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50 Inspiring Autobiography Title Ideas

Hey there, looking to get started on your autobiography but stuck on what to call it? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back! Choosing the perfect name for your life story can be tough, but it’s also a fun and important decision. So, grab a cup of coffee and get ready to brainstorm some awesome autobiography name ideas!

Table of Contents

Choosing a memorable autobiography name, reflecting your personal journey in the title, incorporating key themes and milestones, using humor or wit to engage readers, seeking feedback and suggestions from others, in conclusion.

When it comes to choosing a memorable name for your autobiography, there are a few things to consider. The title of your life story should be captivating, intriguing, and reflective of the journey you’ve been through. It’s the first thing people will see when they come across your book, so it’s important to make it memorable.

One approach to creating an autobiography name is to brainstorm keywords or phrases that encapsulate the essence of your story. Think about the major themes, events, or turning points in your life, and try to distill them into a few impactful words. Consider using **metaphors or symbolism** to convey deeper meanings and emotions. It’s also helpful to evoke a sense of curiosity or mystery with the title, sparking interest in potential readers.

Another strategy is to draw inspiration from literature, poetry, or famous quotes that resonate with your life experiences. **Quoting a meaningful line** from a favorite book or poem can add a layer of depth and resonance to your autobiography title. Additionally, incorporating personal mottos or mantras that have guided you through life can lend authenticity and significance to the name of your book.

For **creativity and impact**, consider experimenting with wordplay, alliteration, or unconventional phrasing. A catchy, unique title can make your autobiography stand out and pique curiosity. Remember to also consider the marketability and resonance of the title, as it will play a major role in attracting potential readers. By taking the time to consider these factors, you can create a memorable autobiography name that truly captures the essence of your life story.

Are you ready to share your personal journey with the world? Choosing the perfect title for your autobiography is crucial in capturing the essence of your story. Your title should reflect the unique experiences, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped you into the person you are today. Here are some tips and ideas for creating an impactful and meaningful title that truly represents your personal journey:

### Tips for When brainstorming ideas for your autobiography title, consider the following tips to ensure it resonates with your readers:

– **Think about the central theme**: What is the main message or theme of your life story? Is it resilience, love, overcoming adversity, or personal growth? – **Use imagery**: Incorporate vivid imagery that reflects key moments or symbols from your life that have had a significant impact on your journey. – **Highlight your unique perspective**: What sets your story apart from others? Emphasize what makes your experiences and insights distinctive and valuable.

### Autobiography Title Ideas Here are some creative and inspiring title ideas to spark your imagination and help you craft the perfect name for your autobiography:

| Title Ideas | Description | |—————————-|————————————————–| | Unbreakable Spirit | A powerful and evocative title reflecting resilience and strength. | | From Struggle to Strength | Capture the essence of overcoming obstacles and personal growth. | | In My Own Words | Emphasize the personal and intimate nature of your story. | | The Road Less Traveled | Highlight the unique and unconventional path of your journey. |

Find a title that resonates with you and captures the heart of your personal narrative. Taking the time to reflect and choose the perfect name for your autobiography will ensure that your story is told in a compelling and authentic way.

When it comes to choosing a name for your autobiography, it’s important to incorporate key themes and milestones from your life. These elements help to tell your unique story and make your book memorable to readers. Whether you’re focusing on a specific event, a personal journey, or an overarching theme, the title of your autobiography should encapsulate the essence of your life story.

One approach to brainstorming autobiography name ideas is to reflect on significant milestones and themes in your life. Consider the following prompts to help spark inspiration for your autobiography title: – What are the defining moments or turning points in your life? – What themes or patterns have been recurring throughout your journey? – What unique experiences or challenges have shaped your perspective and identity?

By incorporating these key themes and milestones into your autobiography title, you can create a compelling and meaningful representation of your life story. Remember to choose a title that resonates with you and accurately captures the essence of your unique narrative. Embrace creativity and authenticity as you explore different autobiography name ideas that reflect the depth and richness of your personal journey.

When it comes to choosing a name for your autobiography, it’s essential to create a title that is engaging, memorable, and reflective of your personality and experiences. One way to capture readers’ attention is to use humor or wit in your autobiography title. Incorporating humor into the title can make it more relatable and appealing to a wider audience, while adding wit can add a clever and thought-provoking element.

Here are some ideas for autobiography names that use humor or wit to engage readers:

• “Laughing Through the Tears: My Life Story” – This title combines humor and emotion, drawing readers in with the promise of both lighthearted moments and poignant reflections.
• “The Chronicles of Awkwardness: A Memoir” – Using humor to acknowledge the inherent awkwardness of life can resonate with readers who can relate to the challenges and humorous moments that come with navigating through life.
• “Sarcastic and Sassy: My Journey to Self-Discovery” – This title employs wit and humor to convey a bold and confident narrative, appealing to readers who appreciate a sharp sense of humor.

Are you in the process of writing your autobiography and in need of a catchy and captivating name? Naming your autobiography is a crucial step in the publishing process. A well-thought-out title can pique the interest of potential readers and encapsulate the essence of your life story. If you’re currently brainstorming autobiography name ideas, we’re here to help.

can provide valuable insights and fresh perspectives that you may not have considered. It’s always beneficial to gather input from a diverse group of people to ensure that your autobiography name resonates with a wide audience. Whether you’re a first-time author or a seasoned writer, feedback from others can make a significant impact on the success of your book. Here are some suggestions for soliciting feedback and suggestions for your autobiography name:

– Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues who know you well – Join writing groups or forums and participate in discussions about autobiography titles – Utilize social media platforms to conduct polls and gather opinions from a broader audience – Attend book clubs or literary events to engage with avid readers and gather feedback By , you can gain valuable insights that will help you choose a compelling and memorable name for your autobiography. Your book deserves a title that truly captures the essence of your life story, and the input of others can help you achieve that goal. So, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for feedback – the perfect autobiography name may be just a suggestion away.

Q: I’m struggling to come up with a catchy title for my autobiography. Any tips? A: Yes, think about the main theme or message of your autobiography and try to capture that in a few words.

Q: Can I use a quote as the title of my autobiography? A: Of course! A meaningful quote can make a great title for your autobiography and give it a personal touch.

Q: How long should my autobiography title be? A: It should be relatively short and punchy, ideally no more than a few words or a brief phrase.

Q: What if I can’t think of anything good? A: Don’t stress too much about it – sometimes a simple, straightforward title can be just as effective as a clever or creative one.

Q: Should I include my name in the title? A: It’s up to you! Including your name can make the autobiography feel more personal, but it’s not necessary.

Q: Can I ask friends and family for title ideas? A: Absolutely! Getting input from others can help you brainstorm and come up with something that truly resonates with you.

Q: Are there any common themes or phrases used in autobiography titles? A: Yes, many autobiographies use phrases like “My Story” or “Life and Times of [Name]” but feel free to get creative and come up with something unique to you.

So if you’re considering writing your own autobiography, choosing the perfect title is an important first step. Whether you decide to go with a catchy phrase or a meaningful quote, make sure it reflects the essence of your life story. Hopefully, the ideas we’ve shared here have sparked some inspiration for your own memoir title. Happy writing!

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Constructing the memoir of your life can be a truly grueling process. The most crucial element to consider, of course, is the enticing title. The stakes are incredibly high  — with the wrong label, your entire life could be inaccurately represented. For widespread applicability, I have laid out options for some niche lifestyles.

For the foodie:

• BuzzFeed, what kind of cheese am I?
• What to expect when you’re expecting a food baby
• DTF: Down to feast?
• I’m eating fries in my parked car
• I’m just here for the cake
• I almost just ate something healthy
• The art of consuming Domino’s pizza
• And then they gave me an oatmeal raisin cookie…
• Boba for the soul
• Coffee and carbs: A delicacy like no other
• How did I get food on my forehead, again?
• I put too much Kraft parmesan on my spaghetti
• Are you going to finish that?

For the risqué:

• I asked for a water cup and filled it with Coke
• “This is my face. I’m not mad”: The plight of RBF
• Nobody cares
• Is it better to roast or to toast?
• Sugar, spice and everything nice or sarcasm, Pepsi and everything sexy?
• Do I want bangs, or should we just talk about my feelings?
• Sorry, Mom.
• “I’m 29. I can finally play a high schooler on TV. Thank you, Jackson Stewart”: On starting my Disney career later in life
• I did a thing, and I’m not sorry
• Goal Digger
• I turned off my autocorrect, and I only journal in pen: A baddie’s guide to writing
• Trial and lots of error

For the hot mess:

• I never really know what’s going on
• I’m late, and I’m sweating
• Still in bed
• Call me again in 3-5 business days
• Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over my internal monologue
• “I think I just said the funniest thing ever”: The story of my delusional comedy career
• I haven’t changed my sheets in like a year.
• Floor-seat mentality with a nosebleed budget
• I wasn’t gonna cry in Starbucks though, yk?
• Do I look like an Android user?
• Rock my Crocs off
• “Sorry, my Uber is here”: A beginner’s guide to exiting swiftly from awkward situations
• Crap, I really need to finish my memoir

Okay, maybe these titles don’t reflect your life story in their simplicity, but hopefully they made you smile a bit.

For more stream of consciousness musings, contact Alanna Flores at alanna13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Alanna Flores '22 is a Managing Editor of The Grind. Contact her at alanna13 'at' stanford.edu.

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How to Create Killer Autobiography Titles: Tips and Examples

Writing an autobiography can be a great journey of self-discovery and even a kind of therapy. But how do you boil down years of experiences and pages and pages of text into a single, captivating title that will draw in your reading audience and somehow seem to summarize the “plot” of your life? This question can be a deeply challenging one for many authors.. Let’s start by answering two questions.

Q: Why is it so important to take the time to come up with interesting autobiographical titles?

A: The answer is simple. A good title gives the reader an idea of what your story is about and prepares them for the journey. Dedicate time to coming up with a list of appealing titles, and see how well they seem to fit with the story that you’re trying to tell.

Q: Do you need to have a title before you start writing?

A: It’s up to you. Some writers prefer to create a title for their autobiographies well before penning the first pages of their first drafts. Having the title creates a framework for their writing.. But this isn’t everybody’s way of doing things. Many authors prefer to write and let the title emerge from the writing. In short, whether you start out with a title or pick one after you’ve written the last words on the last page is completely up to you.

If you think that now is the best time to think about autobiography title ideas, here’s some advice and helpful tips to help you choose the best one.

Develop Autobiography Ideas

This section will be helpful for those authors who are only at the beginning of the writing process. However, if you have already written something, answering these questions will still help you improve your writing and perhaps help you look at your draft with fresh eyes.

• Come up with the main theme . As you are going to share the story, it should have a core theme that will tie the scenes and memories from your life into a meaningful whole.
• Think about your future reader. Now you might consider your prospective audience. Perhaps you’ll want to consider the values and interests of that audience. Knowing your future readers could help you promote your book, define your style, find appropriate examples from your life, and help your writing to keep a consistent tone and focus.
• Define the reason. First of all, to find the core idea of your autobiography, ask yourself why you are writing an autobiography in the first place. What is it that you want people to know? 

So, WHY? Here are some autobiography topics to look at:

• Share an inspiring or unusual story that happened in your life.
• Promote your values, beliefs, and principles.
• Tell the story of your career path in a particular company or business you have worked for.
• Praise your parents, friends, beloved, or any other person that has significantly influenced your life.
• Spread valuable lessons that you have learned.
• Glorify God and tell your own story about your relationship with God.
• Show off your cultural background, traditions, and events that have influenced your cultural identity.
• Simply record your life story and understand its place in the universe.
• Relate your biggest mistake and how it influenced your life.

Grab Readers’ Attention with Catchy Autobiographical Titles

Let’s face the fact that the first thing your prospective reader will see is the book title and cover. That’s why it’s important to hook readers’ attention with something touching, intriguing, comical, or breathtaking. Here are some of the most engaging autobiographical topics that are more likely to be appreciated by readers.

Self-criticism . The power to draw conclusions and admit mistakes is a sign of a strong personality. Your reflections on your faults can  make for an attractive and spicy autobiographical title. Include this in your title to make it more appealing to the reader.

E.g. “Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey into Manhood and Back Again” by Norah Vincent 

Controversial notes. If you have done something that is unusual, that isn’t the norm for your community, or that is generally surprising and unique , it could also help you produce a fascinating title. 

E.g. “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” by A.J. Jacobs 

Brief ideas. The more clever and direct the words you choose, the more appealing the title will be. Try to pack the main idea of your autobiography into one or two words.

E.g. “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah, “Educated” by Tara Westover 

Evocative emotions . If your personality is unknown to the reader, you have a gap to fill. Add vivid descriptions and evocative mental images to immediately involve the reader in the journey you’re about to take them on.

