Direction from insightful inspirations

Writing Challenges [ edit | edit source ]

If the writing process isn’t going well, ask yourself why. Maybe you’re writing about a subject you feel should be included but doesn’t excite you. Think about whether it is really important or if you can just skip over it, even if just for the moment.

Realize that hard work is often necessary for inspiration. Self-discipline to write when you don’t feel up to it may work, but taking a few days’ break may also. You can spend the time off from writing looking for photographs to include or revisiting a place you plan to talk about. Consider having a tape recorder handy while you’re doing these in case you remember more details. Activities related to your history may be enough to re-motivate you.

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is starting. If anything, write a single word. Then expand that word into a sentence. Expand that sentence into a paragraph. Once you’ve started writing, the process usually becomes easier and more enjoyable. When you need to take a break from writing, stop in the middle of an interesting story or paragraph. Then, when you return to your work, it will be easier for you to start again where you left off instead of wondering where to go next.

Another way is to start at the easiest part of your story, or begin will a topic you really want to write about. If you find that you’ve come to a stump and simply cannot keep writing, consider recording your thoughts and memories and transcribing it later, adding in additional details.

If you are writing electronically, remember to save your work often. It would be frustrating and demotivating to lose all your progress and hard work to a computer glitch or failure.

Review and Evaluate What You Have Written [ edit | edit source ]

Writing a first draft is only the beginning of your personal history process. Some of your best writing will happen as you review and revise what you’ve written. Take the time to rewrite sentence that don’t work as well as you’d like them to.

Getting a trusted friend, colleague, spouse, or family member to do the same will point out mistakes or confusions you may have skipped over. As you’re reviewing, ask yourself and any others helping you the following questions:

Does the reader feel involved and care about the outcome of the stories?
Is your writing organized? Do the stories flow well? If not, how can they be improved – rearrangement, additional details, etc.?
Do you have good sentence structure? Are any sentences too long or complicated, or do you have too many simple sentences?
Are the identities of people in the stories clear? For example, if you have mentioned Grandma, have you elaborated on which grandma? Do you explain which aunt you’re talking about when you say, “My aunt gave me my favorite Christmas gift that year”?
Do any details or events need to be clarified or elaborated on?
Have you included too much or overwhelming detail?
Do the stories need to be shorted or lengthened to make them more enjoyable?
Are there any spelling or other grammatical errors? These types of mistakes become more apparent when the text is read aloud.
Do you use repetitive phrases or words often? For example, do too many sentences begin with, “I remember”?
Are names, dates, places, and other details accurate?
Have you used the proper tense throughout the entire history?

After the Review [ edit | edit source ]

You must decide what input and feedback is most valuable to revision. Sometimes a reviewer will express a concern that will indicate a problem besides the one mentioned. For example, a reviewer may say that a certain story is too long, but perhaps length is not the real issue. You may need to consider how to retell the story or describe events in another way.

Also, keep in mind if a reviewer makes a comment on a universal issue, for instance, using the proper tense or the same phrase within a certain area, it may apply to other areas within your history. Take the time to make sure the issue is addressed.

Considering reading your story on tape and then listening to the recording. Do you feel that it is honest and worth listening to? Does is accurately represent your life?

Be extremely sensitive to personal information, such as dates, sensitive issues, and contentious stories, of individuals who are still alive or who have living family members who may read your history. Never publish anything that you would not want to appear in tomorrow’s newspaper. Also be cautious about including addresses and phone numbers.

Now is also the time to decide where to insert photographs, letters, certificates, and other physical or visual documents.

Decide How You Want Your Finished History to Look [ edit | edit source ]

Play around with layout. It is a good time to review and adjust the appearance of your work. Consider line spacing, headings of chapters, and subheadings. You may decide to add or delete some of the design and layout elements as you work. Some elements may be:

• Cover page • Title page • Preface (where you share your thoughts and feelings about your project) • Table of contents • Lists of photographs and illustrations • Chronology (a quick and concise overview of your life in a page or two) • Narrative • Appendixes (family group sheets, pedigree charts, will extracts, handwriting samples, favourite recipes, and so on) • Maps • Index

Most people look at photographs before reading text. Photos will create interest in reading accompanying test. Place photographs where they will be relevant within the writing.

such as the font, its size, and spacing, to make the text easy to read. If you plan on printing double-sided, be sure to leave margins on the binding size of each page wide enough to allow for binding. This is usually at least a quarter inch wider than the normal edge of a type-written page.

Resources [ edit | edit source ]

Websites [ edit | edit source ].

See the tutorial at the FamilySearch Learning Center , Ancestors Season 1: Leaving a Legacy .

Books [ edit | edit source ]

"From Shoes Boxes to Books: Writing Great Personal Histories" by Amy Jo Oaks Long. Ten-step program to creating a personal history.
"From Memories to Manuscript – The Five Step Method of Writing Your Life Story" by Joan R. Neubauer

Appendix [ edit | edit source ]

For suggested questions to prompt personal recollections, and for tips on preserving family photos and artifacts, go to the Appendix .

Jrnl.com – New website to ldsjournal.com. Questions to trigger memories.
Cyndislist.com – Links to various sites with help on writing personal histories.
GenWriters.com – Help on writing personal histories.

Family Biographies Samples For Students

107 samples of this type

WowEssays.com paper writer service proudly presents to you an open-access catalog of Family Biographies aimed to help struggling students tackle their writing challenges. In a practical sense, each Family Biography sample presented here may be a guidebook that walks you through the essential phases of the writing process and showcases how to develop an academic work that hits the mark. Besides, if you need more visionary help, these examples could give you a nudge toward an original Family Biography topic or encourage a novice approach to a banal issue.

In case this is not enough to quench the thirst for effective writing help, you can request personalized assistance in the form of a model Biography on Family crafted by a pro writer from scratch and tailored to your particular instructions. Be it a plain 2-page paper or a profound, extended piece, our writers specialized in Family and related topics will submit it within the pre-set timeframe. Buy cheap essays or research papers now!

La Malinche Biography

Introduction.

Dona Marina, also called Malintzin, or La Malinche (1496-1529) was an American Indian originating from the Nahua (Aztec) ancestry. Malinche played a very important role during the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish. She was believed to be a princess of the Aztec language (Nahuatl) speaking tribe and was sold as a slave in her youth to the coastal traders because of the family politics.

Music in Life Biography

John stuart mill biography examples.

John Stuart Mill was born on 20 May 1806 in Pentoville, London. He was the first-born son of James Mill and Harriet Burrow who got married in 1805. His father was born in Scotland but had to move to London to advance his career in economy as well as in philosophy. John’s father and his close friend, Jeremy Bentham, played a pivotal role in equipping him with the knowledge that he would require to lead a successful life.

Don't waste your time searching for a sample.

Get your biography done by professional writers!

Just from $10/page

Free Biography On Bioagraphy On Steve Israel, A U.S. Representative For New York

Free family genetic history form biography example, 1: family genetic history (35 points):, free steve jobs biography example.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

The Benefits Of Earning A College Degree Biography Example

Free eric. bonhoeffer biography example, book reviewed.

Metaxas, E. (2010). Bonhoeffer: Pastor, martyr, prophet, spy: a Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Introduction and Thesis

Free biography about cultural autoname:institutional affiliation, country of origin.

The country of origin that I identify with the most is Morocco. Located in the Africa, Morocco has a very diverse and vibrant culture. It is a multiethnic society, rich in religious activity as well as civilization and customs. Primarily, the citizens of Morocco are Arab in race. Being a part of this culture is something that I am very proud about.

Alban Berg Biographies Examples

Biography on ada lovelace.

In the history of computing, there are many names. These are the names of a number of near Ada Lovelace and Charles Burbidge. Charles Babbage is the person who created the drawings of the analytical engine, and the woman who wrote the world's first software for this machine. She was a great mathematician and a very persistent woman; it did not disappoint even the fact that she did not see her program works.

Sergeant Maurice Churchill Rice Biography Example

John adams biographies examples, good example of my childhood to adult biography, chapter 1-childhood, free portia simpson-miller biography sample, biography on mikhail lomonosov, biography: mikhail lomonosov, auto about my life biography sample, free biography on ronald duke's path, free biography on biology connection question, biography on william faulkner, ludwig van beethoven biography sample, free biography on marie curie, family and consumer science biography examples, best man speech, family background biography example, personal biography, nicolas leblancs baking soda biography examples, organization, example of biography on wolfgang amadeus mozart, bio-geography biography examples, example of biography on biographical information.

William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois: A Biography

My Education Auto Biography Example

Free biography on autobiographical essay, example of biography on being a manager.

I am 23 years old lad born in Mississippi and raised at Texas. While growing up, my parents had a large plantation farm with many workers. My father had several managers who run his businesses and also his plantations. Observing the directors and those in power, I noticed that there were qualities that they lacked which affected negatively to the developing of my father’s businesses. This motivated me to become a manager one day.

What I pursue.

Example of biography on abortion questions/interviews, tillie olsen biography sample, eleanor roosevelt biography examples, martha graham: a life of dance biography examples, example of biography on adolf dassler, adolf dassler’s life in germany, autobiography of benjamin franklin biography examples, biography on ramses ii, biography on rachel carson, birth establishment and an emperor and early years biography sample, aemilia lanyer biography sample, biography and criticism - aemilia lanyer, free biography on rosa parks, sophie germain biography, sophie germain, rousseau the lover of women biography, biography on we must tell our own story, we must tell our own story, sample biography on autobiography, rochelle autobiography biography sample, pablo picasso biography, draw topic & writing ideas from this biography on an autobiography of my life, sociological biography: exemplar biography to follow, kaoru ishikawa biography example, free charles darwin biography example, free john broadus watson biography sample, sample biography on sociological biography, write by example of this salvador dali biography, the arab english teacher of native english learners biography sample, good example of biography on john wayne gacy: mindset biography, elizabeth blackwell biography examples, carlos slim helu biography examples, good example of marriage across two generations biography.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

Business , Education

24 Biography Templates and Examples (Word | PDF | Google Docs)

Biographies serve as a fascinating lens into the lives of individuals, ranging from influential family members and historical figures to renowned personalities. Whether you’re a student, an aspiring writer, or someone captivated by the art of telling a life story , grasping the essential elements of a biography is vital. Writing a biography goes beyond compiling facts; it involves crafting a narrative that educates and inspires your readers. This guide provides you with practical steps, style advice, and, importantly, biography templates to assist you in structuring your work effectively. With these resources, you can start to create biographies that not only inform but also captivate your audience. Are you ready to capture the essence of a life story in words? Let’s delve into the fundamentals of crafting a compelling and memorable biography.

Biography Templates & Examples

Aesthetic Biography Template

An Aesthetic Biography Template is a carefully designed layout that allows individuals to present their personal and professional information in an organized and visually appealing manner. The template provided in the previous response offers a structured format for users to showcase their educational background, work experience, skills, and personal interests. This format is particularly useful for creating a compelling narrative of one's life and achievements, making it ideal for applications, personal websites, or professional profiles. The inclusion of sample data guides users on how to effectively fill out each section, ensuring clarity and coherence in presenting their unique story.

Short Biography Template

A Short Biography template is a structured format for summarizing an individual's personal, educational, and professional background. It offers a concise yet informative way to present one's achievements, skills, and experiences. The template provided above is designed to capture a wide range of details, from basic personal information to career highlights and skills. It is versatile and can be tailored to suit different situations, whether for a professional profile, a speaker introduction, or a personal website. The inclusion of sample data in the brackets makes it user-friendly, allowing for easy customization. This template serves as a useful starting point for anyone looking to create a clear and engaging biography.

Professional Biography Template

A Professional Bio Template is a structured format designed to aid individuals in crafting a succinct and engaging biography that highlights their career achievements, skills, and personal qualities. This template helps users efficiently organize and present their professional story, ensuring that key elements like career milestones, skills, and personal interests are effectively communicated. This assists in creating a compelling bio that resonates with various audiences, such as potential employers or networking contacts, enhancing their professional presence and impact.