E.g. “The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother” by James McBride

Match Title for Autobiography about Yourself with Overall Tone

Let’s say you are writing a lighthearted and funny autobiography with a lot of humor and allegory. Then a humorous title will clearly signal to the reader what to expect. After all,the title and book cover are the first things the prospective reader sees.

A more serious or dramatic autobiography could do with a title  that’s a bit deeper or more profound in tone. Don’t mislead the reader, a cheerful title for a story about tragedy and obstacles will only disappoint the reader.

Types of Creative Autobiography Title: Ideas and Examples

You can get inspired by existing autobiography titles. Use an online bookstore such as Amazon to find autobiographies from other writers. Jot down the most interesting and appealing words and phrases. Think how you can base your own title on your findings.

Here are the most common types of autobiographies titles:

Word-emblem. It may be the main event or influential person in your story. Also, it may be a symbol, turning point, or something powerful.

Paradox . If your story is about opposing forces or events, you can turn it into a title.

Evocative words. How can you describe the main theme of your story in one to two words? You can add subtitles if you wish to add depth to the title.

Metaphorical/literal phrase. It may be a phrase from the text that characterizes the main idea of your autobiographical story.

Your name. This type is more common for historical personalities or celebrities who are well-known to the general public. But there is no prohibition on adding your name to autobiography titles. Just add a subtitle to provide more details about yourself for the reader and an eye-catching book cover for the best results.

Humor. If your story is about something positive and light-hearted or perhaps well-packed with self-deprecating jokes, why not go for a humorous title?

Try AI Title Generators to Get Autobiography Title Ideas

You can ask an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Copy.ai to give you advice and sample topics to choose from. When you write a detailed description of what your autobiography is about, including the main theme and events you get the best results.

We recommend using artificial intelligence services with caution however. Use it as inspiration and as a source of ideas. Mix, rewrite, or develop something yourself from the titles offered.

Ask for Advice on Your Autobiographies Titles

Write down the greatest autobiography title ideas on a sheet of paper. Ask someone  close to you to take a look at it and give you their honest, detailed feedback. You can ask friends, relatives, coworkers, and other people you trust and whose opinions you value.

There are also a lot of literary forums, communities, and groups who are ready to help you with not only your title, but also to evaluate your autobiography draft. 

Reddit. Here are some popular subreddits for writers:

• r/logophilia
• r/writerchat
• r/selfpublish

Twitter. You can ask for advice in a topical Twitter feed like #WritingCommunity.

NaNoWriMo. It’s a great writer’s community of writers with more than 20 years of experience. This non-profit organization is free and has a lot of active members. You can visit their forum to ask for advice, get feedback, and much more.

Do’s and Don’ts to Create the Best Title for Autobiography about Yourself

• Stick to what it means for you. You can add vivid descriptions and even some fiction (but preferably be honest about it) to your autobiography, but you need to express what matters to you in the title.
• Ask your friends and family for advice. Write down the best title variants and share them with your close ones for feedback.
• Be patient. It may take a long time to come up with a really catchy autobiography title. Just leave yourself enough time to sith with your ideas if you’re not quite sure yet.
• Keep it short and concise. On the one hand, you can create a long title with a subtitle. But keep in mind that it should be easy to read and understand. That’s why you should aim for short and sweet.

Don’ts

• Use puns. Maybe, you have already found autobiographies that have puns in titles and even got inspired. Most of the time these titles don’t work well for the general public.
• Offensive humor. Funny titles are great, but try not to go too far. Carefully pick words so as not to denigrate parts of your potential audience, even if the funny words are really only referring to yourself.
• Use misleading titles. The autobiography title should give your reader a grasp of what to expect in the book (while leaving some room for the imagination).
• Include generic titles. Make an investigation and make sure that your title hasn’t already been taken by another book, movie, or other work.

Wrapping Up

We hope that you are now well-armed with these working tips to help you find your perfect autobiography title. Stay sincere, grab the reader’s attention, and focus on your experiences to make it shine. Don’t rush. When people dedicate time to coming up with their autobiographies titles they’re more likely to find something to attract their people’s attention and this can make the difference between an autobiography being read or passed up!. 

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Saturday, May 3, 2014

69 awesome and awful autobiography titles.

8 comments:

LOL: Hitch-22

Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me (R. Kelly) Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir (George Clinton)

larger than life [eddie large]

Thanks for this list. It gave me the idea to create the best Autobiography Quotes. Keep up with the good work!

this helped me a lot with homework

Wow.great post.

lolol very punny !

How To Write an Autobiography 2024 (Tips, Templates, & Guide)

Your life story has value, merit, and significance. You want to share it with the world, but maybe you don’t know how .

Here’s how to write an autobiography:

Write an autobiography by creating a list of the most important moments, people, and places in your life. Gather photos, videos, letters, and notes about these experiences. Then, use an outline, templates, sentence starters, and questions to help you write your autobiography .

In this article, you are going to learn the fastest method for writing your autobiography.

We are going to cover everything you need to know with examples and a free, downloadable, done-for-you template.

What Is an Autobiography?

Table of Contents

Before you can write an autobiography, you must first know the definition.

An autobiography is the story of your life, written by you. It covers the full span of your life (at least, up until now), hitting on the most significant moments, people and events.

When you write your autobiography, you write an intimate account of your life.

What Should I Include In an Autobiography?

If you are scratching your head, baffled about what to include in your autobiography, you are not alone.

After all, a big part of how to write an autobiography is knowing what to put in and what to leave out of your life story. Do you focus on every detail?

Every person? Won’t your autobiography be too long?

A good way to think about how to write an autobiography is to use the Movie Trailer Method.

What do movie trailers include?

• High emotional moments
• The big events
• The most important characters

When you plan, organize, and write your autobiography, keep the Movie Trailer Method in mind. You can even watch a bunch of free movie trailers on YouTube for examples of how to write an autobiography using the Movie Trailer Method.

When wondering what to include in your autobiography, focus on what would make the cut for a movie trailer of your life:

• Most important people (like family, friends, mentors, coaches, etc.)
• Significant events (like your origin story, vacations, graduations, life turning points, life lessons)
• Emotional moments (When you were homeless, when you battled a life-threatening condition, or when you fell in love)
• Drama or suspense (Did you make it into Harvard? Did your first surgery go well? Did your baby survive?)

Autobiography Structure Secrets

Like any compelling story, a well-structured autobiography often follows a pattern that creates a logical flow and captures readers’ attention.

Traditionally, autobiographies begin with early memories, detailing the writer’s childhood, family background, and the events or people that shaped their formative years.

From here, the narrative typically progresses chronologically, covering major life events like schooling, friendships, challenges, achievements, career milestones, and personal relationships.

It’s essential to weave these events with introspective insights.

This allows readers to understand not just the what, but also the why behind the author’s choices and experiences.

Towards the end, an effective autobiography often includes reflections on lessons learned, changes in perspective over time, and the wisdom acquired along life’s journey.

Example of the Structure:

• Introduction: A gripping event or anecdote that gives readers a hint of what to expect. It could be a pivotal moment or challenge that defines the essence of the story.
• Childhood and Early Memories: Recounting family dynamics, birthplace, cultural background, and memorable incidents from early years.
• Adolescence and Discovering Identity: Experiences during teenage years, challenges faced, friendships formed, and personal evolutions.
• Pursuits and Passions: Describing education, early career choices, or any particular hobby or skill that played a significant role in the author’s life.
• Major Life Events and Challenges: Chronicles of marriage, parenthood, career shifts, or any significant setbacks and how they were overcome.
• Achievements and Milestones: Celebrating major accomplishments and recounting the journey to achieving them.
• Reflections and Wisdom: Sharing life lessons, changes in beliefs or values over time, and offering insights gained from lived experiences.
• Conclusion: Summarizing the journey, contemplating on the present state, and sharing hopes or aspirations for the future.

How To Write an Autobiography Quickly: Strategies & Templates

Want the quickest way to organize and write your autobiography in record time? You can literally write your autobiography in 7 days or less with this method.

The secret is to use done-for-you templates.

I have personally designed and collected a series of templates to take you from a blank page to a fully complete Autobiography. I call this the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint.

And it’s completely free to download right from this article. 🙂

In the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint, you get:

• The Autobiography Questions Template
• The Autobiography Brainstorm Templates
• The Autobiography Outline Template

Here is an image of it so that you know exactly what you get when you download it:

How To Write an Autobiography: Step-by-Step

When you sit down to write an autobiography, it’s helpful to have a step-by-step blueprint to follow.

You already have the done-for-you templates that you can use to organize and write an autobiography faster than ever before. Now here’s a complete step-by-step guide on how to maximize your template.

• Brainstorm Ideas
• Order your sections (from medium to high interest)
• Order the ideas in each section (from medium to high interest)
• Write three questions to answer in each section
• Choose a starter sentence
• Complete a title template
• Write each section of your by completing the starter sentence and answering all three questions

Brainstorm Your Autobiography

The first step in writing your autobiography is to brainstorm.

Give yourself time and space to write down the most significant people, events, lessons, and experiences in your life. The templates in the How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint provide sections for you to write down your brainstormed ideas.

This will help you organize your ideas into what will become the major sections of your book.

These will be:

• Y our most significant events and experiences.
• The people who impacted you the most.
• The challenges you have overcome.
• Your achievements and successes.
• The lessons you have learned.

The “other” sections on the second page of the Brainstorm template is for creating your own sections or to give you more space for the sections I provided in case you run out of space.

As I brainstorm, I find asking myself specific questions really activates my imagination.

So I have compiled a list of compelling questions to help you get ideas down on paper or on your screen.

Order Your Sections (From Medium to High Interest)

The next step is to order your main sections.

The main sections are the five (or more) sections from your Brainstorm templates (Significant events, significant people, life lessons, challenges, successes, other, etc). This order will become the outline and chapters for your book.

How do you decide what comes first, second or third?

I recommend placing the sections in order of interest. Ask yourself, “What’s the most fascinating part of my life?”

If it’s a person, then write the name of that section (Significant People) on the last line in the How to Write an Autobiography Outline Template. If it’s an experience, place the name of that section (Significant Events) on the last line.

For example, if you met the Pope, you might want to end with that nugget from your life. If you spent three weeks lost at sea and survived on a desert island by spearfishing, that is your ending point.

Then complete the Outline by placing the remaining sections in order of interest. You can work your way backward from high interest to medium interest.

If you are wondering why I say “medium to high interest” instead of “low to high interest” it is because there should be no “low interest” parts of your autobiography.

But wait, what if you met the Pope AND spent three weeks lost at sea? How do you choose which one comes first or last?

First of all, I want to read this book! Second, when in doubt, default to chronological order. Whatever event happened first, start there.

Here is an example of how it might look:

Order The Ideas in Each Section (From Medium To High Interest)

Now, organize the ideas inside of each section. Again, order the ideas from medium to high interest).

Within your “Significant People” section, decide who you want to talk about first, second, third, etc. You can organize by chronological order (who you met first) but I recommend building to the most interesting or most significant person.

This creates a more compelling read.

Keep in mind that the most significant person might not be the most well-known, most famous, or most popular. The most significant person might be your family member, friend, partner, or child.

It comes down to who shaped your life the most.

So, if your “significant people list” includes your dad, a famous social media influencer, and Mike Tyson, your dad might come last because he had the biggest significance in your life.

Write Three Questions to Answer in Each Section

Ok, you’ve done the heavy lifting already. You have the major sections organized and outlined.

Next on your autobiography to-do list is to choose and write down three questions you are going to answer in each section. You can write your questions down in the provided “boxes” for each section on the template outline (or on another piece of paper.

This is easier than it might seem.

Simply choose one of the sample autobiography questions below or create your own:

• Why did I choose this person/event?
• What does this person/event mean to me?
• How did I meet this person?
• Where did it happen?
• When did it happen?
• Why did it happen?
• How did it happen?
• What is the most interesting part?
• How did I feel about this person or event?
• How do I feel now?
• Why does this person or event matters to me?
• How did this person or event change my life?
• What is the most challenging part?
• How did I fail?
• How did I succeed?
• What did I learn?

Questions are the perfect way to write quickly and clearly. I LOVE writing to questions. It’s how I write these blog posts and articles.

Choose a Starter Sentence

Sometimes the hardest part of any project is knowing how to start.

Even though we know we can always go back and edit our beginnings, so many of us become paralyzed with indecision at the starting gate.

That’s why I provided sample starter sentences in your How to Write an Autobiography Blueprint.

Here are the story starters:

• I began writing this book when…
• Of all the experiences in my life, this one was the most…
• I’ve been a…
• My name is…
• Growing up in…
• It wasn’t even a…
• It all started when…
• I first…
• I was born…

Keep in mind that you do not need to begin your book with one of these story starters. I provide them simply to get you going.

The key is to not get bogged down in this, or any, part of writing your autobiography. Get organized and then get writing.

Complete a Title Template

At the top of the How to Write an Autobiography Outline is a place for you to write your book title.

Some authors struggle forever with a title. And that’s ok. What’s not ok is getting stuck. What’s not ok is if coming up with your title prevents you from finishing your book.

So, I provided a few title templates to help juice your creativity.

Just like the story starters, you do not need to use these title templates, but you certainly can. All you need to do is fill in the title templates below and then write your favorite one (for now) at the top of your outline. Presto! You have your working title.

You can always go back and change it later.

How to Write an Autobiography Title templates:

• [Your Name]: [Phrase or Tag Line]
• The [Your Last Name] Files
• Born [Activity]: A [Career]’s Life
• The Perfect [Noun]: The Remarkable Life of [Your Name]

Examples using the Templates:

• Christopher Kokoski: Blog Until You Drop
• The Kokoski Files
• Born Writing: A Blogger’s Life
• The Perfect Freelancer: The Remarkable Life of Christopher Kokoski

Write Your Autobiography

You have your outline. You have your title, templates, and sentence starters. All that is left to do is write your autobiography.

However, you can use tools like Jasper AI and a few other cool tricks to craft the most riveting book possible.

This is the easy way to remarkable writing.

Check out this short video that goes over the basics of how to write an autobiography:

How To Write an Autobiography (All the Best Tips)

Now that you are poised and ready to dash out your first draft, keep the following pro tips in mind:

• Be vulnerable. The best autobiographies share flaws, faults, foibles, and faux pas. Let readers in on the real you.
• Skip the boring parts. There is no need to detail every meal, car ride, or a gripping trip to the grocery store. Unless you ran into the Russian Mafia near the vegetables or the grocery store is perched on the side of a mountain above the jungles of Brazil.
• Keep your autobiography character-driven . This is the story of YOU!
• Be kind to others (or don’t). When writing about others in your story, keep in mind that there may be fallout or backlash from your book.
• Consider a theme: Many autobiographies are organized by theme. A perfect example is Becoming . Each section of the book includes “becoming” in the title. Themes connect and elevate each part of the autobiography.
• Write your story in vignettes (or scenes). Each vignette is a mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. Each vignette builds. Each vignette should be described in rich sensory language that shows the reader the experience instead of telling the reader about the experience. Each vignette is immersive, immediate, and intimate.
• Include snippets of dialogue. Use quotation marks just like in fiction. Show the dialogue in brief back-and-forth tennis matches of conversation. Remember to leave the boring parts out!
• Choose a consistent tone. Some autobiographies are funny like Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. Others are serious such as Open by Andre Agassi. Your story (like most stories) will likely include a mix of emotions but choose an overall tone and stick with it.
• Don’t chronicle, captivate . Always think about how to make each section, each chapter, each page, each paragraph, and each sentence more compelling. You want to tell the truth, but HOW you tell the truth is up to you. Create suspense, conflict, and mystery. Let drama linger until it becomes uncomfortable. Don’t solve problems quickly or take away tension right away.

How Do I Format an Autobiography?

Most autobiographies are written in the first person (using the pronouns I, me, we, and us).

Your autobiography is written about you so write as yourself instead of pretending to be writing about someone else.

Most autobiographies are also written in chronological order, from birth right up to your current age, with all the boring parts left out. That doesn’t mean you can’t play around with the timeline.

Sometimes it’s more interesting to start at a high moment, backtrack to the beginning and show how you got to that high moment.

Whatever format you choose, be intentional, and make the choice based on making the most compelling experience possible for your readers.

How Long Should an Autobiography Be?

There are no rules to how long an autobiography should be but a rough guideline is to aim for between 200 and 400 pages.

This will keep your book in line with what most readers expect for books in general, and will help get your book traditionally published or help with marketing your self-published book.

How To Write a Short Autobiography

You write a short autobiography the same way that you write a long autobiography.

You simply leave more out of the story.

You cut everything down to the bones. Or you choose a slice of your life as you do in a memoir. This often means limiting the people in your book, reducing the events and experiences, and shrinking your story to a few pivotal moments in your life.

How To Start an Autobiography

The truth is that you can start your autobiography in any number of ways.

Here are four common ways to begin an autobiography.

• Start at the beginning (of your life, career or relationship, etc.)
• Start at a high moment of drama or interest.
• Start at the end of the story and work backward
• Start with why you wrote the book.

Good Autobiography Titles

If you are still stuck on titling your autobiography, consider going to Amazon to browse published works. You can even just Google “autobiographies.”

When you read the titles of 10, 20, or 50 other autobiographies, you will start to see patterns or get ideas for your own titles. (HINT: the title templates in the Autobiography Blueprint were reverse-engineered from popular published books.

Also, check out the titles of the full autobiography examples below that I have included right here in this article.

Types of Autobiographies

There are several different kinds of autobiographies.

Each one requires a similar but slightly nuanced approach to write effectively. The lessons in this article will serve as a great starting point.

Autobiography Types:

• Autobiography for School
• Autobiography Novel
• Autobiography for a Job
• Short Autobiography
• Autobiography for Kids

Therefore, there is actually not just one way to write an autobiography.

Memoir vs. Autobiography: Are They The Same?

It’s common to feel confused about a memoir and an autobiography. I used to think they were the same thing.

But, nope, they’re not.

They are pretty similar, which is the reason for all the confusion. A memoir is the story of one part of your life. An autobiography is the story of your full life (up until now).

What Is the Difference Between an Autobiography and a Biography?

An autobiography is when you write about your own life. A biography, on the other hand, is when you write the story of someone else’s life.

So, if I write a book about the life of the President, that’s a biography.

If the President writes a story about his or her own life, that’s an autobiography.

What Not To Include In an Autobiography

Autobiographies are meant to be a snapshot of our lives that we can share with others, but there are some things that are best left out.

Here are three things you should avoid including in your autobiography:

1) Anything That Readers Will Skip

Your life may not be filled with non-stop excitement, but that doesn’t mean you need to include every mundane detail in your autobiography.

Stick to the highlights and leave out the low points.

2) Character Attacks on Others

It’s okay to discuss conflicts you’ve had with others, but don’t use your autobiography as a platform to attack someone’s character.

Keep it civil and focus on your own experiences and how they’ve affected you.

3) Skipping Highlights

Just because something embarrassing or painful happened to you doesn’t mean you should gloss over it in your autobiography.

These are the moments that shape us and make us who we are today, so don’t skip past them just because they’re uncomfortable.

By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your autobiography is interesting, honest, and engaging.

How To Write an Autobiography: Autobiography Examples

I have always found examples to be extremely instructive. Especially complete examples of finished products. In this case, books.

Below you will find examples of published autobiographies for adults and for kids. These examples will guide you, motivate you and inspire you to complete your own life story.

They are listed here as examples, not as endorsements, although I think they are all very good.

The point is that you don’t have to agree with anything written in the books to learn from them.

Autobiography Examples for Adults

• A Promised Land (Autobiography of Barack Obama)
• If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t) (Betty White)
• It’s a Long Story: My Life (Willie Nelson)
• Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography (Rob Lowe)
• Becoming (Michelle Obama)

Autobiography Examples for Kids

• This Kid Can Fly: It’s About Ability (NOT Disability) (Aaron Philips)
• Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid (Mikaila Ulmer)

Final Thoughts: How To Write An Autobiography

Thank you for reading my article on How to Write an Autobiography.

Now that you know all of the secrets to write your book, you may want to get it published, market it, and continue to upskill yourself as an author.

In that case, read these posts next:

• Can Anyone Write A Book And Get It Published?
• The Best Writing Books For Beginners 2022 (My 10 Favorites)
• Why Do Writers Hate Adverbs? (The Final Answer)
• How To Write a Manifesto: 20 Ultimate Game-Changing Tips

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Crafting Your Legacy: Compelling Memoir Title Ideas & Best Practices

Memoirs are powerful tools for preserving personal histories, sharing life lessons, and inspiring others through one’s unique experiences. Yet, before a reader even glimpses the first page, they are drawn in by one crucial element—the memoir’s title. Your title is the gateway to your story, the promise of the journey ahead, and a glimpse into the essence of your narrative.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the art of crafting compelling memoir titles and offer some best practices to guide you through the process. We’ll help you answer the question of how to make a good title for a story.

The Art of Crafting a Compelling Memoir Title Ideas

• Capture the Essence: Your memoir title ideas should encapsulate the heart of your story. Think about the central themes, emotions, or lessons you want to convey. Consider what makes your story unique and strive to distill that essence into a few well-chosen words.
• Embrace Emotion: Great memoirs are emotionally resonant. When thinking about good memoir titles, your book title should reflect the emotional journey of your narrative. Whether it’s joy, resilience, heartbreak, or redemption, convey the predominant emotion in your memoir through your title.
• Keep It Concise: A concise title is easier to remember and more visually appealing. Aim for brevity while still conveying the essence of your story. A long, convoluted title can be off-putting and may not stick in a reader’s mind.
• Evoke Curiosity: A compelling memoir title should pique the reader’s curiosity. It should leave them with questions, enticing them to delve deeper into your story. Consider posing a question or using an intriguing phrase that demands exploration.
• Use Metaphor and Symbolism: Metaphors and symbolism can add depth and layers to your title. They can hint at the underlying themes or events in your memoir, providing readers with a richer understanding of your story.
• Consider Wordplay: Wordplay, like alliteration or puns, can make your title more memorable and fun. However, be cautious not to overdo it, as it can detract from the seriousness of your memoir’s content.
• Seek Feedback: Don’t hesitate to seek feedback from friends, family, or writing peers. Their perspectives can provide valuable insights and help you refine your title. Who knows, maybe one of your family or friends will suggest good memory book title ideas!

At StorySavor, we understand that choosing the perfect title for your life story can be a challenging but rewarding process. How to title your story is a question that resonates deeply with us, and we’re here to guide you through it. Your life is a tapestry of experiences, emotions, and moments that deserve a title that does justice to the richness of your narrative. When it comes to how to title your story, we believe in capturing the essence of your journey, inspiring curiosity, and leaving a lasting imprint on your readers’ hearts.

Memoir Title Ideas for Inspiration

If you’re looking for creative autobiography title ideas, we’ve included a list of good book titles and what makes them so effective!

• Unbroken Bonds: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness: This title suggests themes of family dynamics and the healing power of forgiveness.
• Chasing Shadows: A Journey through Grief and Redemption: Evoking imagery of pursuit and transformation, this title hints at a story of loss and personal growth.
• Notes from the Wild: A Woman’s Solo Adventure: This title combines intrigue with empowerment, promising an adventurous memoir.
• Threads of Resilience: Stitching Life’s Challenges into Triumph: Metaphorical and empowering, this title suggests a story of resilience and overcoming adversity.
• Echoes of Yesterday: A Memoir of Love and Loss: This title invokes nostalgia and the passage of time, hinting at a poignant tale of love and its inevitable trials.
• Beyond the Horizon: Navigating Life’s Uncharted Waters: A title that suggests a journey into the unknown and the pursuit of personal growth and discovery.
• From Broken to Whole: A Journey of Self-Discovery: This title communicates transformation and self-acceptance, promising a powerful memoir of personal growth.

Hopefully some of these creative autobiography title ideas were able to demonstrate clever ways to incorporate your story and theme into the book’s title.

Best Practices for Crafting an Effective Memoir Title Ideas

Selecting the perfect titles for a book about your life is a deeply personal and meaningful endeavor. It’s a chance to encapsulate the essence of your unique journey in just a few words, to offer readers a glimpse into your world. Your life’s story deserves a title that not only reflects its most pivotal moments but also resonates with the emotions, lessons, and experiences that have shaped you.

Here are some best practices to follow:

• Research Existing Titles: Before finalizing your title, research existing memoir titles to ensure yours stands out and isn’t too similar to others. You want your memoir to be distinctive.
• Test Your Title: Share your title with a select group of people and gather feedback. Ask them what emotions or themes the title evokes and whether it piques their interest.
• Consider SEO: If you plan to market your memoir online, consider search engine optimization (SEO). Ensure that your title contains relevant keywords that potential readers might search for. Good memoir titles are more than just catchy, they can also drive internet traffic!
• Stay True to Your Story: While it’s important to craft a compelling title, it should also authentically represent your memoir. Avoid sensationalism or exaggeration that misrepresents your narrative.
• Stay Open to Change: Don’t be afraid to revisit and revise your title as you progress in your writing. Sometimes, the perfect title reveals itself as your memoir evolves.
• Seek Professional Guidance: If you’re struggling to come up with a title or want expert assistance, consider consulting a professional editor or a biography writing services company experienced in crafting compelling memoir titles.