Personal Biography Template

A personal biography template is a structured outline designed to guide individuals in documenting their life stories, achievements, and experiences. It provides a framework to organize personal details in a coherent and engaging manner. This template, created in our prior response, can assist users by simplifying the process of writing their biography. It offers a clear structure, ensuring that key aspects of one's life are highlighted effectively. This can be particularly useful for creating professional bios, personal introductions, or for preserving personal history.

You can explore more free biography templates and examples in the collection at Highfile . This resource offers a diverse range of templates suitable for various needs, whether for professional, personal, or academic purposes.

What Is a Biography?

A biography is an in-depth narrative of someone’s life, written by another person. It encompasses more than just basic facts like birthplace and education. A biography delves into the subject’s personal experiences, significant life events, and the influences that shaped their character and achievements. It’s not just a timeline of events; a biography weaves these details into a compelling story, offering insights into the individual’s motivations and impacts. The aim is to present a well-rounded portrait that is both informative and engaging, allowing readers to understand and empathize with the subject’s journey. A biography, in essence, is a vivid window into another person’s life experience, capturing their unique contributions and the essence of their existence.

Fun Fact: Did you know that one of the earliest biographies ever recorded was about an ancient Egyptian official named Ptahhotep around 2400 BC? This ancient biography was not written in a book but carved on the walls of his tomb, depicting his life and achievements. This highlights how the art of biography writing has been significant throughout human history, evolving from ancient carvings to modern digital formats!

Essential Elements of a Biography Template

Crafting a professional biography involves creating a concise yet comprehensive summary of your career objectives, current position, and notable achievements. This type of bio is ideally suited for professional networking platforms like LinkedIn or AngelList, where a more detailed and career-focused narrative is expected compared to the brief bios often seen on other social media sites.

Key Components to Include in Your Professional Biography:

Your Name : Clearly state your full name at the beginning.
Personal Brand or Company Affiliation : Mention your business or the brand you represent.
Professional Tagline or Current Role : Include your current job title or a tagline that encapsulates your professional essence.
Career Aspirations : Briefly outline your career goals or what you aim to achieve professionally.
Unique Personal Fact : Share an interesting personal detail that sets you apart.
Top Achievements : Highlight two or three significant accomplishments relevant to your professional trajectory.

While primarily professional in tone, don’t hesitate to weave in personal elements like a favorite book or hobby. This adds a human touch, making your bio more relatable and engaging. Remember, a well-rounded biography balances professional accomplishments with personal insights, creating a holistic view of you as both a professional and an individual.

How to Write a Biography

Writing a compelling biography requires a structured approach. Follow these steps to create an engaging and informative biography:

Choose a Subject : Select a person whose life story is interesting and impactful. Consider whether their contributions or experiences have the potential to inspire or connect with your audience.
Obtain Permission : If your subject is alive, obtaining their consent is crucial, as it involves discussing personal details. For deceased or public figures, ensure all information is factual to avoid legal issues.
Conduct Thorough Research : Gather information from primary sources like interviews, letters, and personal accounts for an authentic portrayal. Complement these with secondary sources like documentaries and articles for additional context.
Formulate a Thesis : In the opening section, clearly state what the reader will learn from the biography. This thesis sets the stage for the narrative to unfold.
Organize Chronologically : Structure the biography in a timeline format, presenting events in the order they occurred. This helps in maintaining a clear narrative flow.
Incorporate Flashbacks : Skillfully use flashbacks to provide context or highlight significant past events, enriching the narrative without overloading it with background details.
Inject Personal Insight : While sticking to factual information, don’t shy away from adding your own perspective on the subject’s achievements and their societal impact. This adds depth and personal touch to the biography.

A good biography balances factual accuracy with narrative flair, bringing the subject’s story to life in a way that resonates with the readers.

Tips on Writing a Biography

Crafting a biography requires a blend of accuracy, creativity, and attention to detail. Here are some essential tips to guide you in writing an effective biography:

Write in Third Person : Use the third person perspective for a professional and objective tone.
Inject Humor Appropriately : While maintaining professionalism, subtle humor can make the biography more engaging and relatable.
Be Mindful of Length : Keep an eye on the word count. A biography should be comprehensive yet concise enough to hold the reader’s interest.
Narrate a Story, Not Just Facts : Instead of listing events, weave them into a compelling narrative to make the biography more interesting and readable.
Include Relevant Links : Provide links to your work, projects, or publications to offer readers additional context and evidence of your achievements.
Provide Contact Information : Make it easy for readers to reach you by including up-to-date contact details.
Edit Thoroughly : Ensure your biography is free of errors and well-polished. Comprehensive editing enhances readability and professionalism.
Keep it Concise : Aim for brevity while ensuring all critical information is included. A succinct biography is often more impactful and memorable.

Important Note: Before diving into our FAQs, it’s crucial to remember that while a biography aims to be factual and accurate, it also requires a respectful approach, especially when dealing with sensitive aspects of a person’s life. As a biographer, your responsibility extends beyond mere storytelling; it involves ethical considerations, such as respecting privacy and presenting information in a manner that is fair and considerate to the subject and their family. Keep this in mind as you explore the frequently asked questions and embark on your journey of writing a biography.

For online platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, a three-sentence bio should be concise yet informative. It should briefly introduce you, focusing on key aspects: Your Name : Start with your full name. Your Current Role : Mention your profession or the role you’re known for. A Notable Achievement or Personal Touch : Include a significant accomplishment or a unique personal detail (like a hobby or goal). This format ensures your bio is succinct but covers essential details.

A personal biography is a brief narrative focusing on your professional life, used for job searches or on professional platforms like LinkedIn. It’s slightly more detailed than a social media bio and should include: Your Name Personal Brand or Company : If applicable. Professional Tagline or Current Role Two or Three Key Achievements : Choose the most relevant and impressive ones. While primarily professional, feel free to add a personal detail like a hobby or favorite book to give a glimpse of your personality.

In a work-related bio, focus on aspects directly relevant to your professional life. This might be more detailed, including your career journey, key skills, and notable projects or roles you’ve held. Personal anecdotes or interests can be included if they relate to your professional persona or add value to your professional story. Remember, the context dictates the bio’s content and tone. Tailor it to suit the platform and the audience you are addressing.

When choosing a subject, consider individuals whose life stories are not only interesting but also have the potential to inspire or educate others. Look for unique experiences, significant achievements, or challenges they’ve overcome. Public figures, historical personalities, or even unsung heroes in your community can make excellent subjects.

Begin with an engaging opening that captures the essence of your subject’s life. This could be a pivotal moment, a significant achievement, or an anecdote that reflects their character. Starting with something compelling draws readers in and sets the tone for the biography.

Effective research methods include conducting interviews with people who know the subject well, reviewing primary documents like letters or diaries, and consulting reputable secondary sources for historical context. Online archives, libraries, and specialized databases are also valuable resources.

To maintain objectivity, present facts without bias, and avoid letting personal opinions color the narrative. Acknowledge different perspectives on the subject’s life, especially in controversial or unclear aspects. Being fair and balanced is key to a trustworthy biography.

Yes, you can write a biography about a family member. However, it’s important to balance personal insights with objective storytelling. Ensure you have enough distance to present their story truthfully and respect their privacy and perspective.

Approach sensitive topics with care and respect. Verify the accuracy of such information and consider its relevance to the overall story. Be mindful of the impact this could have on the subject and their family, especially if they are still living.

The length of a biography depends on the depth of the subject’s life story and the intended audience. Some biographies are short, focusing on key events, while others are comprehensive, covering the subject’s life in detail. Tailor the length to suit the story’s complexity and readers’ expectations.

Final Thoughts

Crafting a biography requires a thoughtful blend of accuracy and creativity to captivate and engage your readers. By focusing on these essential elements and following the outlined steps, you can transform a simple life story into a compelling narrative that holds the reader’s interest from start to finish. Whether you’ve always wanted to write a biography or are just beginning to explore this genre, this guide provides a solid foundation to embark on your biographical writing journey. Remember, a well-written biography not only informs but also inspires, offering a deeper understanding of the subject’s life and legacy.

How did our templates helped you today?

Opps what went wrong, related posts.

Business Travel Itinerary Template - Word, Google Docs, PDF

23+ Business Travel Itinerary Templates

Restaurant Employee Evaluation Form

Peer Evaluation Form - Word, Google Docs, PDF

Peer Evaluation Form: Templates and Examples

Free Newspaper Templates

40 Free Event Program Templates

44 Open House Sign in Sheet Templates

22+ Free Packing Slip Templates

40+ Free Christmas Wish List Templates

Thank you for your feedback.

Skip to content
Skip to primary sidebar
Skip to footer

Main navigation

The Genealogy Reporter

Genealogy News and Education

Header Right

Ancestor biographies breathe life into family history.

March 4, 2019 by Amie Bowser Tennant 2 Comments

Have you ever heard of a mug book? It’s not a book full of criminal mug shots, but a nickname for the popular biographical sketch books done in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. These “mug books” can fill in missing pieces of genealogical data on your family tree and breathe life into your family history. Here’s what you need to know!

Using Ancestor Biographies in Place of Missing Vital Information

Records do not always exist. We have all searched for birth, marriage, and death records that we cannot find. Sometimes, we use substitutes for these things, like a census record, but often the exact date of the event or the details surrounding it are lost in the past.

Biographical sketches or “mug books” can fill in those lost details. Though they are not considered a primary source of information and sometimes thought of as unreliable, the information they contain can serve as hints. They are especially helpful when there has been significant record loss in your research area. These mug books often survived when records in a courthouse did not.

What Might a Biography Include?

The short answer is…A LOT! A typical biography found in a “mug book” may include:

the full name of the individual
parents’ names including the mother’s maiden name
birth date and location
marriage date and location
name of spouse and their vital information
children’s names
current residences
hobbies and interests

Ancestor Biographies Help Enrich Family Histories

Let me share with you a couple examples of helpful and interesting information located in some biographical sketches.

Where Did Pricilla Go?

The Dilbone family of Miami County, Ohio suffered a great tragedy in 1813. The parents were killed by a renegade Shawnee and the four children were said to be left in the care of family and friends in the area. As I tried to locate these children, the whereabouts of daughter Pricilla seemed to allude me. I assumed she had died or married, but found no death or burial record, no tombstone, and no marriage record. Death records were scarce for Miami County before 1867.

In searching out ALL the descendants of the Dilbone family, I found one grandchild’s biographical sketch published in Van Wert County, Ohio. John Dilbone, son of the oldest living child of those massacred, had his biography in that book. Thankfully, this biographical sketch mentioned the death of Pricilla. She had died “at the old home place,” which would have been the Dilbone home in Springcreek Township, Miami County, Ohio. Though this “record” was made many years after the fact, it may be the only one that mentions her death and location.

What was James Coddington like?

I located a biographical sketch book for Bureau County, Illinois and found my husband’s third great-grandfather, James Coddington, mentioned several times. There was a photograph of him included! From just a few paragraphs, I learned:

James was born 25 Jan 1798 in Allegheny County, Maryland.
He was an avid hunter.
He learned the mountains and passes which helped him as he was engaged in surveying for the National Turnpike and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
He had a “rugged and robust” frame and weighed on average 200 pounds.
He married Catherine Fear who was born in 1814.
James and Catherine had ten children, five who were still living.
Children included: Mary A., the wife of D.W. Chase of Dover Township; Caroline, the wife of Calvin Shugart before her death in 1873; J. Harvey of Dover Township; Annor, the wife of Milford Frazee of Dover Township; Henry C. of Dover Township; and Martha B., the wife of Peter Ostram of Lancaster, Nebraska.
James died in Maryland in 1876. He had an accident. His wife was with him in the accident and also received injuries, but recovered and was still living.

How do I find biographical sketch books for my ancestors?

There are two main ways to find a biographical sketch book for your targeted ancestor’s location: ask the local library or find a copy online.