Captivating Cover Photos and Memorable Memoir Title Ideas: A Winning Combination

When it comes to crafting a compelling biography, one often-underestimated aspect is how to design a good book cover. A well-designed book cover serves as the initial point of contact between your story and potential readers, making it crucial to get it right. So, how to design a good book cover? First, consider the essence of the biography and its central themes. This understanding will help you choose colors, imagery, and fonts that resonate with the narrative. Second, strive for visual simplicity and clarity, ensuring that the cover conveys the book’s message at a glance. A good book cover should be both eye-catching and informative. Lastly, invest in a skilled designer who can bring your vision to life, as professional design expertise can make all the difference in creating a book cover that not only grabs attention but also communicates the essence of your biography effectively. In the world of biography writing, knowing how to design a good book cover is the gateway to capturing the interest of your target audience and inviting them to explore the fascinating life story within.

They say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but when it comes to memoirs, the cover is often your first chance to make an unforgettable impression. In the world of biography writing, we understand the immense power that a compelling cover photo, coupled with a well-chosen memoir title, can have in getting people interested in reading your book. Let’s explore how this dynamic duo can work wonders for your memoir and give you some book cover inspo!

• The Visual Hook: Humans are inherently visual creatures. Our eyes are naturally drawn to striking and intriguing images. Your memoir’s cover photo is your visual hook, the image that can stop someone in their tracks and make them want to explore your story further. Whether it’s a captivating portrait of the author, a symbolic image, or a scene from your life, the cover photo sets the stage for the narrative within. You can even flip through old picture books for some book cover inspo – select the images that capture you the second you see them!
• Emotional Resonance: Crafting great memoir book cover ideas is all about evoking emotions and connecting with readers on a personal level. Your memoir’s title may hint at the emotions within, but the cover photo amplifies this effect. It can convey the essence of your story, the era in which it’s set, or the central theme, instantly resonating with potential readers on an emotional level.
• Storytelling in a Snapshot: Your memoir title may capture the essence of your story in words, but the cover photo accomplishes this in a single image. It’s a visual representation of your narrative that provides a sneak peek into the world readers will step into when they open your book. It’s like a snapshot of your life’s most compelling moments, inviting readers to explore the full album within.
• Intrigue and Curiosity: Just as a compelling memoir title sparks curiosity, so does a thought-provoking cover photo. It leaves readers with questions, encouraging them to open the book and uncover the answers. When these two elements work in harmony, you create an irresistible curiosity gap that draws readers in. Following this step alone sets a good memoir book cover idea from a bad one!
• Branding and Recognition: A memorable cover photo and memoir title can become part of your personal brand as an author. Think of iconic memoirs like “The Diary of Anne Frank” with its diary cover or “Steve Jobs” with a simple but powerful black-and-white portrait. These images have become synonymous with the stories they tell and the authors who wrote them.
• Online Visibility: In today’s digital age, your memoir will likely be discovered online. A captivating cover photo paired with a memorable memoir title can make your book stand out in online searches, social media posts, and e-bookstores. It’s the combination that ensures your memoir gets noticed in a crowded virtual marketplace.
• A Lasting Impression: Ultimately, the goal of your memoir is to leave a lasting impression on your readers. When they see your book on a shelf or a website, you want them to remember it, to be drawn to it, and to feel compelled to read it. A compelling cover photo and a good memoir title can achieve just that.

In conclusion, crafting a compelling memoir title is an art form that requires thought, creativity, and a deep understanding of your own story. It is your first opportunity to connect with readers, offering them a glimpse into the profound and transformative journey you are about to take them on. By following the best practices and seeking inspiration from successful titles, you can ensure that your memoir title not only grabs attention but also resonates with the core of your narrative, leaving a lasting impact on your readers’ hearts and minds.

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10 memoir title ideas and why they work so well

Sometimes, memoir titles come to you in a flash of inspiration, sometimes they need to be painfully extracted, one tortuous word after another. Sometimes, titles come before books. Sometimes, they only make themselves known to you after you’ve finished writing.

In this article, we’re going to review a range of memoir titles, and give you some prompts for coming up with memoir title ideas for your own books.

Good memoir titles should entice or intrigue the reader, evoke a sense or spirit of the book, and give readers a hint as to the tone of the story they’re going to read. A good memoir title can help sell a book, a bad one can sink it.

So how do you come up with a good memoir title for your book?

Good memoir titles come in many shapes and sizes

From snappy single-word memoir titles, to fragments of phrases, and snippets of conversation, there is no one-size-fits-all. There are occasional trends towards certain types of title – single-word titles ( Becoming, Arranged, Ghosted, Educated ) have been big, but the autobiography and memoir market has space for all kinds of titles. So don’t worry about trying to fit your title into a particular style.

To help you think up the best and most appropriate title for your memoir, here are some good memoir titles, grouped into types, drawn from books published in the last few years.

Single word memoir titles

There’s a trend for single word memoir titles, like Educated (Tara Westover), Toast (Nigel Slater), Redeemable (Erwin Jones), Stumped (Richard Harrison) and the most famous one-word memoir title of recent times, Becoming by Michelle Obama.

If you’re considering single word memoir titles, consider using active verbs like fighting, running, winning to give that sense of action and forward motion.

The ‘I told you I could eat a frog’ type memoir titles

Fragments of speech drawn from your manuscript can make for interesting titles.

One of my favourite examples of this approach is No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy (Mark Hodkinson). It’s a very elegant example of how a few carefully chosen words can really sum up the ethos, feel, and intentions of a whole book.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is the question her mother asked her when she learnt that her daughter was a lesbian. Again, that one line of speech sums up so much about that book. Just like fiction, memoirs often hinge on a point of conflict, and that question provides conflict in spades.

The familiar expression (or variation on a familiar expression) memoir titles

A popular device is to take a well-worn expression or saying as inspiration. Often, these kinds of titles subvert our expectations.

Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies suggests how a seemingly innocuous phrase can have a darker subtext.

Must Try Harder by Paula McGuire takes that old remark, beloved of school teachers, and uses it as a springboard for a book about how she fought against mediocrity.

Puntastic memoir titles

Me:Moir (by Vic Reeves, born James Moir) could just be the best title for a memoir of all time.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher is a nice play on wishful thinking.

The confrontational title

A shocking or confrontational title will make potential readers notice your book.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy is an arresting, confrontational, title that pulls no punches. The title leaves readers in no doubt that this is going to be an uncompromising memoir, and coupled with the cover image, a blackly comical one.

Positive and aspirational memoir titles

Many writers use their memoirs to show how they’ve overcome some trial or adversity, and in doing so, write with one eye on helping their readers. If you’re writing an unashamedly positive book, then you need an equally positive or aspirational title to go with it.

Some good examples:

Find A Way by Diana Nyad

Forward by Abby Wambach

Yes Please by Amy Poelher

And how about A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival  by Melissa Fleming. It’s a biography, not a memoir, but how beautiful is that title?

Intriguing memoir titles…

It’s hard to beat Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein as a title that conjures up so many questions that you want to dip in and find out the answers straightaway.

Clickbait memoir titles

Stephen Moffatt, the writer of the BBCs Sherlock and Doctor Who talked about slutty episode titles that drew viewers in. It can be a good approach to memoirs too.

I’m going to nominate a book I worked on called Sex, Suicide and Serotonin (Debbie Hampton) in this category, for obvious reasons.

The defining moment

Some stories are all leading up to one event, or inspired by the ramification of an event. In those cases, it makes sense to use that event as the basis of your title. Some books that do that include:

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Play on the contrasts

You can sum up the whole expanse of your memoir’s emotional or topical range by bringing out the extremes in your title. The expression ‘rags to riches’ is the obvious example of that kind of thinking.

Some memoirs that play with contrasts in their title are:

A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz

Memoir titles: the suffix and sub-title

Very often memoir writers will add the explanatory suffix – a memoir – to make it clear what a reader is going to get.

As well as the suffix, some memoirists add a sub-title to give extra context and meaning to the title. If you’ve chosen a subtly engaging memoir title, then your sub-title can give a bit more context.

Let’s say you’re going to call your memoir, Drowning Not Waving , you could add in an explanatory sub-title: Reflections of a Frazzled Father !

Or perhaps you want to write a book about surviving a difficult childhood. You don’t want to write a conventional ‘misery memoir’ but your publisher thinks that being known as a misery memoir might make your book more marketable. You can use your sub-title to hit that part of the market without compromising your intentions. For example: Unbroken: Not Just Another Misery Memoir .

Love, Interrupted by Simon Thomas features the sub-title: Navigating Grief One Day at a Time . The job of the sub-title in this case is to give potential readers a sense of what the book is about. Anyone hoping for a memoir going into detail on his days on Blue Peter or as a Sky Sports presenter will appreciate straightaway that this is a very different kind of book.

Another benefit of the memoir sub-title is that it gives you some key words to play with, which is useful for anyone trying to promote and market a book.

Memoir title ideas often come late in into the writing process

If the perfect memoir title hasn’t come to you before or during the writing process, don’t panic.

It makes sense that it should be easier to think up a title after you’ve finished writing your manuscript. At the start of the process, you have the freedom of knowing your book can be anything. But that freedom can be more of a distraction. Generally, when you work out a structure and start to shape the book, you’ll impose limitations on it, which will help you see the core of the book more clearly. And the clearer your vision gets, the easier it will be to come up with interesting and appropriate memoir title ideas.  

You may also find that if you started out with an idea of what you wanted your memoir title to be, it doesn’t actually fit the book you’ve written. So don’t be afraid of abandoning a title if it doesn’t work for you anymore.

Some prompts to help you come up with more memoir title ideas

Some writers rely on ‘free writing’ – they start with a blank page and write whatever comes into their head when they think about their life story. If that doesn’t give them ready-made titles, it can spark ideas that lead to titles.

If you’re still struggling to come up with a good memoir title, here are a few more ideas:

• As you were writing, did any themes loom larger for you than others? Any turns of phrase that kept cropping up?
• What do people always say about you? Are there any particular words or phrases they use to describe you? Could one of those work as your title?
• Could you go with a comic contrast, e.g. Punctual (for somebody who is known for being late).
• Are there are any things that people have said to you – or about you – that have really inspired you, challenged you, infuriated you, or spurred you on?

Too many memoir title ideas?

If you end up with too many good ideas for your memoir title, test your title ideas out with your friends and family. Is there a consensus on which titles work better than others? Do you find that, as you suggest the ideas, you start to feel more passionate about one of them?

If you still can’t decide, do a mock up of your cover, with the different title options. Sometimes, seeing an idea on the page can really help clarify your thoughts.

And don’t forget to Google your preferred title, to make sure it’s not already out there. Having a book with the same title as one that’s already been published isn’t very helpful when it comes to publicising and promoting your book, and selling it.

Let’s write the memoir, then worry about what to call it!

If you’re confident you’ve got a life story you want to tell, I’m confident we’ll find the perfect memoir title for it. Get in touch via my contact form if you’re looking for a ghostwriter to write your memoir – and we’ll give it the title that fits.

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How to Pick a Great Title and Cover Photo for Your Memoir

Your memoir is the story of your life, complete with all its twists, turns, ups, downs, surprises and triumphs. It’s an important book , both to you personally and to the friends and family who will read it in the years to come.

To celebrate the launch of the BookMaker - our unique in-house platform that we use to create all of our personalised biographies - we are opening up a free version of our questionnaire and book Cover Creator tool so that you can have make a start on putting your story together. 

That’s why it’s smart to spend some time thinking about the first things a reader will see when they pick up your book: the title and cover photo.

These two things together should sum up your story, while also inviting the reader to open the cover and dive into the narrative of your life. That’s no small job! So how can you go about selecting the perfect title and photograph to present your book to the world?

Whether your memoir is 5,000 words or 50,000, the title has to encapsulate it all. Here are some tips for making that happen:

Keep It Simple

It’s tempting to try to cram all the highlights from your memoir into your title. After all, you want to draw in your reader with all the most exciting parts of your story, right?

With a title, though, you should aim to capture the feel of your book without giving everything away. Keep your title relatively short, and focus it on a single concept or idea. StoryTerrace memoirs Reflections at 80, Born Different and Totally Driven are all great examples of titles that sum up a story without any risk of spoilers.

" When it comes to a title, the simplest and most obvious is always best, something that sums up the essence of your story and feels familiar to your loved ones. Much like the photo you choose for your front cover, the title will have often been with you throughout your life ...  " - StoryTerrace Editor Beth Williams

Match the Tone

What’s the tone of your memoir? Is your book about a life full of laughter, or is it about overcoming challenges? Will it make readers laugh or bring tears to their eyes?

The tone of your title should match the tone of your memoir, so that readers know what kind of journey they’re about to embark on. If your book is funny, make your title amusing too — but avoid a jokey title if your memoir is more serious or inspiring.

A Two-Parter?

You want your title to sound good, but you also want it to tell readers what to expect. Packing both into a short title can be a difficult task. So why not break your title in two?

Start with something punchy and short, then add a longer explanation. Patricia Coburn did this with her StoryTerrace memoir, Between Barbed Wire: Melodies of Survival & Songs of Forgiveness .