In most cases, finding a copy of the book for FREE and online is easy. I typically search Google Books first. I search by county name, state, and the word history. For example: Miami County Ohio history . You can also exchange the word “history” for: settlers, early pioneers, or citizens.

Sometimes, the book you want is not available for viewing on Google Books . In that case, be sure to check other online repositories such as OpenLibrary.org and HathiTrust.org .

Once you have found a book online, you can search within the volume for a particular surname. A word of caution: if you spell the surname differently than what was printed in the book, you will not find what you are looking for. It is always a good idea to check the index in the back of the book just to be sure.

What stories, pictures, or fun tid-bits have you found out about your ancestor using biographical sketches? I would love to hear about your finds in the comments below!

Read Other Posts

Find My Past for Genealogy
The DNA Testing Plan Every Genealogist Needs to Know
Family Tree DNA Offers Big Sale on DNA Test Kits
Ohio History and Genealogy: Henry Howe Collection
What is Gradual Emancipation? African American Genealogy

Reader Interactions

March 9, 2019 at 7:39 pm

I’m in the process of updating all of my family biographies and uploading them to internetarchive.org

March 11, 2019 at 7:29 pm

That is awesome!

Cookie Consent

PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
EDIT Edit this Article
EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
Browse Articles
Learn Something New
Quizzes Hot
Happiness Hub
This Or That Game
Train Your Brain
Explore More
Support wikiHow
About wikiHow
Log in / Sign up
Family Life

How to Write About Your Family

Last Updated: March 18, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA . Alexander Peterman is a Private Tutor in Florida. He received his MA in Education from the University of Florida in 2017. This article has been viewed 94,600 times.

Writing about your family can be a daunting task, especially if you are worried about getting your family’s story just right. You may be writing about your family history for a class or for personal reasons. Or you may decide to write about your family and create a personal memoir for publication. You may be writing about your family to practice your English. No matter the method, writing about your family can be a rewarding venture when done right.

Writing a Family History

There are also several online tools you can use to build a family tree. You may then print out the family tree and use it as a guide when writing about your family.

Step 2 Let your family know you are writing about them.

For example, you may say to your family, “I want to write about our family because I think we have a valuable story to share with others, a story about perseverance, sacrifice, and joy. I feel like a story like ours is not represented properly right now and I want to try to do it justice.”

Step 3 Ask your family members if you can interview them.

Make a point of talking to the older generation in your family, such as grandparents, great aunts, or old family friends. Often, the older generation will have more information on your family history.
You may need to interview your family members several times. At first, they might not know what parts of their past are important for your work. Over time, they will get a better sense of what kind of information you're looking for.

Step 4 Look up information about your family in the public records.

If you are not sure how to search for your family in the public records, you may ask a reference librarian at your local library for guidance. You may also be able to speak to a representative at the city records office for advice on how to search for information.

Step 5 Create character profiles based on your family members.

For example, you may write a character profile for your father by writing, “60 year old Chinese-American man who came to America in the 1920s with his mother. Has a fascination with Chinese culture. Tends to speak up only when spoken to.”
Keep in mind that you can share your impressions of your family members when you write about them. Make sure you clarify that you are writing from your perspective and try not to embellish any aspects of your family. You are writing non fiction, after all, not fiction.

Step 6 Identify a conflict or theme in your family history.

For example, you may realize that you have always wondered why your father is so estranged from his family and why your grandmother left China in the first place to come to America. You may then use this question to structure and organize your story. You may also research your family with this question in mind.

You may also have several major conflicts throughout the story, such as the time your grandmother ran off to marry your grandfather, or the moment your great-grandmother stepped on the boat to America. Use these conflicts and successes to propel the story forward and make the story engaging.

Keep in mind your family members may have more edits or opinions on the draft than others. Try to accommodate their feedback, as you are writing their family history too. But you should also be willing to argue against their feedback if you think it will be detrimental to the overall story or not in keeping with the facts of the family history.

Writing a Personal Memoir

As you do your research, you should talk to your family about your plans to write a memoir. Let them know that you are researching your family for a book. Discussing the book with them will make the memoir more compelling and give you more information to work with.
Keep in mind your family may not all be thrilled at the idea of the memoir at first, especially if they are nervous or worried about certain family details coming to light. Be tactful and patient with your family. Explain to them that you are writing a memoir from your perspective and that there is never one side to any story. Assure them that you'll let them read the final draft before you share it with anyone else.

Step 2 Read examples of personal memoir.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Step 3 Focus on an issue you feel is important in your family.

For example, perhaps you notice the theme of assimilation keeps coming up in your research of your family. Or maybe there is the common issue of the women in your family overcoming obstacles to raise their children in America.

A plot diagram contains five parts: the exposition, the inciting incident, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution.
You can also try using the snowflake method, where you write a one sentence summary of the story, followed by a one paragraph summary, character synopses, and a spreadsheet of scenes.

Step 5 Write about a family memory or experience from your perspective.

If you are writing about a memory or experience that is difficult to confront, such as a memory of abuse or neglect from a family member, you may need to write several drafts of the memory. Take your time and try to focus on sensory details in the memory. Be honest about how you feel about the memory on the page and don't be afraid to dig deep.

You should ask yourself several questions as you revise, including: Do the characters in the story feel like fair representations of my real family? What's the conflict or theme of the story? Is it conveyed in a meaningful way? Do I need to include more reflections on my family from my perspective?

Step 7 Get feedback on the draft from family and colleagues.

Depending on what you write, some of your family members may be upset or unsettled by your story. This may occur if you are writing about a family secret or a difficult period in your family’s history. You should be prepare to defend or explain the choices you made in your story to your family members.
You may also get feedback on the draft from close family friends or colleagues that you are close to. If you are looking for professional guidance on your draft, you may enroll in a writing workshop that focuses on non fiction and memoir writing. You may then get valuable feedback on your draft from other writers who are also exploring their family history.
You may be able to find non fiction writing groups online or at your local college or university. If you have friends or colleagues who have experience writing memoir, you may approach them and ask if they’d be willing to start a writing group.

Writing About Your Family to Practice English

For example, you may use a prompt like: “Think about your favorite family memory. Why is it your favorite? How did your family members make that moment special?”
As part of the prompt, you could pretend you are talking to someone you just met who asked you to tell them about your family.

For example, you may write: “Let me tell you about my family. I have a mother, a father, two brothers, and one sister. We also have a dog named Pepper. We all live together in a house in Reno, Nevada. We have lived in the house since I was born. After they were married, my mother and my father moved to the house to start a family.”

Step 3 Show the draft to others and revise it.

You may end up adding in more details into the draft based on your teacher’s feedback. By the end of the revision process, you should have a strong, completed draft that showcases your English skills.

Community Q&A

↑ https://thewritepractice.com/tell-stories-and-keep-families/
↑ https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Writing_Your_Family_and_Personal_History
↑ https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jul02/writing-a-non-boring-family-history-7024
↑ https://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/74_sharon.html
↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-nonfiction/3-rules-on-writing-about-your-family
↑ https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing/a1-writing/about-my-family

About This Article

Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

JACKSON ABRAHAM

Jul 7, 2018

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Watch Articles

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Do Not Sell or Share My Info
Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Develop the tech skills you need for work and life

TemplateLab
Art & Media
Biography Templates

47 Biography Templates & Examples (Personal, Professional)

A biography is simply an account of someone’s life written by another person. A biography can be short in the case of few sentences biography, and it can also be long enough to fill an entire book. The short biographies explain a person’s basic life facts and their importance, but the long biographies would go an extra mile and include more details to make an interesting read. You may find yourself in a situation which requires you to write a biography of a famous person, a close friend or a relative. For this reason, it pays to know how to come up with a biography and the important details that you should include in it. The lives of many people have interesting bits of information, but you ought to know what to capture in the biography and what to leave out.

Table of Contents

1 Biography Examples
2 What to include in a biography
3 How to write a good Biography
4 Steps in writing a biography;
5 Biography templates
6 A professional Biography Template
7 Personal Biography Template

Biography Examples

What to include in a biography

The length of a biography depends on the type of information that should be included. The length will determine the nature of information and how extensively it will explain the life of a person. For instance, if you are to write a short paragraph about a person it will mostly capture the important details that identify the person compared to a pages-long biography that may even include the person’s childhood experiences and achievements shaping their life.

For a short biography, maybe a paragraph or two long, the following details should be captured:

A person’s date and place of birth, at times with the date and place of death as may be applicable
The person’s major achievements in life
Their educational background and notable awards
Work facts of a person and their contribution to that field if any
A brief account of the significance of an individual in the community

A lengthy biography will bring out more details of a person’s life making it a bit more complex. His/her history will be brought out more clearly especially the details that shaped them to be the persons they turned out to be.

The target audience will also dictate the nature of the information that is to be included. The relation of the audience to an individual will have an impact on how the information is presented and the important details that they could be interested in. In a case where the audience is unknown, more details will have to be included. This mostly happens in the case of a several paged biography. You will have to scrutinize the person in a more detailed way and establish more people relating to the person. Focusing on the uniqueness of an individual can do wonders in this case and this might turn out to be inspirational to many people. The field that the person has majored in or had majored in ought to influence the direction that the biography will take as this will help to bring out the contribution of the individual to their field of study.

How to write a good Biography

A biography is meant to analyze a person’s life and interpret it as well. A good biographer will try to join the dots and explain certain actions and events that a certain figure was involved in. This will help in clearly bringing out the significance of a person’s life through their accomplishments or remarkable deeds.

Biographies are usually written in a chronological order. Some biographers could also draft them in a themed order that is early life, educational background, a person’s achievements or accomplishments. But some especially the short ones will focus on one area in a person’s life.

There are several sources of information that could aid one in writing an astounding biography. These sources of information can be grouped into either primary sources or secondary sources. The primary sources of information include materials like letters, newspaper accounts or diaries. A biographer can also make an arrangement to interview an individual they want to write about. This is also considered as a primary source of information. The secondary sources are reference books, other biographies or historical records that are related to the subject being written about.

Steps in writing a biography;

Select the individual you want to write about
Search for the basic facts that relate to a person’s life. The encyclopedia or almanac could be handy at this.
What’s the most interesting bit about the person?
What is the significance of the individual to the society and the world in general?
What qualities or adjectives will be best suited for the description of the individual?
What actions or life events bring out the qualities or adjectives chosen above?
What life events or world events shaped the individual or brought out the best in them?
Did they face obstacles or take some risks in life? How did they handle the obstacles and did they happen to be lucky?
What impact did they have in the world? Did they add value to the way people view certain aspects of life? Did they come up with a thing, idea or way of action that transformed the way things are handled or rather done in their societies or world in general?
Carry out some additional research on the internet to answer some of the questions mentioned above. Ensure that you find information that will help you tell a story that many will love.
After getting everything in order, you can proceed to write the biography. We have provided sample biographies in this site that you could check out in order to get the drift.

Biography templates

A biography template is meant to specifically aid a writer come up with an excellent biography. For this purpose to be achieved the writer needs to get his/her hands on a high-quality biography template, just like the ones provided on this site.

The best biography templates should provide clear instructions, and this should be in great detail to avoid the risk of the writer missing out some important facts. The templates available on this site will help you capture all of the details.

The biography templates should also be precise and avoid beating around the bush. Going round one idea or item will make the biography boring to read and it is prudent for the writer to be straight to the point. By doing this it will be easier for the readers to skim through and find the details they might be interested in with lots of easy. The writer will also save his/her time and concentrate on writing other things.

The general sections of any biography as outlined by our sample biographies will have;

The name of the person
A picture of the person
An account of their early life
The person’s family life
The major achievements of the person
The three main interesting qualities or facts about the individual

Free Developing Artist Statements And Artist Bios

A professional Biography Template

A professional biography is a statement that could either be short or long that is written about a person, business or company. It should be engaging, informative and interesting for the readers to identify with the person or business entity being talked about. It has a sales pitch that is a little bit different. A professional biography template is meant to ease the process of generating printed professional biographies especially for an individual who wants to reach a lot of people or institutions.

Elements that should be captured in a professional biography are:

A summary of one’s early life in a sentence or two, make it interesting
Then information touching on your education, mention any academic awards or the clubs and societies that you were part of. Any work experience while in school.
Talk about how creative and innovative you are with coming with solutions to the problems that you have faced as an individual, mention any situation that you were self-reliant in coming up with solutions
Mention qualities that make you stand out for instance, being independent, principled or discerning to increase your trustworthiness.

The following tips will enable you to come up with the best professional biography;

Be brief and precise to the point. This is to enable the reader to easily and quickly get to know about you.
Be spontaneous in your writing
Be as expressive as possible and avoid too much of self-editing while drafting the professional biography in the initial stages to capture as much information as possible
Be friendly but not too informal
Be as interesting as you could in order to get the attention of many people out there
Write it in third person. Talk about your life as if someone else were describing it.

This site offers you a professional biography template that could aid in making the generation of professional biographies an easy and less time consuming task. You can also check out sample bios to figure out how to go about the whole process of coming up with a professional biography.

Personal Biography Template

A personal biography is a short account of who you are, your credentials and your notable accomplishments in life. Personal bios ought to be short, precise and relevant to your target audience. The use of personal statistics such as hobbies or family should be avoided. A personal biography template will help one to easily and conveniently come up with personal bios.

The key elements in a personal biography are;

Give an introduction of yourself. Remember to write it in third person and include the year that your professional career started to be relevant. You could give a list of any relevant specializations in your field.
State your educational facts and credentials. Mention the degrees that you have pursued and the respective institutions. Add any relevant experiences you have that are required for your career and mention the name of the society that you are legally a member of.
Proceed to outline any notable achievements or awards you have earned in your practice. Remember that the information ought to be relevant to the audience being addressed. If you happen to be an author you could mention the magazines or any publishing house that has recognized your works.
Your conclusion should mention any upcoming projects or works in progress that people should lookout for in the near future. Don’t forget to mention your current place of residence .

As you age, it is good to keep on updating your biography to reflect who you are at present time. You can make use of the personal biography template offered by this site to easily and in a more convenient way generate your own biography without missing out on the important details.

We also provide sample biographies to give you a feel of what your end draft should look like. If you have kids and you want to let them in on famous historical figures, this site offers biographies for kids. These will help them know the notable people who help shape the world to what it has become to be.

More Templates

Cover Page Templates

Booklet Templates

Newspaper Templates

Church Bulletin Templates

Reference Page Templates

Autobiography Examples

How to Write Your Family History

Genealogy Fun
Vital Records Around the World
American History
African American History
African History
Ancient History and Culture
Asian History
European History
Latin American History
Medieval & Renaissance History
Military History
The 20th Century
Women's History

Choose a Format

Define the scope, set realistic deadlines.

Choose a Plot and Themes

Do Your Background Research

Don't Be Afraid to Use Records and Documents

Include an Index and Source Citations

Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University
B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

Writing a family history may seem like a daunting task, but when the relatives start nagging, you can follow these five easy steps to make your family history project a reality.

What do you envision for your family history project? A simple photocopied booklet shared only with family members or a full-scale, hard-bound book to serve as a reference for other genealogists? Perhaps you'd rather produce a family newsletter, cookbook, or website. Now is the time to be honest with yourself about the type of family history that meetings your needs and your schedule. Otherwise, you'll have a half-finished product nagging you for years to come.

Considering your interests, potential audience, and the types of materials you have to work with, here are some forms your family history can take:

Memoir/Narrative: A combination of story and personal experience, memoirs, and narratives do not need to be all-inclusive or objective. Memoirs usually focus on a specific episode or time period in the life of a single ancestor, while a narrative generally encompasses a group of ancestors.
Cookbook: Share your family's favorite recipes while writing about the people who created them. A fun project to assemble, cookbooks help carry on the family tradition of cooking and eating together.
Scrapbook or Album: If you're fortunate enough to have a large collection of family photos and memorabilia, a scrapbook or photo album can be a fun way to tell your family's story. Include your photos in chronological order and include stories, descriptions, and family trees to complement the pictures.

Most family histories are generally narrative in nature, with a combination of personal stories, photos, and family trees.

Do you intend to write mostly about just one particular relative, or everyone in your family tree ? As the author, you need to choose a focus for your family history book. Some possibilities include:

Single Line of Descent: Begin with the earliest known ancestor for a particular surname and follows him/her through a single line of descent (to yourself, for example). Each chapter of your book would cover one ancestor or generation.
All Descendants Of...: Begin with an individual or couple and cover all of their descendants, with chapters organized by generation. If you're focusing your family history on an immigrant ancestor, this is a good way to go.
Grandparents: Include a section on each of your four grandparents, or eight great-grandparents, or sixteen great-great-grandparents if you are feeling ambitious. Each individual section should focus on one grandparent and work backward through their ancestry or forward from his/her earliest known ancestor.

Again, these suggestions can easily be adapted to fit your interests, time constraints, and creativity.

Even though you'll likely find yourself scrambling to meet them, deadlines force you to complete each stage of your project. The goal here is to get each piece done within a specified time frame. Revising and polishing can always be done later. The best way to meet these deadlines is to schedule writing time, just as you would a visit to the doctor or the hairdresser.

Choose a Plot and Themes

Thinking of your ancestors as characters in your family story, ask yourself: what problems and obstacles did they face? A plot gives your family history interest and focus. Popular family history plots and themes include:

Immigration/Migration
Rags to Riches
Pioneer or Farm Life
War Survival

If you want your family history to read more like a suspense novel than a dull, dry textbook, it is important to make the reader feel like an eyewitness to your family's life. Even when your ancestors didn't leave accounts of their daily lives, social histories can help you learn about the experiences of people in a given time and place. Read town and city histories to learn what life was life during certain periods of interest. Research timelines of wars, natural disasters, and epidemics to see if any might have influenced your ancestors. Read up on the fashions, art, transportation, and common foods of the time. If you haven't already, be sure to interview all of your living relatives. Family stories told in a relative's own words will add a personal touch to your book.

Don't Be Afraid to Use Records and Documents

Photos, pedigree charts, maps, and other illustrations can also add interest to family history and help break up the writing into manageable chunks for the reader. Be sure to include detailed captions for any photos or illustrations that you incorporate.

Source citations are an essential part of any family book, to both provide credibility to your research, and to leave a trail that others can follow to verify your findings.

Family Tree Lesson Plans
5 First Steps to Finding Your Roots
How to Research Your French Ancestry
5 Family History Scams to Avoid
Preserve and Protect Family Heirlooms & Treasures
5 Great Ways to Share Your Family History
10 Genealogy Blogs Worth Reading
Top 10 Genealogy Mistakes to Avoid
How to Label Your Digital Photographs
Visiting a Family History Center
Making a Living from Genealogy
How to Begin Tracing Your Family Tree
19 Places to Research Your Family Tree for Free
Resources for Researching Local History
Mapping Your Ancestry With Google Maps
How to Cite Genealogy Sources

9 Tips for Getting Started on Writing Your Family History

Sign up for the Family Tree Newsletter! Plus, you’ll receive our 10 Essential Genealogy Research Forms PDF as a special thank you.

Get Your Free Genealogy Forms

" * " indicates required fields

Written by Diane Haddad, unless otherwise noted.

Once you’ve been doing genealogy research for a while, and you have a family tree or a computer hard drive or a filing cabinet with a bunch of notes and old records, you might wonder what to do with it all. Or perhaps you’ve always harbored the dream of sharing your family history, and you’re not sure how.

It’s a hard truth: Few people have much use for an unstructured assortment of documents and computer files. Even folks who are curious about their family history—and that describes most I’ve met—aren’t likely to sort through your research and rebuild the store of knowledge you’ve amassed over years.

If your family research is to live beyond you, you’ll need to do the work of putting it into some shareable, lasting form. That usually means summarizing your finds in writing, maybe enhanced with photos and images of interesting documents. Whether you go all-out with a self-published hardback or just pass out stapled pages at the next family reunion, you’ll create a legacy—a framework others can use to understand your family’s story and the genealogical evidence you’ve gathered.

We can’t promise the project will be a breeze, but we can promise it’ll be easier when you follow these tips and use our handy organizing worksheet.

1. Know Your Purpose

Before you begin, it’s important to know what you hope to accomplish with this writing project. Do you want to summarize all your research, share your family legacy, pass down the stories Grandpa told, tell how your family fits into local history, share the story of an ancestor or family you admire, celebrate your ethnic heritage, or something else?

A strong focus makes the project more manageable, says Sunny Jane Morton, author of Story of My Life . “A small, finished project is better than a three-volume tome that exists only in your dreams.”

Need help narrowing the scope? Morton advises looking at your research for the most compelling story or interesting person. Author Sophia Wilson, who penned an 160,000-word history of her family, started her project by writing as many family stories as she could think of, then turning them into short biographies of the people involved. She wrote every day for at least 15 minutes, but sometimes for hours at a time. Taken together, those biographies served as the starting point for her project.

Alternately, you could choose a topic that commemorates an upcoming family milestone, such as your parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Or you might start with whatever is most doable.

Your audience is an important aspect of your goal. For a project just family will see, you might use a casual writing style, refer to relatives with familiar titles (“Great-grandpa Thornton”), and use in-text source information. If other genealogists will read your work in a newsletter, journal or published book, you’ll want a more authoritative style with an emphasis on your research process, and formal source citations in footnotes and source lists.

Think about your audience’s age (or level of maturity), too. Wilson recalls how her research turned up stories that might not be appropriate to a younger audience. “Instead of shifting the focus of my book, I decided that children could simply read the unvarnished truth once they were mature enough,” Wilson says. “Age-appropriate stories could be extracted and adapted for a younger audience, for whom I would also write at a lower reading level.”

“I kept coming back to what I wanted the project to accomplish (preserving and sharing memories for the younger generation) and letting that guide my decisions,” she says.

2. Make a Plan

An outline gives you a framework for building your project, especially if it involves multiple people or a long time span. Make a list of elements you want to include. Don’t worry about organizing the list yet.

Here’s an example for my maternal family history opus:

a family tree of Mom’s family
information about the places the family came from with a map, including why so many immigrated from each place
names and immigration details of all the immigrant ancestors: Henry Seeger, Eduard Thoss, Mary Mairose, Thomas Frost, Edward Norris, Elizabeth Butler, Henry Hoernemann, Anna Maria Weyer, and so on.
where these families settled in the United States, their jobs and their children
Eduard Thoss tavern in Northern Kentucky
info on Cincinnati Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where so many settled
Dierkes boys in family cemetery plot
Henry Seeger’s cigar store, with photos and timeline, and two babies who died as infants
Thomas Frost/Mary Wolking divorce
Ade Thoss and the Covington Blue Sox
possible family connection to Windthorst, Kan.
death of Elizabeth Teipel Thoss and several of her children
Benjamin Teipel trap-shooting invention and death
Civil War service of Frank and Benjamin Thoss
firefighter Raymond Norris and Newton Tea & Spice Co. Fire
how Grandma and Grandpa met

Your list might cause you to rethink your project scope. For example, I’m seeing that I could divide up my project by family branches, breaking it down into smaller parts (and this is only part of my list).

When you know the topics you want to cover, arrange them in an order that makes sense to you. You could do chronological order, geographical order (group all information related to Germany, all immigration information, all second generation information), family branches one at a time, or some other arrangement. You could opt for a general overview then add several shorter profiles of specific ancestors or families.

Wilson shares how she thought about structure while planning her project:

One option would be maintaining individual biographies, organized in the book by birth year, generation or location. Or I could combine all biographies into a single narrative chronology, or even organize the stories by theme (women, farming, culture, etc.). I opted for the most straightforward and comprehensive order: chronological. With this approach, I gained a deeper understanding of how my ancestors’ lives developed over time, and how one event flowed into another.