Find Inspiration

If you’re stuck for ideas, take a look at the titles of the books on your bookshelf. Which ones do you like the sound of? Jot them down and see if you can adapt them to fit your story.

Of course, when writing your memoirs with StoryTerrace, you don’t have to brainstorm alone! Ask your ghost writer to help you craft the perfect title.

Your Cover Image

Now that you’ve got your title, you need the perfect cover photo to accompany it. But how do you pick the right one from what might be hundreds of photographs on hand?

“ A great cover always starts with a meaningful photo. Often you will have loved and cherished this photo your whole life ...  ”

StoryTerrace Editor Beth Williams

Portrait or Landscape?

Most books are laid out in portrait rather than landscape; that is, they are typically taller than they are wide. Does this mean it’s always better to choose a portrait picture for the cover rather than a landscape one?

Yes and no. If you want your picture to occupy the entire cover, a portrait image is ideal, but landscape photographs can also be used. Designers can crop images, supplement them with other elements, or even wrap them around the entire cover.

So while it’s good to keep the orientation of your photo in mind, don’t worry too much if it’s not book-shaped. The most important thing is to make sure it’s evocative and high-quality.

A High-Quality Image

You want your chosen image to look great when reproduced in print. That means having a high resolution — a high number of pixels or Dots Per Inch (DPI). 600DPI is a good resolution to aim for.

That’s easy if you’re scanning in an old photograph  — just select a resolution of 600DPI or higher on your scanner. Some old digital photographs, on the other hand, might be too small or too low-resolution to look good on the cover of your book. These might be better off on one of the interior pages instead.

Action and Drama

Once you’ve narrowed down your selection to a few high-quality images. Great! Now you’ll want to pick one that is dramatic, interesting and lively.

If your cover image is a picture of you, you might consider choosing an image in which you’re laughing, or a picture taken on a particularly momentous day in your life. You might even select an old photo that evokes a feeling of happiness or nostalgia.

Particularly if looking through pictures of yourself, it can be difficult to “read” the mood of an image. Showing your shortlist of pictures to friends and family (or to your StoryTerrace ghost writer) can help you work out which one suits your memoir best.

Still stuck for ideas? Why not take a look at these inspirational covers , or take a look at your own bookshelf for some ideas of what looks good when it comes to a cover image.

Help Is at Hand

If your head is buzzing with ideas for great titles or cover photos for your memoir, great! But don’t worry if you’re still having trouble. You can bounce ideas off your StoryTerrace ghost writer or consult the design team at StoryTerrace for help with selecting an outstanding cover photo.

In fact, StoryTerrace is here to help you at every stage of the memoir-writing process. Our goal is to help you put your story into a book that you can be proud of — title and cover image included.

If you would like to make a start on your life story, you can create a free account on our BookMaker platform, to access our life story questionnaire and design your very own book cover - for free!

The link to sign up for free: www.storyterrace.com/free-questionnaire 

Are you thinking about writing your memoirs? Do you already have some ideas? Get in touch to arrange a chat with our friendly team to see how we can help. Or  join our mailing list for more expert guidance from our in-house team!

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How To Write An Autobiography: A Detailed & Comprehensive Guide

• March 28, 2022

When contemplating how to write an autobiography, many people are led to assume that it’s simple. It’s just your own life story, put through the writing process. However, when writing your own autobiography, you may find that the writing process is a little more complicated than just starting with your birth and telling the story of your own life up to the present moment.

A person’s life is more than just the big events, and it’s seldom ever a solitary story. There are life lessons that need to be included. Family members and their impact on you are a part of autobiography writing as well. If you want to write an autobiography, you have to be conscious of your life story, as a tale that built the person you are, not just a string of events.

This article will help you figure out how to write an autobiography so that it’s not just the story of your own life but a personal story that others can relate to, find inspiration in, and learn from.

What is an Autobiography?

An autobiography is more than just the life story of someone. The person’s life being described is your own; therefore, it is far more personal than a novel or work of fiction. It is essential to stay truthful when recalling your own memories. The slightest deviation in honesty is a slippery slope and can quickly take you from autobiography writing to fiction writing.

How An Autobiography is Different from a Biography

A biography is the telling of someone else’s life. You choose someone, such as a family member, a friend, or a famous person, and you tell the story of his or her own life while leaving your own story out of it. A biography takes a large amount of research and expertise regarding the subject’s life story and events that they lived through. An autobiography works in the same fashion, but it’s the story of you. You are the ultimate expert in your own life. Therefore, there’s not much research to be done.

Another significant difference between autobiographical writing and biographical writing is the voice that is used. When you write an autobiography, you want to use first-person writing. You are telling the story of you. Therefore you should tell it from your own point of view.

On the other hand, biographies should always be written from a third-person point of view. Third-person is using “he, she, they, them.” You were not there, you did not witness the events you are writing about, and therefore, you should be telling the story from an outsider’s viewpoint.

How an Autobiography is Different from a Memoir

A memoir tells your own story, but not your entire life story. Often written to convey a specific message, a memoir includes snippets and anecdotes that occur throughout your entire life. Still, it’s not the detailed story of a life in its entirety. Both of these types of writing are done in the first-person point of view. First-person uses pronouns such as “I, we, and us.”

For example, if you were to write a memoir about how 9/11 affected you personally, you might write about your life the year that the attack occurred. You may even give some bits of information about your childhood, your career, or your family life from before the event. Then you would provide details and focus on 9/11 itself and what you did and were doing that day. Later, you might skip ahead and give stories from your life about how it changed you, but you wouldn’t tell the story of your entire life.

Future Tense in an Autobiography

The future tense is tricky when it comes to writing. Most autobiographies recall events that have already occurred in a step-by-step process. This process takes the reader from the beginning to another point in the not-so-distant past or right up to the present.

The end is often written in the present tense, but most of the time, the story stops there. Basic principles of tense apply if you decide to speculate or include your hopes, dreams, or fears for the future.

Tips on How to Write an Autobiography

Your own autobiography should include details that encompass your life from birth to the present. When the writing process begins, you should write in the past tense to let the readers know that the events you are writing about have already occurred.

When you get to the present day, remember to switch your tense to the present tense so that the readers understand that you are discussing where you are in your life now. Mistakes in tense usage can be fixed in the first draft revision, but it’s best to try to get yourself in the habit of switching tenses as you go from the past events to the present day when you write an autobiography.

The following are other important tips about what content to include that will help you learn how to write an engaging and well-executed autobiography.

Autobiography Questions

Below are some autobiography questions that can guide you when writing about your life story:

• What has motivated you to write an autobiography?
• Who made a significant impact or influence in your life?
• Who are the people who surround you?
• What are the remarkable memories you have? 
• Did anyone not support you on your journey and you proved them wrong?
• What inspires you?
• What demotivates you?
• What do you consider the best time in your life?
• What quote best depicts and summarizes your life?
• How would you describe yourself?
• What kind of family relationships do you have?
• What moments in life do you feel like you could be truly proud of yourself?
• What do you think are some of your flaws?
• What do you desire to have in the future/where would you like to be?
• What do you do to upskill, and in which field would you like to focus your energy?
• What are your set of principles and personal values?
• How have your values defined who you are today?
• What is your dream career path?
• Have you advocated for something?
• If there was one thing you wanted everyone to know about you, what would it be?

Your Background

It’s essential to start by telling your readers where you’re from, when you were born, and who your family members are when you write an autobiography. 

This does not mean that you need to include how long your mother was in labor (unless the story of your birth is a particularly interesting one), what the hospital room number was, how much you weighed, how long you were, and what you scored on the Apgar test. Those are details that are nice to include in your baby book, but almost no one is interested in those details but you and your mom.

What you should include is where you were born (city, state, country), a story or two about a family member who meant a lot to you when you were a child or teenager, what your educational background was like, what kind of kid you were, and what your family life was like.

Keeping it general and sticking to just a few personal stories and anecdotes is enough. If you want to know how to write an autobiography that doesn’t bore the reader to tears or sleep within the first few pages, keep the details specific to significant events in your childhood, and keep the more drab and general stories to yourself.

Write About Hardship or Failure

While it may not be the most glamorous of life events you have experienced, writing about hard times, failure, and times of struggle help the reader relate to you, feel empathy and care about the story of your life. 

Making your life seem perfect simply because writing about something that didn’t work out, hurt you, or made you unpopular because you see it as embarrassing will only hurt you in the long run because the reader will not be engaged.

When you go back and read your first draft, ask yourself if what you have written will touch anyone who has struggled similarly to you. If not, go back and rewrite it to include at least a few stories of hard times.

Come Up with a Catchy and Compelling Title

Autobiographical writing doesn’t have to be boring, and neither should your title. Steer clear of titles such as; Jane Doe: An Autobiography. Unless you’re famous, you’re not compelling anyone to pick it up and read it. Equally boring is; Jane Doe: The Story of my Life.

Try to come up with something catchy and engaging when you come up with the title. Readers are more likely to read an autobiography written by someone with a witty or smart title than someone who didn’t have the writing skills or creativity to create something more original.

Instead, try for something like; A Beautiful Disaster: The Story of Jane Doe. This title denotes that you don’t take yourself too seriously, but you respect and love yourself while admitting that your life can sometimes be a mess.

You don’t even need to have your name in your title if you have a catchy title. Take this example into consideration; Hot Mess Express: The Story of One Tired Mom. This sort of title is fun, funny, and will catch the attention of mothers, especially those with young children.

Significant Events

When considering how to write an autobiography, keep in mind that significant events in your life should always be included. When you write an autobiography, you are looking for points in your personal story that impacted you and helped to shape you into the person that you are now.

Maybe that was a move across the country, the death of someone close to you, finding love, or your first kiss. Perhaps it was being the first person in your family to go to college, starting your own business, or the birth of your first child.

Be sure to include the less wonderful but still significant events in your life, as well. Things like your first heartbreak, divorce, the loss of a job, poverty you experienced, or trauma that compelled you to rise above your station and seek help to gain self-improvement or lessons learned from these experiences.

Have a Central Idea

What is the most important thing you want to say to the reader with this story? Is it that you started out with nothing and rose up to success? Is it that you had success and lost it all? Maybe it’s that love and dedication to family are more important than success in a career or climbing a social ladder.

Whatever your central idea, identify it and then figure out how you can put it in autobiography format.

The Steps Involved to Write an Autobiography

When thinking of how to write an autobiography, consider that the writing process begins in much the same way that it does with any sort of writing. You should consider following the following steps if you want to learn how to write an autobiography effectively.

Create an Autobiographical Outline

Just like any literary work, you should have an outline. After you have taken some time to reflect on what you want to include, get it written down in autobiography outline form. Include all of the parts of your life that you think you might want to incorporate, and then separate them into categories, focusing on what you think will be of medium to high interest to a reader.

What is meant by “medium to high interest” is that the events are significant enough to garner enough interest for the reader. That they will feel compelled to continue reading to see what happened to you next or how you got through an event or part of your life that you describe.

Do Your Homework

Just because you know what happened to you, and you have the general information and experiences from things like your childhood, it doesn’t mean that you have the knowledge to write it well.

If you don’t know how to describe the setting, society in the era you’re writing about, and the culture, it will seem that you don’t know how to write an autobiography, and readers will start to lose interest.

Look into things like the area you grew up in and what life was like in that area when you were a child. Get a family history from members of your family, such as where your family originated from, what your parents and grandparents did for a living, and any other significant information you may need that you don’t know about the people from whence you came.

Complete the First Draft

Your first draft may not be very clean, and it will most likely have things in it that need to be cut out. You may get too wordy talking about specific periods of your life and may not supply enough story to others. You won’t know until you get that first draft under your belt.

Once you complete this draft, take some time off and let the work sit. Taking a break before revisiting puts distance between yourself and your story, and you’re far more likely to be able to come at the revision process in an open-minded matter once you have that distance.

Revise and Rewrite

As with any writing that you do, whether it’s an autobiography, novel, personal essay, research paper, or news article, you have to revise your work. Proofread, fix simple and obvious mistakes, and add to the things that need more description while cutting out the unnecessary parts.

Once you have fixed grammar mistakes and taken the story from what looks like a personal diary to a narrative account of your life experiences, you can start writing the next draft. Make sure to determine your desired writing style before you rewrite, and make sure that the content matches that style.

How to Properly Structure an Autobiography

Whether you’re writing a full-length book or an autobiographical essay, you still have to have structure to your writing. While an autobiographical essay is shorter, the structure is much the same. The following are some tips that will help you figure out how to write an autobiography format that works well.

Write in Chronological Order

While it’s perfectly fine for a novel to have a timeline that skips and jumps around, the best way to tell a good story of your own experiences and personal memories is to do so in chronological order or the order in which things happened.