Next, create an outline by organizing topics into sections or chapters. Read published family histories for examples. One of my favorites is Family by Ian Frazier.

3. Say It with Pictures

Pictures and graphs will engage your readers, help them follow complicated lineages and show what you’re talking about. “Plan as you go which pictures, documents, maps, charts and genealogical reports will best illustrate your narrative,” Morton advises.

Depending how many photos and documents you’ve found, you’ll want to winnow the options to those from key moments in your family history, selecting those that will reproduce well in the finished product. Consider adding transcriptions for hard-to-read or foreign-language documents.

Keep copyright in mind. If you plan to publish your work (including on a website), get permission from the copyright holder or owner of any images you didn’t create or that aren’t in your personal collection. For a quick read about understanding copyright laws, check out this article .

4. Get Organized and Utilize Apps

Now you’re ready to write. As you work, go over your records for families and people you’re writing about. Wilson developed a filing system that automatically sorted documents by individual. “I created a separate document for every event so I could easily insert new findings, titling each with the event, the date and the location,” she says. “I then grouped the documents into folders, one folder for each year.”

To help you organize source references, add in-text references with the title, author and page or record number in parentheses when you use information from a record, article, book or website. Also create a bibliography of sources as you go. This should include everything needed to find that source again: title, author, publisher or creator (such as the National Archives), publication date and place, website, etc.

Later, when your project is mostly complete, you can keep the in-text references, or number the references and create footnotes (short-form citations at the bottom of the page) or end notes (short-form citations at the end of a chapter). Include the bibliography at the end of your work. For help with source citations, use the book Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Genealogical Publishing Co.).

You might have a writing head start if you can pull together blog posts or short essays you’ve already written about your family history. Your genealogy software or online tree might offer a timeline you can follow, or even generate a narrative report for you. For an ambitious project or if you do a lot of writing, you might invest in software such as Scrivener . Additionally, writing apps can help you create an outline, organize and edit your story.

Read: How to Create a Genealogy Source Citation

5. Generate Ideas through Prompts and Research

If you’re still having trouble knowing what to write, try answering the family history writing prompts in a book such as Stories From My Grandparent or from Family Tree Magazine . These will help you flesh out ideas and take your family stories in new directions.

Revisit your research for story ideas, and let what you find in documents inspire you. Wilson consulted books (both digital and physical) about her ancestors’ location and ethnic group, as well as documents on genealogy websites like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com. One book on Ancestry.com contained all the church records for her ancestors, some written by her great-great-great-grandfather’s best friend.

Wilson also revisited local histories and newspapers she had found early in her project. “Now that I was further in my research, I recognized more names and better understood the relationships among them,” she says. “People I had dismissed as “townsfolk” turned out to be in-laws and close friends of my lineal ancestors.”

6. Seek Out Help

Look for writers’ groups and classes in your community. From online groups to friends and family members, having a community you can rely on for feedback and encouragement is essential.

Reaching out can also lead to new research finds, important for sourcing the details in your stories. Wilson connected with other family historians, as well as genealogical societies and libraries (who scanned entire chapters of reference books for her to consult). One cousin-in-law even sent her photos and a relevant family keepsake they found on eBay.

7. Begin in the Middle

Don’t let the “how to start” roadblock stall your project right out of the gate. If you don’t know how to begin, just start writing a story you like—maybe it’s about an ancestor’s immigration, military service or venture to the wrong side of the law. The words will flow from there.

“My goal wasn’t perfection, just to get memories on the page,” Wilson says about her first step of writing family biographies. “I didn’t waste time checking spelling and grammar—that would come later.” An interesting or dramatic event is often the best way to begin a story, anyway. Remember, you’re not carving in stone: You can always rearrange things later.

8. Write Naturally

If you’re writing for relatives, pretend you’re telling your family story to a friend. If you’re writing for a publication, tailor your work to that publication’s style.

Wilson had to wrestle with how to balance facts she found in her research with storytelling. “I thought of how much I hated history class growing up—all those names-places-dates to memorize, and no story to latch onto,” Wilson says. “I resolved to … strive for historical accuracy without resorting to the dry tone of a textbook.”

9. Take Your Time

A deadline can motivate you, but give yourself plenty of time. You want this project to add fulfillment to your family research, not cause stress. Start now and work on your writing project a little at a time, once a week or every evening if you can manage it. Imagine where you’ll be a year from now.

A version of this article appeared in the December 2018 issue of Family Tree Magazine , written by Diane Haddad. Sophia Wilson’s article on the steps she took to write her family history narrative appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Family Tree Magazine .

Storytelling, Writing

7 creative writing forms for sharing your family history.

How to Create an Outline for Writing an Interesting Family History

Storytelling

How to share family history stories on the big genealogy websites.

Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Storytelling

How to Write a Biography in 8 Steps (The Non-Boring Way!)

Compelling biographies help us better connect with others while fostering empathy and understanding. Discover the steps to write one that captivates your audience!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

Have you ever been captivated by someone’s life story? From the ancient tales of great conquerors to the modern accounts of influential figures, biographies have enchanted readers and viewers for centuries.

The stories of real people’s lives not only entertain and educate but also provide a unique window into the human experience. In fact, according to research 1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8796048/ , human stories like biographies can help us better connect with others while fostering empathy and understanding.

In this article, let’s dive into how to write a compelling biography, from the research phase to delivery.

What Are the Key Elements of a Biography?

The key elements of a well-written biography bring characters to life. They include thorough research, relevant interviews, clear structure, captivating prose, compelling themes, and a balance between objectivity and empathy.

Thorough research: Helps create an accurate portrayal of your subject
Relevant interviews: Insights help provide a deeper understanding of your subject
Clear structure: Helps you outline your ideas for a compelling narrative
Captivating prose: Provides descriptive language to paint a picture of your subject
Compelling themes: Showcases the motivations and desires behind your subject
A balance between objectivity and empathy: Keeps biases in check and allows your subject to shine for who they are

As you develop your biography, remember that these stories hold an enduring appeal because they offer people an opportunity to explore the depths of the human psyche, unravel extraordinary accomplishments, and discover the vulnerabilities and triumphs of individuals who have left their mark on the world.

Here are the topics a biography typically covers:

Early life and background : Provide context about the subject’s upbringing, family, and cultural influences.
Achievements and milestones: Highlight notable accomplishments, contributions, and significant events throughout their life.
Challenges and struggles: Explore the obstacles they faced, the lessons learned, and how they overcame adversity.
Personal characteristics: Describe their personality traits, values, beliefs, and motivations that shaped their actions and decisions.
Impact and legacy: Discuss the lasting influence and contributions of the subject, both during their lifetime and beyond.

Ready to start crafting your biography? Find greater success with this helpful goal-setting resource!

How To Set Better Goals Using Science

Do you set the same goals over and over again? If you’re not achieving your goals – it’s not your fault! Let me show you the science-based goal-setting framework to help you achieve your biggest goals.

Let’s look at the six key elements of a well-written biography more closely and the steps you can follow to develop your own.

How to Write a Biography in 8 Steps Using Key Elements

Choose your presentation format.

Presenting your biography can take on various forms, the most traditional being written form. The basis for this article assumes you’re writing a conventional biography; however, this foundation can also help you create a multimedia presentation or website as well.

Consider these various formats to present your biography:

Traditional Written Biographies: This classic approach provides a comprehensive account of a person’s life through the written word. Traditional biographies can be published in print or ebooks , allowing readers to engage deeply with the subject’s story.
Multimedia Presentations: In the digital age, multimedia presentations offer a dynamic way to present biographies. Incorporate audio, video, photographs, and interactive elements to enhance the audience’s experience.
Online Platforms: Online platforms, such as blogs or dedicated biography websites, provide accessible avenues for sharing biographies. They allow for easy updates, reader engagement, and the incorporation of multimedia elements.

Choose your subject and conduct research

To create a vivid and accurate portrayal of a person’s life, conduct extensive research. Dive into archives, read letters, examine diaries, explore photographs, and immerse yourself in the historical and cultural context surrounding your subject. This will help you unearth the small details that breathe life into your biography.

Whether you’re writing a biography about a historical figure, contemporary icon, or everyday individual, you’ll want to consider the different factors to focus on. Here are some examples of three types of individuals and the kind of research that will be most helpful.

Historical Figures: When writing about historical figures, immerse yourself in their era. Understand the social, political, and cultural forces that shaped their lives. I recommend visiting your local library and connecting with a research librarian for support. Otherwise, other tools for historical research include Google Scholar. Analyze primary sources and multiple perspectives to present a well-rounded account.
Contemporary Icons: Biographies of modern icons offer a chance to delve into their ongoing impact. Conduct interviews or gather insights from their close associates to understand their present-day influence. Stay current with the latest developments, and be prepared to update your work as the subject’s story unfolds.
Everyday Individuals: Biographies need not be reserved for the famous. Every day individuals possess stories that can be just as compelling. Uncover the extraordinary within the ordinary, highlighting the struggles, triumphs, and personal growth of individuals who might otherwise remain unsung.
Yourself! Want to write a biography on yourself? Autobiographies are a great way to explore who you are. Get ready to do some serious self-reflection with the steps below.

Pro Tip: Compile your research digitally using helpful cloud filings systems like Google Drive , OneDrive , or Dropbox . Organize your files by category, including information about their youth, family, achievements, and life lessons. You may also choose to write down research references or collect paper clippings on note cards, categorizing your physical files of research along the way.

Develop compelling themes and motifs

Identify overarching themes or motifs that emerge from the subject’s life. These could be resilience, ambition, love, or societal change. Weave these elements into the narrative, highlighting their significance and impact on the person’s journey. Here are some examples:

Overcoming Adversity: These biographies feature perseverance, resilience, and determination. Examples include Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, and Malala Yousafzai.
Pursuit of Excellence: These biographies highlight people who have worked tirelessly to achieve their goals. Examples include Steve Jobs, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan.
Quest for Knowledge: These biographies focus on the curiosity that led to significant contributions to our world. Examples include Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Charles Darwin.
Personal Transformation: These biographies explore a change in beliefs, values, or priorities. Examples include Malcolm X, Oprah Winfrey, and Maya Angelou.
Legacy and Impact: These biographies examine a body of work that made a lasting contribution to society. Examples include Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Mahatma Gandhi.

Conduct relevant interviews

Whenever possible, seek firsthand accounts from those who knew or interacted with the subject. Conduct interviews with family members, friends, colleagues, or experts in the field. Their insights and anecdotes can provide a deeper understanding of the person’s character and experiences.

When conducting interviews for a biography, consider the following tips to ensure a productive and insightful conversation:

Familiarize yourself with the interviewee’s background and accomplishments.
Develop a list of well-thought-out questions that cover key aspects of their lives and experiences, including questions about your subject’s youth, family, achievements, and life transitions or struggles.
Begin the interview by establishing a comfortable and friendly atmosphere to put the interviewee at ease.
Show genuine interest in their story and listen actively to their responses.
Ask open-ended questions encouraging detailed and reflective responses.
Avoid yes/no questions and ask for their insights, memories, and personal perspectives.
Some topics you might consider for your questions include early life, achievements, challenges, motivations, values, relationships, lessons learned, and advice.
Pay close attention to the interviewee’s answers, body language, and tone of voice.
Ask follow-up questions to clarify or delve deeper into specific topics.
Show empathy and understanding, creating a safe space for the interviewee to share personal or sensitive information.
Remain flexible during the interview, allowing the conversation to flow naturally.
Be prepared to deviate from your prepared questions if unexpected but relevant topics arise.
Respect the interviewee’s boundaries and be mindful of any topics they may not wish to discuss.
Take thorough and organized notes during the interview to capture important details.
Consider recording the interview (with permission) to ensure accurate quotes and references.
Ask for permission to follow up with additional questions or for clarification.
Doing a biography on yourself? Ask yourself deep questions to harvest new stories and anecdotes.

Remember, the goal of the interview is to gather valuable information and personal perspectives that will contribute to the authenticity and depth of your biography. Approach the interview process with sensitivity, respect, and genuine curiosity about the interviewee’s life and experiences.

Develop a clear structure

Outline your biography, ensuring a logical and engaging narrative flow. Consider the chronological order, significant milestones, and turning points in the subject’s life. Organize your gathered information to capture the essence of their journey while maintaining a compelling rhythm throughout.

A good outline for a biography can vary depending on the specific subject and the desired structure of the narrative. However, here’s a general outline that can serve as a starting point:

A. Introduction

a) Hook or engaging opening to capture the reader’s attention

b) Background information (birthplace, date, family, etc.)

c) A brief overview of the subject’s significance or why they are worth exploring

B. Early Life and Background

a) Childhood and upbringing

b) Influences, such as family, education, or cultural factors

c) Formative experiences or events that shaped the subject’s character or interests

C. Major Achievements and Milestones

a) A chronological exploration of the subject’s notable accomplishments, contributions, or milestones

b) Focus on key moments or achievements that highlight their impact or significance.

c) Provide context and details to paint a vivid picture of their achievements

D. Challenges and Obstacles

a) Discussion of the challenges, setbacks, or adversities the subject encountered

b) How they overcame obstacles or grew through difficult experiences

c) Insights into their resilience, determination, or problem-solving abilities

E. Personal Life and Relationships

a) Exploration of the subject’s relationships, such as family, friends, or romantic partners

b) Insights into their personal joys, struggles, or transformative experiences

c) How their personal life intersected with their professional or public achievements

F. Legacy and Impact

a) Examination of the subject’s lasting influence, contributions, or impact on society

b) Discuss how their work or actions continue to resonate or shape the world today

c) Reflection on their legacy and the lessons we can learn from their life story

G. Conclusion

a) Summarize the key aspects of the subject’s life and their significance

b) Provide a final reflection or insight on their overall journey or impact

c) Leave the reader with a lasting impression or call to action

Pro Tip: Looking for help drafting an outline to get you started? Use free tools like ChatGPT to jumpstart your outline by putting in a prompt request like, “Write an outline for a biography about X, including any relevant details on the subject that should be included.”

Craft captivating prose

Employ descriptive language to transport readers into the subject’s world. Paint vivid portraits of their physical appearance, mannerisms, and surroundings. Use sensory details to evoke emotions and create a strong connection between the reader and the subject.

Here are some examples:

“She was a force of nature, with a fierce determination and an unwavering commitment to justice.” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg)
“His piercing blue eyes seemed to look right through you, and his voice had a commanding presence that demanded attention.” (Winston Churchill)
“She moved with a grace and elegance that belied her inner strength and resilience.” (Audrey Hepburn)
“His rugged features and piercing gaze made him a natural leading man, but it was his depth and vulnerability that set him apart.” (Marlon Brando)
“She had a contagious energy and a magnetic personality that drew people to her like a moth to a flame.” (Princess Diana)
“His quiet intensity and unwavering dedication to his craft made him one of the greatest artists of his time.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

Action Step: While writing descriptive prose takes some practice, it’s an art you can master with little creative writing skills. To help you write descriptive prose, practice closing your eyes and imagining your subject.

What expression is on their face?
How are they dressed?
What does their body language express?
How do they smell?
How do they make you feel?
How do they make others feel?
What’s in their surroundings?
What are they doing with their hands?
What do you imagine they’re thinking about?

With questions like these, you’ll start to use descriptive language to bring your subject to life.

Build a balance of objectivity and empathy

Strive for an objective portrayal while infusing empathy and understanding into your writing. Remain aware of biases and preconceived notions, giving your subject the space to shine in their unique light.

To check yourself, filter your writing and interviewing with these tips:

Verify Information: Cross-reference information from various sources to ensure accuracy. Use tools like Fact Check Explorer to fact-check claims, dates, and events to avoid errors or inaccuracies that could skew the narrative.
Multiple Perspectives: Seek out different viewpoints on the subject. This includes interviewing or reaching out to people with significant interactions or relationships with the subject. Incorporating diverse perspectives can counterbalance biases and provide a broader understanding.
Empathetic Listening: During interviews or conversations, practice active listening and empathize with the interviewee’s experiences and emotions. This allows you to understand the subject’s perspective and incorporate their insights and feelings into the narrative.
Contextualize Emotions: When sharing the subject’s emotional experiences or personal struggles, provide sufficient context and background. This helps readers understand the motivations and circumstances behind their actions and allows for empathetic understanding without veering into excessive sentimentality.
Credible Interpretation: While interpreting the subject’s thoughts, motives, or intentions, be clear about what is factual and what is speculative. Clearly distinguish between evidence-based information and your interpretations to maintain objectivity.
Respect Boundaries: Be mindful of the subject’s privacy and any requests they may have regarding sensitive or personal information. Respecting their boundaries shows empathy and allows for a respectful portrayal while maintaining the necessary level of objectivity.
Acknowledge Limitations: Recognize that achieving complete objectivity in a biography is challenging. Biases can inadvertently seep into the narrative. However, by being aware of your biases and consciously presenting a fair and balanced account, you can mitigate their influence.

Respect truth, privacy, and sensitivity

Remember, writing biographies carries ethical responsibilities. It’s important to maintain accuracy through credible research and gain consent while being sensitive to controversial or difficult topics. Here are some considerations:

Accuracy: Maintain a commitment to truth and accuracy. Verify facts and corroborate information from multiple sources to ensure the reliability of your narrative. Cite your sources and be transparent about any uncertainties or gaps in knowledge.
Privacy and Consent: Respect the privacy of living individuals mentioned in your biography. Seek consent when sharing personal details or sensitive information. Balance the subject’s right to privacy with the importance of honesty and transparency.
Sensitivity: Approach sensitive or controversial topics with care and empathy. Consider the potential impact of your words on the subject’s loved ones or affected communities—present differing perspectives without sensationalism or bias.

Writing a Biography FAQs

The length of a biography can vary greatly, depending on the subject and the depth of exploration. Some biographies span a few hundred pages, while others extend to multiple volumes. Focus on capturing the subject’s life’s essence rather than strictly adhering to a predetermined length.

Some common mistakes to avoid when writing a biography include the following: Lack of thorough research or reliance on a single source. Inaccurate or misleading information. Excessive personal bias or projection onto the subject. Neglecting to verify facts or failing to cite sources. Poor organization or a disjointed narrative flow. Neglecting to balance objectivity with empathy. Overloading the biography with irrelevant details or digressions. Failing to respect privacy or ethical considerations.

While chronological order is commonly used in biographies, it is not required. Some biographers employ a thematic approach or explore specific periods or events in the subject’s life. Experiment with different structures to find the most engaging way to tell your subject’s story.

The purpose of writing a biography is to capture and share an individual’s life story. Biographies provide insights into a person’s experiences, achievements, and challenges, offering readers inspiration, knowledge, and understanding. They preserve the legacy of individuals, contribute to historical records, and celebrate the diversity of human lives.

When choosing a subject for your biography, consider someone who inspires you, interests you, or has significantly impacted society. It could be a historical figure, a contemporary icon, or even an everyday individual with a remarkable story. Choose a subject with sufficient available information, access to primary sources or interviews, and a narrative that resonates with you and potential readers.

Key elements to include in a biography are: Early life and background: Provide context about the subject’s upbringing, family, and cultural influences. Achievements and milestones: Highlight notable accomplishments, contributions, and significant events throughout their life. Challenges and struggles: Explore the obstacles they faced, the lessons learned, and how they overcame adversity. Personal characteristics: Describe their personality traits, values, beliefs, and motivations that shaped their actions and decisions. Impact and legacy: Discuss the lasting influence and contributions of the subject, both during their lifetime and beyond.

Including personal anecdotes can add depth and humanize the subject of your biography. However, be selective and ensure that the stories are relevant, contribute to understanding the person’s character or experiences, and align with the overall narrative. Balancing personal anecdotes with factual information is critical to maintaining accuracy and credibility.

Conducting research for a biography involves exploring a variety of sources. Start with primary sources such as personal papers, letters, journals, and interviews with the subject or people who knew them. Secondary sources such as books, articles, and academic papers provide additional context and perspectives. Online databases, archives, libraries, and museums are valuable resources for finding relevant information.

Consult a wide range of sources to ensure a comprehensive and accurate biography. Primary sources, such as personal documents, letters, diaries, and interviews, offer firsthand accounts and unique insights. Secondary sources provide broader context and analysis, including books, articles, scholarly works, and historical records. Remember to evaluate the credibility and reliability of your sources critically.

Organize the information in your biography logically and engagingly. Consider using a chronological structure, starting with the subject’s early life and progressing through significant events and milestones. Alternatively, adopt a thematic approach, grouping related information based on themes or significant aspects of their life. Use clear headings, subheadings, and transitions to guide readers through the narrative flow.

Writing Biographies Key Takeaways

In summary, take note of these ideas and tips before you start writing your biography:

Biographies hold enduring appeal, offering a glimpse into the human experience across time.
Thorough research, interviews, and captivating prose are essential for crafting compelling biographies.
Ethical considerations, such as accuracy, privacy, and sensitivity, are crucial when writing about real people’s lives.
Choose subjects that genuinely inspire and resonate with you.
Immerse yourself in the subject’s world to understand their motivations and challenges.
Develop strong research skills and utilize a wide range of sources.
Craft a compelling narrative that engages readers from the very first page.
Seek feedback from trusted sources to refine your writing and storytelling abilities.
Continuously explore new biographies to broaden your understanding of different styles and approaches.
Embrace the unique voice and perspective you bring to the storytelling process.

Writing a biography book? Check out this helpful article, How to Write a Book: 10 Questions to Ask Before You Start Writing !

Article sources

Popular guides, how to deal with difficult people at work.

Do you have a difficult boss? Colleague? Client? Learn how to transform your difficult relationship. I’ll show you my science-based approach to building a strong, productive relationship with even the most difficult people.

Science of People offers over 1000+ articles on people skills and nonverbal behavior.

Get our latest insights and advice delivered to your inbox.

It’s a privilege to be in your inbox. We promise only to send the good stuff.

🧠 Be More Memorable With These 5 Simple Cues. New LIVE Training Coming 9/23. 🚨

Alex Birkett

How to Write a Personal Bio (+ 15 Personal Bio Examples)

Last Updated on August 14, 2023 by Alex Birkett

Your personal bio could be the deciding factor in whether someone hires you, follows you, or buys from you.

However, writing one isn’t the easiest task in the world. It’s especially true if you’re one of those people who gets stage fright just thinking about having to talk about yourself.

So, how do you muster the courage to write a personal bio that stands out from the crowd? How do you make it witty, engaging, and memorable?

In this article, I’ll share some tips for crafting a personal bio (with some personal bio examples) that capture the attention of even the most distracted reader.

Before we start, here’s a quick overview of key elements you should include in your personal bio:

Editor’s note: I’m going to use some affiliate links when possible to try to earn some revenue from my content. These don’t change the opinions espoused in the content nor the style in which they are written.

What to include in a personal bio?

Here are some key elements that you should consider including in your professional bio:

Brief background information: Start your bio by introducing yourself and your current job title. This helps to establish your professional credentials right away. For example: “Hi, I’m Jane, a freelance writer and editor with over ten years of experience in the industry.”
Career highlights and achievements: Highlight some of your most notable achievements and accomplishments. This can help to establish your expertise and credibility in your field. Example: “I’ve worked with various high-profile clients, including XYZ Corporation and ABC Publications.”
Your unique skills and qualities: What sets you apart from others in your industry? Mention those unique skills and qualities in your bio.
Personal interests and hobbies: A few details about your life can help humanize your bio and make you more relatable to readers. Example: “In my free time, I enjoy hiking and exploring new places with my dog, Max.”
A call-to-action or contact information: For example: “To see more of Jane’s work, visit her website at www.janesmithdesign.com or follow her on Instagram @janesmithdesign.”