The very beginning of your autobiography should cover your birth, then childhood, then education, then young adulthood, on up to the present moment. This creates a timeline of each significant personal experience that is easy to follow and doesn’t confuse the reader.

Don’t Fictionalize Names or Places

Professional writers of fiction often create characters based on people they know or even themselves. They give these characters fake names and personas and rename towns and businesses so as not to make the writing too personal. All the details of the real people may be present, but when you write fiction, you have the freedom to change things.

An autobiography covers actual events, so the writing needs to be honest. If you grew up in Toledo, Ohio, say that. Don’t make up the name of a town. If you grew up with a mother named Tess, say that. Don’t give her a fake name. Being truthful about your family and your life is essential. You’re not the only character in this story, and it’s unfair and not suitable to misrepresent a setting or person in your life.

Add Family Photos or Other Personal Touches

The most compelling television episodes are the ones in which there is a strong story and a strong visual to accompany it. You can create an effect very close to this by including photos, artwork, letters shared by people close to you, and more. Just be sure that you ask for and are granted permission before you do this, especially if the photos are used to identify weak moments in your life for any reason.

Be Thorough in Describing Pivotal Moments

Significant moments in life that occur, such as academic achievements, turning points, and the things that build up to a story arc for you, need to be built up in a way that creates both interest and intrigue for your reader. Include details like how negative experiences shaped your understanding or outlook on things or how you learned to be completely free of stress because of how stressful and frantic your life used to be.

These things make up the critical elements in what amounts to a full life. And being completely transparent and thorough in the telling of it gives the reader the freshest possible perspective, especially if you acknowledge as the writer that you are reflecting upon the story you’re telling, as you tell it.

The Final Draft When Writing an Autobiography

So you’ve completed all of the steps mentioned above, and you’ve worked out your outline, title, and other details that seem small but are incredibly important. Now it’s time to write the final draft so that your favorite story, the story of you, can become someone else’s favorite story.

The Last Revision

Once you have completed that final draft , you still need to go back and ensure that everything you wanted and needed to include is present and accounted for. Clarity is sometimes an issue when a person is trying to figure out how to write an autobiography. Try reading your story aloud, and if it makes sense to someone else or even to you as you read it with your own voice, then it’s probably thorough enough.

Make Sure the Title Agrees with the Content

The last thing you want is a misleading title. Make sure that the title goes along with your autobiography’s overall tone and message.

For example, if you wrote a sad story about heartache and loss of hope, don’t title your story: Little Miss Sunshine: The Story of One Woman from the Midwest. Be sure that the mood, message, and tone align with the title you have decided on. If they don’t fit, it’s much easier to change the title than the mood and tone of the story.

Autobiography Format

Below we have outlined the format that you can utilize when writing an autobiography:

• Title – It should reflect what your life story conveys or what it is like to be you.
• Dedication – This section states whom you would like to dedicate your autobiography.
• Table of Contents – It helps your readers to locate specific parts of your autobiography.
• Acknowledgments – This is where you express your gratitude to the people who have helped you on your journey.
• Foreword – It highlights the purpose of the autobiography.
• Introduction – This provides a glimpse of who you are as the author, and if this is effective, the reader will continue reading your book.
• Body Section – This is where the events in your life are chronologically narrated, along with all the necessary details. It can contain many headings and subheadings.
• Conclusion – This is where you share all your revelations and successes, while also referencing your own personal experiences.
• Memorabilia – You may include significant pictures or any other objects that have impacted your life.
• Index – It helps the reader browse through your autobiography by using main keywords or concept words.

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How To Come Up With Autobiography Titles

When you write a story about yourself, one of the most difficult aspects of the creative process isn’t putting in the stories you want to tell. It’s coming up with a title for that story. Knowing how to come up with autobiography titles that are good is a skill set that requires some practice to get right. The first title you think up isn’t always the best title – but it could be.

Let’s go through the creation process step by step so that you can figure out that great title for your story today.

#1. No puns. Just don’t do it.

You’ll find a lot of autobiographies have incorporated puns as part of the title. From Wink Martindale’s Winking at Life to Tori Spelling’s sTORI Telling , a bad pun creates a negative first impression for many readers. Just be simple and straight forward with the title based on the stories you’ve told. If you were a war veteran, a good title might be The Battles I’ve Fought and Won .

#2. Humor can backfire on you.

Humor within a title for an autobiography can be a good thing. Take Joe Namath’s autobiography title for example: I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow ‘Cause I Get Better Looking Every Day . The humor fits with the public personality that Namath has always presented. It’s a good fit. If you can come up with a humorous title that fits your personality, then roll with it.

What you shouldn’t do is try to force the humor on others. When Russell Brand released his autobiography, it was titled My Booky Wook . Not as impressive.

#3. Describe what is important to you.

Ultimately your autobiography has one key point that you’re trying to make. It’s more than a collection of stories. It’s a commentary about what you’ve learned in life. What is that one key lesson that you’re trying to make? Or are there several key points that are being made? Figure that out and you may just have the title for your autobiography. A good example of this comes from Nelson Mandela and his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom .

But that key point needs to be interesting. There must be a purpose communicated to the reader that they will have a valuable experience from reading your autobiography. Peter Marshall’s autobiography Back Stage With the Original Hollywood Square doesn’t quite make that grade.

#4. Capture the attention of the reader.

There are three ways that you can effectively capture the attention of a reader with an autobiography title.

• Be self-deprecating. If you take your biggest fault and make it your title, then the humble reflection will be something that will attract people to your autobiography.
• Be controversial. One of the best examples of this method comes from Charles Grodin: It Would Be So Nice If You Weren’t Here . If you’ve done something that isn’t socially acceptable, it might make for a great title.
• Be concise. You can’t get much shorter than the title of Katherine Hepburn’s autobiography: Me . If you can make your title be three words or less, then it will generally be more memorable to the reader who is interested in picking it up.

#5. Be evocative with your descriptions.

This is one of the benefits of being a relatively unknown person when writing an autobiography. You can choose a very descriptive title that brings about evocative mental images for the reader involved. Many of these “unknowns” have become reading staples in our society today. Think about stories like Girl, Interrupted or Reading Lolita in Tehran and then think about what you’ve done that could create similar emotions.

#6. Test out your titles with trusted friends and family.

In this final step, you’ll first want to come up with 3-5 titles that you’d be happy having for your autobiography based on the steps above. Then take those titles and test them out with your family and friends. See which ones they prefer. Have them give you one answer. Ask as many people as you like because the goal is to trim your titles down to 2 from this process.

Then take those two titles to everyone you know. Create a poll on Facebook or Twitter. Ask people for email feedback. Ask them to choose one title from the two. If the results are solidly in favor of one title, then that’s what you’ll call your autobiography. If the results are mixed, then go back to the 3-5 titles and ask again. If you still have mixed results, come up with 3-5 new titles and try again.

A good autobiography title goes a long way

Although a bad autobiography title won’t kill your story off completely, it won’t do it any favors. A good title can entice more people to read your stories. Follow these steps and you’ll know how to come up with autobiography titles that are great as soon as today.

If you’ve found these tips on picking an autobiography title useful, check out these further resources:

Biography vs autobiography what is the best autobiography layout memoir vs autobiography 9 great autobiography writing tips how to publish an autobiography.

This 47-page mini-ebook gives you everything you need to start writing your own autobiography, including:

–Developing an overall theme

–Outlining your autobiography

–Choosing a winning title

–Best autobiography layouts

–Autobiography marketing strategy and more!

Your guide is on its way! Check your inbox.

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15 Autobiography Examples to Inspire Your Own

POSTED ON Oct 25, 2023

Written by Nicole Ahlering

So you’re ready to write an autobiography ! Congratulations; this can be a gratifying personal project. And just like any creative endeavor, it’s a great idea to start by getting inspired. 

In this article, we’re sharing 15 stellar autobiography examples to get your wheels turning. We’ll also share some need-to-know info on the different types of autobiographies and autobiography layouts, and we’ll leave you with a list of catchy ways to start your book. Let’s get going!

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What are the different types of autobiographies .

As it turns out, there are many different ways to write a book about yourself. You can go the traditional autobiography route, which is a chronological account of your entire life. Or you can write a memoir , which zeroes in on specific themes or time periods in your life. 

If you’d like, your autobiography can be composed of individual personal essays, or you can blend your autobiography with literary techniques to create a piece of creative nonfiction . 

There are graphic autobiographies that use comics or other combinations of images and text to illustrate your life story, or you can simply publish an edited version of your journal or diary . 

You can write a travelog that documents your life through your adventures or blend elements of your life with made-up stories to create autobiographical fiction . 

When it comes to sharing your life story, there are few rules!

How can I lay out my autobiography? 

Did you know there are multiple ways you can structure your autobiography? The most common is to put it in chronological order . But you can also lay out your book in reverse chronological order or even jump around in time .

Here are a few other layouts to consider: 

• Thematic or topical . As you outline your autobiography, pay attention to themes that emerge. You can lay out your autobiography by central ideas rather than by time. 
• Flashback and flash-forward. This nonlinear approach can be a great way to create some excitement and intrigue in your life story.
• Cyclical structure. Is there one event that you feel defined your life story? Why not try circling back to it throughout your book? This can be an interesting way to demonstrate how your perspective changed with time. 

If you need a little more help laying out your autobiography, we have free autobiography templates and free book templates to help you. 

Related: 50 Eye-Catching Autobiography Titles

15 Autobiographies to inspire your own 

Ready to get your creative juices flowing? Here are some examples of autobiography to add to your reading list. 

1. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

One of the best-known autobiographies, The Diary of a Young Girl, is an excellent example of a journal-style layout. Featuring the story of a young girl who is hiding during the Holocaust, aspiring writers will find inspiration in Frank’s raw emotions and candor. 

2. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda 

A favorite of Steve Jobs, this autobiography details the author’s spiritual journey through yoga and meditation. It’s a wonderful example of how to blend the recounting of events with spiritual insights and philosophical teachings. 

3. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela 

The former South African president wrote this stunning autobiography about his struggle against apartheid, his imprisonment, and his presidency. Aspiring autobiography writers who want to write a book about social change should read this one. 

4. The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi

In his autobiography, Gandhi explores his philosophy of nonviolent resistance through his political and spiritual journey. Writers will appreciate this book for the way it weaves stories of personal growth into a larger narrative of social change. 

5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

One of several autobiographical works by Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings explores her coming-of-age experience amidst racism and a traumatic childhood. Writers should read this to hear Angelou’s powerful story and be inspired by her vivid language. 

6. The Story of My Life by Hellen Keller

Keller details her remarkable life as a deaf and blind person, sharing intimate details about her education and advocacy work. Aspiring writers will benefit from reading Keller’s sensory-rich language since she has the unique experience of navigating the world through touch.

7. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

This autobiography, written in collaboration with journalist Alex Haley, tracks Malcolm X from his youth through his adulthood as a prominent activist in the civil rights movement. Read this one to learn tips and tricks for writing about your personal evolution. 

8. The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow 

Darrow shares his experiences as a civil libertarian and prominent American Lawyer in this enlightening autobiography. Writers should read this one to learn how to build a persuasive argument in their book. 

9. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 

South African comedian, television host, and political commentator Trevor Noah wrote this autobiography detailing his upbringing during apartheid in South Africa. This is a must-read for writers who are looking to infuse humor into their autobiographies—even when writing about heavy subjects . 

10. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

In her autobiography, Yousafzia recounts her tumultuous and sometimes terrifying journey advocating for equal education for girls. If you want to write your own autobiography, read this one first to learn how to bring an authentic voice to your narrative. 

11. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Boom’s autobiography shares the harrowing story of her family’s efforts to hide Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Writers should read this to witness how Boom weaves a historical narrative into her life story. 

12. Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie 

Renowned mystery writer Agatha Christie took time away from her suspenseful novels to write a book about herself. If you plan to write an autobiography, read Christie’s first to learn how to build a sense of intrigue. 

13. Chronicles: Volume 1 by Bob Dylan 

If you’re an artist writing your autobiography, you’ll be inspired by Dylan’s. It shares his unique perspective on the creative process in music and literature and delves into what it means to maintain your artistic vision. 

14. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 

This well-known autobiography may make you cry, but it’s well worth the read. Written by a surgeon as he faces a terminal illness, it’s a must-read for any author exploring themes of mortality in their writing. 

15. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama 

This autobiography by the former U.S. president is a great read for anyone aspiring to write an autobiography that intertwines their personal story with a larger societal and political narrative. 

• 31 Best Autobiographies
• 30 Celebrity Autobiographies

What is a catchy autobiography introduction? 

Sometimes the hardest part of a new project is getting started. If you’re ready to begin writing your autobiography and need a good opener, here are some angles to consider: 

• Start by describing a childhood dream and how it influenced your journey. 
• Open with a letter to your younger self.
• Share a formative childhood memory. 
• Start with a thought-provoking question you’ll answer as your book progresses.
• Talk about an object that’s meaningful to you and tie it to a larger story about your life.