Now that we’ve covered the key elements to include in a personal bio, let’s focus on some tips for crafting an effective and engaging bio.

Before that, it’s important to clear one pervasive doubt.

Should you write your personal bio in the first person or third person?

When a company first requested my personal bio, I remember scurrying here and there on the internet, frantically searching for examples of how other writers crafted their bios.

Was it customary to write in the first person or in the lofty, third-person perch of professional grandeur?

And I came to a conclusion.

Writing in the first person can be useful when writing a bio for a personal website or social media profile, or when trying to build a personal connection with the reader.

The tone is also often more personal and informal, as if you are speaking directly to the reader.

Hemingway’s autobiographical work , “A Moveable Feast,” is also written in the first person.

On writing in Paris…

This approach in his personal biography allowed Hemingway to share his personal experiences and insights into the literary world of Paris in the 1920s. The book is a classic of literary non-fiction.

On the other hand, writing in the third person is suitable when writing for a professional website , resume , or when trying to establish authority or expertise. The tone is more formal and objective, as if someone else is describing your accomplishments and background.

For instance, Albert Einstein’s professional bio on the official Nobel Prize website is entirely in the third person.

This approach emphasizes Einstein’s achievements and contributions to the field of physics while maintaining a sense of objectivity and professionalism.

So, it’s simple. For personal bios, it’s first person. And for professional bios, it’s the third person POV!

Tips for writing a compelling personal bio

To create a bio that leaves a lasting impression, think of it like a mini-story highlighting your achievements, quirks, and passions.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Know your purpose

Before you start writing your bio, you need to know why you’re writing it and what tone you want to convey.

Are you trying to showcase your expertise? Introduce yourself to potential clients or customers? Connect with fellow professionals in your field?

Whatever your purpose, you need to tailor your bio accordingly. Duh!

It should also show you have the skills and experience to do the job well. This is especially true if you seek work in a particular field.

For example, if you want to work as an accountant, architect, or teacher, you need to show that you are qualified for this type of work.

2. Address your audience

The best personal bios are written with a specific audience in mind. If you don’t know who that audience is, how can you write for them?

That’s why before writing anything at all, ask yourself who will be reading it.

Who do you want to reach out to with this information?

Are they looking for someone like you?

What do they need from someone like you?

Once you have an answer or two (or three), start writing.

Let’s say you’re writing a bio for a professional website or portfolio that targets potential employers or clients in the creative industry.

In that case, you might want to include background information such as:

Your education and qualifications in a relevant field
Your work experience and current position in a creative role
Your professional goals and interests related to creativity
Your hobbies and passions that showcase your creativity
Your awards and recognition for your creative work

Allie Decker’s professional bio is a shining example of how to address your audience from the get-go.

By stating, “I love to write and help organizations produce content that builds and converts communities and drives revenue,” she immediately captures the attention of businesses needing content marketing expertise.

She’s also using specific language relevant to her audience – “builds and converts communities” and “drives revenue.” By using these terms, she’s showing that she understands her audience’s needs and priorities and can deliver results that matter to them.

What makes this short professional bio even better is how Allie strikes a balance between giving a glimpse into her professional and personal life.

Melinda Gates ‘ bio is another excellent example of how to tailor your personal bio for your target audience.

Her bio focuses on her work as a philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighting her passion for improving global health and empowering women and girls.

By focusing on these topics, she appeals to a broad audience of people who share her values and interests.

3. Keep it concise and focused

When it comes to your bio, Alexandre Bocquet , Founder and CEO of Betterly , has some great advice:

“In today’s digital world, people tend to skim rather than read, so it’s crucial to keep your descriptions short and to the point. If your “Personal bio” page looks more like a book, it will deter people from reading it.”

Alexandre adds, “keep your word count to roughly a thousand words, bullet point key attributes and accomplishments, and keep paragraphs to four sentences or fewer.”

And there are studies to support this.

A study found that recruiters typically spend an average of 6 seconds on a profile before deciding whether to pursue a candidate further – highlighting the importance of making a strong first impression with a concise and impactful personal bio.

Writing a lengthy, meandering introduction has its appeal. But if you’re looking to catch the eye of a recruiter or potential clients, or even snag a coveted byline, a snappy and concise personal bio will be more suitable.

Alex Birkett’s personal bio is a prime example of how to make a reader care with only a few sentences.

He succinctly mentions his professional expertise and accomplishments as a product growth and experimentation expert and co-founder of a content marketing agency. Additionally, he shares his personal interests and hobbies, such as skiing, giving the reader a glimpse into his personality.

The mention of his dog Biscuit provides a human touch that can make the reader smile. Overall, his bio is concise, engaging, and balances professional and personal information.

4. Highlight your unique qualities and accomplishments

When you’re writing your personal bio, you want to make sure that you highlight your unique qualities and achievements.

Think about what you have achieved in your professional or personal life. These could include awards, recognitions, publications, promotions, or other significant milestones.

To highlight your unique qualities, think about what sets you apart. What are your strengths, skills, and experiences that make you unique? Is it your uncanny ability to solve complex problems or your talent for playing the ukulele?

It’s a shame I didn’t pay more attention to my Bharatnatyam (a classical Indian dance form) classes when I was younger.

But if you’ve got a unique accomplishment, own it!

5. Show your personality and character

When writing a personal bio, using the same template as everyone else is tempting. But that’s a mistake: Your brand is unique, so your bio should be too.

You have a few precious seconds to make a good impression. You have to be memorable and stand out from the crowd.

One way to do this is by injecting your personality into your personal bio.

Just take it from Natalia Brzezinska , Marketing and Outreach Manager at UK Passport Photo , who cites the bio of Polish journalist Maciej Okraszewski as the best-crafted she’s ever seen.

Okraszewski briefly highlighted his educational background and shared some of his best articles before ending with a hilarious quip about his love for Italian movies, old hip hop, and potatoes with kefir.

According to Brzezinska , “this bio demonstrated Okraszewski’s easygoing nature and sense of humor, proving that showcasing your human face can be more impactful than simply listing achievements.”

Tom Hanks’ Twitter bio is a great example of a personal bio that showcases personality and humor. It’s short, concise, and gives readers a glimpse into his life and personality.

Hanks’ bio gives readers a sense of who he is as a person while also making them laugh and feel more connected to him. Such personal bios are especially perfect for social profiles, where you want to connect with your audience.

Your turn now to infuse your personal bio with your unique personality and character. Here are a few tips for doing that:

Use action verbs: Instead of saying, “I am an entrepreneur,” say, “I build businesses from scratch.” Instead of saying, “I am a writer,” say, “I write stories that make people laugh, cry and think.”
Be specific about what you do – and why you do it: Say you’re a marketing director at an online retailer because you love helping consumers find products they love, not because it pays well or gives you flexibility in your schedule.
Inject humor: Humor is a great way to get people’s attention and make them like you more. You can do this by using jokes or puns in your bio or even being funny.
Be yourself: This one should go without saying, but if you’re too formal, then it’s going to sound fake. If you want people to see another side of you, be natural and casual about it. People will appreciate an honest approach more than anything else.

6. Use keywords and industry-specific language

If the aim is to attract more clients or connect with other people in your industry, don’t forget to include keywords and industry-specific language in your bio.

For example, if you’re a software developer, you might include keywords like “Java,” “Python,” or “web development” in your bio. If you’re a freelance writer, you might mention specific industries or topics you specialize in, such as “B2B SaaS writer,” “healthcare writing,” or “content marketing for small businesses.”

The more specific you can be with your keywords, the better your chance of being found by your intended audience.

However, add these terms organically – don’t just cram a bunch of buzzwords into your bio unless they actually reflect your skills or experience. Instead, think about the key skills or areas of expertise you want to highlight and find ways to incorporate those naturally.

For instance, if you look for keywords like “SaaS freelance writer” or “content strategist,” you’ll come across Marijana Kay’s personal bio .

By using terms like “SaaS,” “marketing,” and “content strategist,” she’s making it clear what industries she specializes in and what types of clients she works with.

At the same time, her bio is also personal and engaging. By sharing her background and how she became interested in marketing, she’s giving readers a glimpse into who she is as a person and what motivates her in her work.

Another great aspect of her bio is that it includes a call to action, encouraging readers to learn more about her and her work. This can be a great way to get potential clients to take the next step and contact you for more information or to start a conversation.

7. Keep it up-to-date

If you think you can stick with your old, dusty bio from half a decade ago and still manage to wow potential clients, think again.

Your target audience will probably think you peaked once and still piggybacking on that one accomplishment.

Instead, your bio should give a current picture of who you are and what you’ve been up to.

When should you change your bio? There are key moments in your life and career when it becomes imperative to refresh it.

Don’t forget to change your bio when you:

Change jobs or roles
Complete a new project or course
Receive an award or recognition
Learn a new skill or tool
Achieve a personal or professional goal

Make sure to double-check all the details in your bio, including your current job title, any recent projects or clients you’ve worked with, and any new skills or certifications.

Additionally, updating your bio can be a fun way to flex your creative muscles and inject a little personality into your online presence.

Finally, an up-to-date bio can make a big difference in how people perceive you and how likely they want to work with you.

Pro Tip: To keep your bio up-to-date, set a reminder for yourself to review it regularly. This might be once a month, once a quarter, or whenever you have a major change or accomplishment to add.

8. Name-drop previous clients or famous employers

A personal bio is a great place to name-drop previous clients or famous employers. The idea is to show you have experience working with other big names in your industry.

If you don’t have any big-name clients/employers, that’s OK! You can still use this technique to list small businesses and organizations relevant to your target market.

9. Include your personal story

Your bio is a great place to tell your story – especially if you’re writing for your personal website. It’s an opportunity to share your experiences and how you got where you are.

To get started, choose a central theme for your personal story that ties it all together. This could be a particular struggle you overcame, a key life lesson, or a defining experience that has shaped your worldview.

And while narrating your story, use vivid details and sensory language to bring it to life. This will help readers visualize the events and emotions you’re describing and make your story more engaging.

For example, instead of “I was nervous,” you could describe your sweaty palms and racing heartbeat.

That said, you don’t need to include every single detail of your life story. Focus only on the most impactful moments, and try to weave them together in a way that makes sense.

Marie Forleo , an author and entrepreneur, has nailed the art of spicing up her bio with her personal story.

Marie Forleo’s personal bio stands out from being just another generic bio as she takes a refreshingly honest approach by not only sharing her successes but also her struggles.

In her bio, she shares:

Her curiosity and passion for human potential and various fields of interest
Her journey from corporate jobs to odd jobs to building her own coaching business
How coined the term “Multipassionate Entrepreneur” to describe her unconventional approach
Her achievements and recognition as an author, speaker, TV host, and digital education company founder
Her philosophy and mission – to help people thrive in today’s world and change their lives

A bio like this is perfect for sharing your struggles with your audience and building a personal rapport with them.

That said, if you’re anything like me, you might be hesitant to share too much personal information in your bio.

But fear not, my fellow introverted friend, because I have a solution!

Check out this nifty template for a personal bio that cleverly weaves in your personal story:

For instance:

Lily Jones is a travel writer and blogger who loves exploring new places and cultures. She has visited over 50 countries and written for publications such as Lonely Planet, National Geographic, and Travel + Leisure. Lily’s passion for travel started when she was a teenager and went on a school trip to France.

She was amazed by the beauty and history of the country and decided to pursue a career in journalism that would allow her to see more of the world. Lily believes that travel is not only fun but also educational and transformative. She hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams and discover new horizons through her stories. When she’s not on the road, Lily enjoys reading, yoga, and cooking. You can follow her adventures on her blog: www.lilytravels.com

10. Use AI tools for assistance

Despite all these tips and tricks, writing a bio is not easy.

You may still need some help getting started.

And that’s where AI writing tools come into the picture.

And rather than taking the approach of “AI bad,” once you start thinking of these AI writing tools as your assistants, you’ll realize just how much they can help you achieve.

They especially come in handy when you’re facing writer’s block or having a hard time coming up with something creative to write. Something creative like writing a personal bio.

So, which AI writing tool should you use to pen your bio?

Should you use Jasper or ChatGPT ? Or Copy.ai ?

Since I am more familiar with Jasper.ai and often use it to get inspiration for my blog post intros, let’s see how it works for personal bios.

For the uninitiated, AI writing tools like Jasper use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to generate human-like text.

It’s going to be similar to creating your ” About page copy ” using Jasper (which we already discussed in the linked article).

Jasper has a pre-built “ Personal Bio ” tool that, in their own words, helps you “write a personal bio that captures attention.”

You just need to provide some basic information about yourself, such as your name, occupation, skills, achievements, and hobbies. Jasper will then generate a personal bio for you based on your input.

You can also pick your tone of voice, such as friendly, formal, professional, and the like.

Here’s how it works in action:

Once you hit the “Generate” button, you’ll get 4-5 personal bio results. The generated bios are all unique and customized to your input.

Now once you have the first draft, you can tweak it a bit to add more information or keywords. You might also change the wording of certain phrases or sentences if it appears too robotic – or even rewrite certain sections entirely to reflect your unique style and voice better.

You can also use the Personal Bio tool in tandem with other tools like sentence rewriter to improve the writing style. I talk about this in more detail here .

While these AI-generated bios are a great starting point, don’t forget to play around a bit and infuse your personality and voice into the final product.

Write a personal bio that makes you shine!

Crafting a personal bio that accurately reflects your unique personality and professional accomplishments can be challenging. That said, it’s also an essential part of building your personal brand and standing out from the competition.

By following the tips and taking inspiration from the professional bio examples in this article, you’ll be well on your way to writing your own professional bio that captures your audience’s attention.

Don’t forget to proofread and edit the bio, especially if you plan to use AI for better productivity . You can ask someone else to read it over for feedback or use an online tool like Grammarly.

TRY OUR FREE APP

Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today.

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Jun 30, 2023

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

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Dario Villirilli

Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.

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

Illustration of a biographer going into research mode.

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.

Painting of William Shakespeare in colors

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 development 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.

Still from the movie The Lost City of Z in which the explorer is surrounded by an Amazon native tribe

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.

Cover of Hitler and Stalin by Alan Bullock

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.

Illustration of a writer mixing storytelling ingredients

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 the middle of the action 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.

Chris McCandless self-portrait in front of the now iconic bus

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.”

FREE COURSE

How to Write Believable Dialogue

Master the art of dialogue in 10 five-minute lessons.

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 publish your own 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 edit your own manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs.

Illustration of an editor reviewing a manuscript

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.

MEET EDITORS

Polish your book with expert help

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 applications , 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.

Continue reading

100+ Character Ideas (and How to Come Up With Your Own)

Character creation can be challenging. To help spark your creativity, here’s a list of 100+ character ideas, along with tips on how to come up with your own.

How to Introduce a Character: 8 Tips To Hook Readers In

Introducing characters is an art, and these eight tips and examples will help you master it.

450+ Powerful Adjectives to Describe a Person (With Examples)

Want a handy list to help you bring your characters to life? Discover words that describe physical attributes, dispositions, and emotions.

How to Plot a Novel Like a NYT Bestselling Author

Need to plot your novel? Follow these 7 steps from New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt.

How to Write an Autobiography: The Story of Your Life

Want to write your autobiography but aren’t sure where to start? This step-by-step guide will take you from opening lines to publishing it for everyone to read.

What is the Climax of a Story? Examples & Tips

The climax is perhaps a story's most crucial moment, but many writers struggle to stick the landing. Let's see what makes for a great story climax.

Join a community of over 1 million authors

Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Enter your email or get started with a social account:

Search form

About my family.

Look at the email and do the exercises to practise and improve your writing skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise first. Then read the email and do the other exercises.

Preparation

Do this exercise before you start.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: My family

Let me tell you about my family. I live with my mum, my dad and my big sister. We live in California. My mum’s name is Carmen. She’s Mexican and she speaks English and Spanish. She’s a Spanish teacher. She’s short and slim, she’s got long, brown hair and brown eyes. My dad’s name is David. He’s American. He’s tall and a little fat! He’s got short brown hair and blue eyes. He works in a bank. My sister Shania is 14 and she loves listening to music. She listens to music all the time! She’s got long brown hair and green eyes, like me. I’ve got long hair too. We’ve got a pet dog, Brandy. He’s black and white and very friendly.

Write soon and tell me about your family.

Check your understanding: gap fill

Check your writing: gap fill, check your writing: multiple choice, worksheets and downloads.

Do you have a big family?

We will process your data to send you our newsletter and updates based on your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of every email. Read our privacy policy for more information.

SYDNEY, NSW
MELBOURNE, VIC
HOBART, TAS
BRISBANE, QLD
ADELAIDE, SA
CANBERRA, ACT

'My baby will rest in peace': Family celebrates as Perth man who killed partner jailed for life

Western Australia
domestic violence

Send your stories to [email protected]

Property News 13,000 new affordable homes have been greenlit. Is it enough?

'Worst day of my life': Woman's devastating news while recovering from brain injury

From handyman to Hollywood superstar

Parents warn of 'wake up call' for athletes following Manly junior star's death

Teddy stars as rampant Roosters book prelim spot

IMAGES

45 Biography Templates & Examples (Personal, Professional)
27 of the Best Professional Bio Examples We've Ever Seen [+ Templates
My Family History
45 Biography Templates & Examples (Personal, Professional)
28+ SAMPLE Biographies in PDF
20 Short Bio Examples to Use for Inspiration

VIDEO

My Family
My Family 5 Lines Essay in English || Short Essay on My Family
Example of Biography
What is biography
Biography of Imran Khan
Johann Pachelbel #shortbio #shorts #famousbirthday #johannpachelbel

COMMENTS

Writing a Compelling Family History Biography
Writing a compelling family biography is a request we frequently receive as professional genealogists. Learn tips for preserving your family history! Writing a compelling and interesting family history biography is one of the finest examples of experienced genealogists. Review our outline that will help share the stories of your ancestors.
11 Do's & Don'ts of Writing Family Biographies
Here, then, are eleven do's and don'ts of writing family biographies using real examples from real biographies that we've really written…or rewritten. 1. Do Begin with an Interesting Story or Detail to Engage The Reader's Interest. "With no way of knowing that a ceasefire would be signed exactly one month later, James Ralph Wilson ...
11 Tips On How To Write A Personal Biography + Examples
2. Introduce yourself… like a real person. This is one of the most important pieces of understanding how to write a personal biography. Always start with your name. When many people start learning how to write a bio, they skip this important part. People need to know who you are before they learn what you do.
5 Templates To Quick Start Writing Your Family History
Writing A Short Story. The focus of this template is a short story about one family member. It is the perfect solution for those times when you stumble upon a story that you can't wait to write about. In my case it was my Great grandfathers criminal record.The profile facts took second place to the story line.
How to Write Family Stories and Biographies : Circa Legacy
7 Easy Steps to Collect, Record, and Preserve Your Stories. Here are the seven easy steps you'll follow to collect, record, and preserve your family stories and biographies. Each step has free resources and tools to help keep you moving. Step 1: Collect stories and memories. Step 2: Collect photographs.
Writing a Family Biography (Part 2)- A Handy Template
Below I have prepared a simple template anyone can use to write a creative biography about an ancestor or a living relative. This template provides an added element, a family element. This tool will help you reveal not only the individual, but the family he was a part of and how they connected. After having completed your preparation and ...
How to Write a Must-Read Memoir for Your Family
Step 1: Face your Fears. "But I don't have much of a story," you might say to yourself. This is a common refrain. But imagine yourself in a room full of people, each of whom has written a life story and entered it into a giant computer.
Writing Your Family and Personal History
Getting started by gathering information. Have family discussions with family members. There are friends and family members who are carrying family history around in their heads. Make appointments to talk to them. Record the interviews. Make a commitment to write. Find a specific day and time to write each week, perhaps a Sunday afternoon.
Write a Personal History • FamilySearch
It may help to clarify your direction in life. Writing about your past, even if it was not idyllic, can help you cope with feelings and create an opportunity to find understanding and forgiveness. See also 2: Writing a Family History" in the FamilySearch Learning Center. Many of the same reasons also apply.
Family Biography Examples That Really Inspire
John Stuart Mill Biography Examples. John Stuart Mill was born on 20 May 1806 in Pentoville, London. He was the first-born son of James Mill and Harriet Burrow who got married in 1805. His father was born in Scotland but had to move to London to advance his career in economy as well as in philosophy. John's father and his close friend, Jeremy ...
24 Biography Templates and Examples (Word
Personal Biography Template. A personal biography template is a structured outline designed to guide individuals in documenting their life stories, achievements, and experiences. It provides a framework to organize personal details in a coherent and engaging manner. This template, created in our prior response, can assist users by simplifying ...
Ancestor Biographies Breathe Life into Family History
He married Catherine Fear who was born in 1814. James and Catherine had ten children, five who were still living. Children included: Mary A., the wife of D.W. Chase of Dover Township; Caroline, the wife of Calvin Shugart before her death in 1873; J. Harvey of Dover Township; Annor, the wife of Milford Frazee of Dover Township; Henry C. of Dover ...
3 Ways to Write About Your Family
Identify all of your family members by name and discuss where your family members live. Use "brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc" to identify your family members. [10] For example, you may write: "Let me tell you about my family. I have a mother, a father, two brothers, and one sister.
45 Biography Templates & Examples (Personal, Professional)
Personal Biography Template. A personal biography is a short account of who you are, your credentials and your notable accomplishments in life. Personal bios ought to be short, precise and relevant to your target audience. The use of personal statistics such as hobbies or family should be avoided.
How to Write a Family History Project
As the author, you need to choose a focus for your family history book. Some possibilities include: Single Line of Descent: Begin with the earliest known ancestor for a particular surname and follows him/her through a single line of descent (to yourself, for example). Each chapter of your book would cover one ancestor or generation.
How to Write a Biography: 6 Tips for Writing Biographical Texts
See why leading organizations rely on MasterClass for learning & development. Biographies are how we learn information about another human being's life. Whether you want to start writing a biography about a famous person, historical figure, or an influential family member, it's important to know all the elements that make a biography worth ...
9 Tips for Getting Started on Writing Your Family History
8. Write Naturally. If you're writing for relatives, pretend you're telling your family story to a friend. If you're writing for a publication, tailor your work to that publication's style. Wilson had to wrestle with how to balance facts she found in her research with storytelling.
How to Write a Biography in 8 Steps (The Non-Boring Way!)
Conduct relevant interviews. Whenever possible, seek firsthand accounts from those who knew or interacted with the subject. Conduct interviews with family members, friends, colleagues, or experts in the field. Their insights and anecdotes can provide a deeper understanding of the person's character and experiences.
How to Write a Personal Bio (+ 15 Personal Bio Examples)
For example, if you want to work as an accountant, architect, or teacher, you need to show that you are qualified for this type of work. 2. Address your audience. The best personal bios are written with a specific audience in mind.
How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]
7. Get feedback and polish the text. If you're going to publish your own 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 edit your own manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs.
About my family
Let me tell you about my family. I live with my mum, my dad and my big sister. We live in California. My mum's name is Carmen. She's Mexican and she speaks English and Spanish. She's a Spanish teacher. She's short and slim, she's got long, brown hair and brown eyes. My dad's name is David. He's American.
How To Write a Personal Bio (Plus Tips and Examples)
3. Choose a point of view. In a personal bio, you can either write in a first-person or third-person point of view. First-person language uses words like "I," "we" and "me" to describe yourself. It's a good idea to write in the first person if you want to make a personal connection with your audience.
Family celebrates as Perth man who killed partner jailed for life
"No one has the right to take any woman's life," Headland's cousin said. "If you need help, go and get it." Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.