With so much inspiration and so many wonderful resources, there’s never been a better time to write your autobiography. If, after reading a few books on this list, you’re not sure where to start with yours—let us help! Just sign up for a book consultation to get started.

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How to Write an Autobiography that Sells in 10 Easy Steps

by Bennett R. Coles

Writing your autobiography is, at its core, no different than writing any other type of nonfiction book. You still need to write for a specific target audience — even if the subject matter happens to be 100% about you!

To be successful, you need to learn how to write an autobiography that can truly make a difference in people’s lives. In order to do that, and before you even put pen to paper, you first need to clearly establish whose life you want to impact and what is the core message or central theme you want to convey to them.

Once you have this important information nailed down (which are the first two steps of the 10-step process), the rest will just flow naturally to a happy conclusion you’ll be proud of.

Let’s begin!

Step 1: Define Your Target Audience

Whenever someone picks up a nonfiction book , chances are they’ll be tuned into the frequency that rules their lives: WIIFM. If you’re wondering what this acronym spells out, it’s What’s In It For Me . Whether we like to admit it or not, many of us (most of us?) tend to approach our lives and make decisions in a self-centered fashion.

Of course, we deeply care about our loved ones and friends, but outside of that close realm whenever we’re presented with new information, especially if it entails making a purchasing decision, our headphones are constantly playing WIIFM full blast.

If you want your book to cut through that filter, you must know clearly what’s in it for your target audience, otherwise your book will never be picked up and consumed.

Yes, your autobiography will tell your story, but it must be written in a way that a specific group of people can identify with it, see themselves in your story and be able to learn valuable lessons that’ll help them in their lives.

The worst kind of autobiography you can write is a chronological description of your life’s events beat by beat without any central theme — although highly relevant and meaningful to you and those who know you, it’ll lack meaning for anyone else.

Only someone with a highly celebrated trajectory and large following like Michelle Obama might get away with that simplistic approach (although her recent book Becoming has a well thought out through-line) but only because she knows her target audience very well.

This is an inescapable aspect of the world of nonfiction. Before you write your book , you need to find out who your audience is.

Step 2: Define Your Central Theme

Now that you’re thinking about your target audience, it’s time to nail down your central theme or idea. The best way to approach this task is to reflect on your life as it is right now. What are the lessons you feel have shaped you the most:

• Overcoming a major obstacle, like poverty, injustice, gender, racial, sexual orientation or other systemic prejudice, etc. that many others also suffer from
• Overcoming a major illness or a major physical or psychological trauma that will give hope to other sufferers
• Achieving a level or personal, psychological or spiritual freedom that others are passionately seeking
• Helping make your community or the world a better place and wanting to inspire others to follow your path

Or maybe you have the experience of an immigrant, a refugee, a victim of abuse or a single parent who against all odds and with minimal resources managed to put your children through college, perhaps for the first time in your family.

Now, I don’t mean to imply here that you have to endure a great deal of suffering in order to be in a position to write an autobiography, but in order to be successful you must have a specific life experience that will make a significant impact on others, that will resonate clearly with your target audience.

This through-line in your life experience will become your central theme or idea.

Step 3: Research Other Autobiographies

Once you know your central idea and who your target audience is, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and begin to research the field.

One of the best ways to accelerate mastery at something is to learn from the masters themselves. Go to the library, or if you have the means, purchase 3-5 popular autobiographies and read them cover-to-cover, at least twice — first as a reader, then as a writer.

Now, these books don’t have to be written by famous people or by celebrities, but they do need to be bestsellers. You’ll be surprised how many non-famous people have written bestselling autobiographies — they just found a message that deeply resonated with their target audience!

In the second pass, make copious notes of how the author is using certain descriptive devices or perhaps certain hooks or angles to drive their narrative. Note how they manage to permeate their central idea throughout their book chapter after chapter.

Note how they make use of the power of story-telling to enhance the reading experience and make it more engaging, entertaining or emotional.

Next, allow yourself to be swept away by the text and laugh or cry as you read; go where your emotions take you. But then, re-read the same passages with a clinical approach and try to figure out how the author is achieving such a deep level of connection. These are the powerful lessons you need to learn from masterful writers .

By the time you’re done with your reading passes, you should be armed with plenty of notes to be ready to begin the next phase (if you own the books, you should have plenty of dog ears, highlighting, underlining, notes in the margins and overall messiness).

Step 4: Brainstorm Your Life and Your Story

With steps 1-3 under your belt, it’s finally time to begin dissecting your own life. Now, the reason that we left this step till now is that it makes no sense to make an inventory of your entire life before you know your central idea or your target audience.

Imagine if this task were moved to step 1 and you spent several days, weeks or even months recalling, perusing, cataloging and writing down events, anecdotes, thoughts and even spent time interviewing family members, only to find out later on that just half of the information you collected is actually useful for your central theme, and the other half relates to stuff that your target audience doesn’t really care for.

This is why it’s critical that you leave this step until now, when you’re clear why you’re writing an autobiography — to be of service to others!

So, now it’s time to make an inventory of your life events from birth to present as they intersect with your central idea, those life experiences that were foundational to you becoming who you’ve become.

What you are (generally) looking for are:

• Stories with vivid characters from your past
• Events that have had an impact on you in relation to your central theme
• Anecdotes that add substance to your story
• Characters that were central to your life experience (positively and negatively)
• Vignettes and recollections from childhood

In short, anything that relates directly to your central idea. Take lots of notes because these details will form the foundation of your entire autobiographical project. Armed with this information, it’s now time to begin the outlining process .

Step 5: Mind Map Your Autobiography

Now it’s time to take in all this information and turn it into a mind map . Mind mapping is a technique that encourages creativity through radial thinking. It’s triggered by taking a main idea (in your case, your autobiography’s central theme) and placing it at the center of a chart, like the one below:

You then proceed to break down this central idea into its main components, branching out radially and away from the middle of the chart. Next, you go a step deeper by breaking down the main components into sub-components, also radially out, and then repeat this process as many times as necessary.

Your goal is to take all of your information and place it on the mind map by first tackling the major elements of your life as they relate to your central idea, and then breaking them down further into more specific aspects of your biography .

This process may take you some time, so don’t rush it. Your mind map will be quite a living document at the beginning, and you may end up making constant changes and small adjustments as you fine-tune it.

One way to go about it is to use a large table with index cards or color-coded post-it notes spread out on top so that you have the freedom the shuffle things around as you build out your mind map.

As you go through the process, make sure to constantly take pictures of the evolving map with your smartphone to keep a record of your progress in case you want to quickly revert to a previous idea.

When will this process be completed? It’s hard to say, but you’ll know you’re ready to move on when you feel that you’ve reached a point of diminishing returns. When you do, it’s time to create your outline.

Step 6: Outline Your Autobiography

Once your mind map is completed, the creation of your book outline will be a cinch. All you have to do is to make each main branch out of your central idea a chapter and each sub-branch a sub-chapter.

Beginning with the first branch out of the center of the mind map, create a linear structure in your word processor like this:

A- Branch 1

          1- Sub-branch 1-1

          2- Sub-branch 2-1

          3- Sub-branch 3-1

B- Branch 2

          1- Sub-branch 1-2

          2- Sub-branch 2-2

C- Branch 3

          1- Sub-branch 1-3

          2- Sub-branch 2-3

and so on…

Your main goal in creating your outline is not just to act as the precursor of your table of contents, but to act as writing prompts to get your creative juices going so you don’t have to struggle to come up with content. In fact, you’ll notice that with the right prompts the book will begin to write itself!

Step 7: Come Up With a Title (or Working Title)

Now, for inspiration, come up with a title , or at least a working title that relates to your central idea and to your target audience. This title must capture the essence of your life experience and it’ll act as the beacon that will guide you through your writing.

Don’t worry about making it “catchy” or compelling at this stage because you’ll be tweaking your title as you move forward. Just come up with something that you feel captures the essence of what you’ll be writing about and that reminds you of your target audience.

Step 8: Time to Begin Writing

All right! Now it’s time to begin the writing process in earnest. Remember that by using the mind map process you won’t experience writer’s block or struggle for words because you already have all the writing prompts you need in your book outline from step 6.

Believe me when I say that once you pick a section to work on (you can choose any section that inspires you that day, this doesn’t have to be a linear process) the words will begin with a trickle and then become a flood that will see you writing for several hours on end. In fact, you’ll need to have the discipline to write on a schedule or you may burn out!

Step 8.1) Write Every Day

The rule of every professional author is to write for the same amount of time every day. Now, while professionals are used to working for several hours at a time, I recommend that you work for a maximum of two hours a day, unless you’re no longer working full time and have extra time to spend, in which case I advise that you write for at most three hours.

The key to success is consistency. What you don’t want to do is be super excited and write for five hours solid until you’re creatively spent and then skip a day. This isn’t a recipe for success. Just make sure that during those two or three hours, everyone close to you knows not to interrupt your writing process (short of an emergency) so that you can write efficiently.

Also, when you write you want to be off the grid, even if you’re using a computer hooked up to WiFi. If you’re doing your writing online, say using Google Docs, fight the temptation to go on the Internet to browse something you want to research further — this will kill your creative flow. Do any online research that’s necessary outside of your writing time.

If you don’t have this discipline, the Internet will become a rabbit hole of wasted time that will stop your book project in its tracks, extend it unnecessarily, and worse, decrease the quality of your writing.

Creating a compelling autobiography that connects with an audience is an intimate endeavor that must only include you and your thoughts, with no eternal interference of any kind. So, stay away from your browser, set your portable devices to airplane mode and mute your computer’s sound.

Step 8.2) Use Your Authentic Voice

Whenever you write to connect with others, particularly through an autobiography, you must always write with your authentic voice. This is the only way to truly connect with your target audience. And in order to be truly authentic, you must allow yourself to be vulnerable.

An autobiography is a very personal account of your life and as such it needs to include your most vulnerable writing. This is the only way you’ll be able to create a deep bond with your audience. If you’re too guarded in your writing, if you try to put up any defensive barriers in order to protect yourself or your ego, your readers will disconnect.

One of the main reasons people struggle in their lives is because of their reticence to open up and allow themselves to be vulnerable (for many valid reasons) and they’re looking for authors to be open and honest, thus giving them encouragement or perhaps permission to do the same.

In short, never try to be someone you’re not and never hide behind your words — your audience will greatly appreciate it.

Step 8.3) Fictionalize Facts to Protect People’s Privacy

Finally, since you’ll be writing an autobiography, you’ll likely have no choice but to bring other people into your narrative, perhaps family members, perhaps friends or even total strangers.

In all cases, your job is to protect their privacy. So make sure to disguise relationships and names and on occasion places and times by fictionalizing them, unless those people give you explicit written permission to use their names and likenesses in your book.

You don’t want to be faced with a libel suit for writing something that someone else feels misrepresents them and hurts their reputation.

Step 9: Hire a Professional Editor

Once you have a completed manuscript, you’ll be making many revisions and rewrites; this is part and parcel of the iterative process called book writing . But at some point, over the weeks and months, you’ll feel that you’ve taken your autobiography as far as you can and it’s now time to hand it over to the professionals in the trade.

Professional editors are central to the success of books of any genre. You may find some very famous authors who don’t have an agent (Colin Dexter, of Inspector Morse’s fame comes to mind), but you’ll never find one without an editor . In fact, they would never dare publish an unedited book and neither should you.

Why? Because your book is your legacy and an extension of you and your reputation. A poorly edited book ( self-edited or edited by a family member or friend who’s an English teacher) will be immediately deemed amateurish in the eyes of the world when it comes out, even if it looks okay to you. Your book will never be judged in isolation, but in relation to your well-edited competitors!

So, make sure that you budget for a professional editor to take your diamond in the rough and make it shine to its full splendor — you’ll never regret making this important investment.

Step 10: Hire a Professional Book and Cover Designer

Last but not least, and in spite of the popular saying to the contrary, all books are judged by their covers, and by extension by their layout. If you do this design work yourself, or farm it out to inexperienced hands, the result will always appear to be amateurish in relation to your well-produced competitors.

This is not a high expense and it’s worth every penny. If your book cover is not attractive and suited for the type of book you’ve written, it’ll be dismissed by the market and be destined to obscurity. The same goes for your interior design.

For example, the wrong choice of font may appear right to your eyes, but in the eyes of the readers it may result in headaches. Believe it or not, the wrong choice of font design, line spacing, font size and character spacing can make your book really hard to read.

Also, your font may be okay to read but happen to be the wrong font for the type of book you’re writing. Font is art and so is your writing and they must be in harmony to be enjoyed.

In short, make sure that you hire capable professionals to edit and design your book and you’ll ensure a lasting legacy of your life’s work.

Best of luck!

If you enjoyed this article and are in the process of writing a nonfiction book, be sure to check out my free  nonfiction success guide , drawn from years of experience editing books for bestselling authors (including a New York Times bestseller) and ghostwriting for CEOs and politicians.  Simply click here to get instant access .

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions  or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an  author services firm  that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to write a compelling book in 12 steps: a must-read guide for nonfiction authors, what to look for in a top book self-publishing company, the 7 most effective book promotion ideas for nonfiction authors.

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Autobiography Topics: Create Your Life Story

Writing about yourself is probably the most difficult type of writing. It is easy to describe people, events, or phenomena around, but it is quite hard to look inside your own mind and heart and to express everything that you find there. Why do people need autobiographical writing? There are numerous reasons. Some people want to save their memories, and others want to show that they are suitable for a certain college or vacancy. Some of us simply need a way to share emotions and reveal hidden feelings with the help of writing. You can find more reasons in our guide on  how to write an autobiography .

Different types of autobiographies serve different purposes. In the article below, we’ll provide you with an autobiography topics list divided into several parts: autobiography ideas, memoir topics, autobiographical essay topics for students, and personal essay ideas. You’re welcome to use all these materials in order to create your own piece of writing.

Autobiography Ideas: Instructions and Creative Titles

An exhaustive autobiography covers your entire life, and there is no need to recommend particular topics. There is only one topic – you. However, we’ve decided to give you some instructions. In such a way, you will have a basis to start from. Don’t forget that your autobiography should be titled appropriately in order to draw the attention of potential readers. That is why we also recommend you to look through the list of creative autobiography title ideas.

The autobiography belongs to the category of creative writing. Consequently, there are no particular requirements or rules you should follow. Anyway, you may follow our instructions to facilitate the writing process. You should include these chapters in your autobiography:

• Early years
• Family members
• Teenage problems
• First work experience
• Important people
• Life-changing events
• Challenges you have faced

You can pick several points or include all of them – it doesn’t matter. Inspiration and your desire to write an autobiography are much more important. If you want a wide audience to be interested in your writing, you should create an interesting title. Here are some options to think about!

10 Inspiring Autobiography Title Examples

• Long Way to Myself
• Me & My Troubles
• Short Story of a Long Life
• Steps Forward and Steps Back
• Why Not, or How I Have Changed My Life
• Being Good in This Cruel World
• Why I Don’t Believe in Faith
• Decisions and Choices: What If?
• Trying to Make a Difference
• One, Two, Three: Fight With My Life

Memoir Topics: Share Priceless Memories

If you want to tell your readers about a certain period of your life, choose a genre of memoir. While an autobiography is the book of your entire life, a memoir is just one chapter. As a rule, a memoir is much shorter than an autobiography, so you’ll spend a lot less time writing it. Many famous people create memoirs to share the stories of their success or to let their fans learn more about true facts of their life. We highly recommend you to read several memoirs in order to find inspiration to compose your own.

If you can’t get inspired enough, payforwriting is here to help you! Pick one of these autobiography ideas and topics for a memoir and create a real masterpiece:

1. My month in Spain

Actually, you can write about any period (day, week, or year) and any country. Everything depends on your experience. Tell your readers how you got in this country, how you lived there, and what you have learned. Mention the peculiarities of the local life: food, weather, habits, etc. Such a memoir might be similar to a travel blog.

2. The person(s) who changed my life

Some people leave indelible marks in our memory. Unfortunately, those memories are not necessarily good. Still, we can learn important things even when we meet people who hurt us.

3. Unusual experience

Volunteering, travels, and festivals are bright and memorable events, so don’t hesitate to share your emotions with your readers. In addition, you will be able to read your own writings later and revive good memories.

4. Victory or failure

These topics are not aimed at drawing much attention, as people prefer to think about their own victories and failures. However, such memoirs might be good lessons to remember.

5. A life-changing conversation

Yes, that’s true! Even one conversation can make a difference. Words said at the right time by the right person are worth a dozen motivational books. If you had such an experience, don’t neglect the opportunity to share it.

Autobiographical Essay Topics for Students

The main purpose of the autobiographical essay is to show your personal qualities and skills that will impress an admissions board. Remember that this essay is not the same thing as a CV or resume. Admissions officers don’t need a list of your achievements and grades: they want to hear your personal voice and evaluate your personality. Choose one of the autobiography topics for college essays listed below and narrow your theme in the way you want.

• Important achievements
• Imaginary friend
• The first responsibility
• School teacher/mentor
• Siblings’ relationships
• Family traditions
• How you have solved your family issues
• How parents influenced your decisions about your future

Personality:

• My personal credo
• My greatest passion
• My inner demons
• My personal moral code
• My worst mistake
• What is the difference between faith and religion?
• Is lying necessary?
• Can morality exist without any religion?
• Is love more important than everything else?
• Should tolerance be limited?

Creative Autobiography Ideas to Write Personal Essays

This sub-type of autobiography is the most intimate one. We can’t compose a list of specified topics for you, as every person has a unique mix of experience, emotions, and moments that can be described in personal essays. However, we can give you a few tips on where you may find inspiration to create an excellent personal essay.

1. Open your heart

That might sound banal, but strong emotions are a really good source of inspiration for writers. Don’t be afraid of your feelings until you can control them.

2. Meet new people

New people bring new stories, and every story can be told. Our lives are just a small piece of the full picture. Look at the world from the perspective of other people, and you’ll be surprised.

3. Read books and watch movies

Good stories are often based on older good stories. Looking for inspiration in works of genius is normal. You don’t have to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel, right?

4. Read autobiographical stories

As we’ve mentioned before, many famous people write books about their lives. Don’t miss the chance to learn more about your idols and find new ideas for term paper writing help !

We are sure that every writer has his or her unique ways to find inspiration. Remember that the first sentence is the most difficult. Just make it!

Your life is full of emotions, impressions, and feelings that are worth sharing. Your experience can be helpful and interesting for a wide public. The most important thing is to present it in the right way. We hope that our autobiography sample and topics will serve you well. It doesn’t matter what autobiographical genre you choose. Just don’t be afraid of writing the first sentence!

A list of informal report topics you can find on Payforwriting.

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The Top 10: Best Autobiography Titles

From fay weldon to donald rumsfeld, the cleverest plays on words for the names of memoirs.

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We have done worst autobiography titles and obscure titles of political memoirs, and I have been meaning to get round to this one for some time, prompted by Andy Jeal and, finally, by Dan Kelly. I may have been holding back because there is such a thin line between the best and the worst.

1. Coreyography , Corey Feldman. Actor and singer: the voice, aged nine, of Young Copper in The Fox and the Hound , 1981.

2. Auto Da Fay , Fay Weldon. Born Franklin Birkinshaw, author of “Go to work on an egg” and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil , 1983.

3. It’s About A Ball , Alan Ball. Youngest member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team. Wrote his memoir in 1978.

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4. Fourth Among Equals . “By that bloke in the Gang Of Four who wasn’t Jenkins, Owen or Williams,” said Simon James. Bill Rodgers, co-founder of the Social Democratic Party in 1981, now Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, 89.

5. Me: Moir , Vic Reeves. Comedian whose real name is Jim Moir. Nominated by Dermot O’Sullivan and CJH.

6. Kind of Blue , Kenneth Clarke. A subtle reference to his love of classic jazz and to his (later) dislike for toeing the Conservative Party line. Suggested by Dan Kelly, Ms Information and James Undy.

7. The Third Man , Peter Mandelson. Simple and clever by the third person in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown relationship. “Always liked it,” said Tim Sculthorpe.

8. Known and Unknown , Donald Rumsfeld. “Quite a clever title,” said Dan Kelly, referring to the US Defence Secretary’s celebrated observation: “There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.” Department of Defence news briefing, 12 February 2002.

9. Tim Book Two , part two of the autobiography of Tim Burgess, lead singer of The Charlatans. “Which is pretty cool,” said someone called Play For Today.

10. Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen , George Lang (above). Restaurateur, nominated by Robert Wright‏.

Honourable mentions for Paul T Horgan, who nominated Nerd Do Well , by Simon Pegg, actor and comedian, which is very good; Dan Kelly (again) for Coming Up Trumps , by Baroness Trumpington; and Brian Mathieson, for Granny Made Me an Anarchist , by Stuart Christie, who went off to Spain intending to blow up General Franco. Someone also nominated Tainted Life , by Marc Almond of Soft Cell.

And finally, a mention for Joshua Topp, who nominated No Turn Unstoned , not a memoir but a collection of unfavourable theatre reviews compiled by Diana Rigg, the actor.

Next week: People Whose Names Could Be Journeys, such as Derry Irvine

Coming soon: Unexpected Words in Pop Songs, starting with “encumber” (“He would not encumber me”) in “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to [email protected]

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• Autobiographies

How to Write an Autobiography

Last Updated: February 21, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,281,613 times.

What's your story? Anyone who has lived a full life has something fascinating to share with the world. The trick to writing an autobiography is to treat it like any good story: it should have a protagonist (you), a central conflict, and a cast of fascinating characters to keep people engaged. You may want to think about a certain theme or idea that has been present in your daily life to revolve your story around. Read on to learn how to craft the story of your life and polish your writing to make it sing.

Mapping Out Your Life

• Your autobiography doesn't have to begin with your birth. You may want to include some family history as well. Write down information about your ancestry, your grandparents' lives, your parents' lives, and so on. Having information about your family history will help readers get a sense of how you became the person you are.
• What happened when you were a teenager? What led you to make the decisions you made?
• Did you go to college? Write about those transitory years, too.
• Write about your career, your relationships, your children, and any big life-altering events that occurred.

• Teachers, coaches, mentors, and bosses are extremely influential in people's lives. Decide whether someone who has been a role model (or the opposite) for you will figure into your story.
• Ex-boyfriends and girlfriends might co-star in some interesting stories.
• What enemies have you had in life? Your story will be boring if you don't include some conflicts.
• Offbeat characters such as animals, celebrities you've never met, and even cities are often points of interest in an autobiography.

• The childhood story. Whether your childhood was happy or traumatic, you should include a few anecdotes that give a picture of who you were and what you experienced at the time. You can tell the story of your childhood by breaking it down into smaller anecdotes that illustrate your personality - your parents' reaction when you brought home a stray dog, the time you climbed out of the window at school and ran away for 3 days, your friendly relationship with a homeless person living in the woods… get creative.
• The coming of age story. This heady and often sensual period in a human's life is always of interest to readers. Remember that it's not about writing something unique; everyone comes of age. It's about writing something that resonates with readers.
• The falling in love story. You could also write the opposite of this, the never-finding-love story.
• The identity crisis story. This usually occurs in the 30s or 40s and is sometimes referred to as a mid-life crisis.
• The story of facing down some force of evil. Whether it's your battle with addiction, a controlling lover, or a madman who tried to kill your family, you've got to write about conflict you've experienced.

• Write as though you're opening your heart to a trusted friend, in prose that's clear, strong and not too cluttered with vocabulary words you rarely use.
• Write so that your personality is revealed. Are you funny? Intense? Spiritual? Dramatic? Don't hold back; your personality should come through in the way you tell your story.

• Don't always cast yourself in a positive light. You can have foibles and still be the protagonist. Reveal mistakes you've made and times when you've failed yourself and other people.
• Reveal your inner thoughts. Share your opinions and ideas, including those that may spark controversy. Be true to yourself through your autobiography.

Crafting a Narrative

• What's your central conflict? What's the biggest obstacle life presented that took years to overcome or come to terms with? Maybe it's an illness you were diagnosed with at an early age, a relationship wrought with turmoil, a series of career setbacks, a goal you worked for decades to achieve, or any other number of things. Look to your favorite books and movies for more examples of conflicts.
• Build tension and suspense. Structure the narrative so that you have a series of stories leading up to the climax of the conflict. If your central conflict is trying to reach the goal of competing in the Olympics for skiing, lead up to it with stories of small successes and plenty of failures. You want your readers to ask, will she make it? Can he do it? What's going to happen next?
• Have a climax. You'll get to the point in your story when it's time for the conflict to come to a head. The day of the big competition has arrived, a showdown happens with your worst enemy, your gambling habit gets the better of you and you lose all your money - you get the picture.
• End with a resolution. Most autobiographies have happy endings because the person writing the story lived to tell the tale - and hopefully get it published. Even if your ending isn't cheerful, it should be deeply satisfying. You somehow accomplished your goal or won the day. Even if you lost, you came to terms with it and gained wisdom.

• You could frame the entire autobiography with reflections from the present, telling your story through a series of flashbacks.
• You could begin the story with a poignant moment from your childhood, go backward to tell the story of your heritage, move forward to your college years, and launch into the story of your career, with anecdotes from your childhood sprinkled in for comic relief.

• Consider ending chapters on a poignant or suspenseful note, so people can't wait to start the next one.
• The beginnings of chapters are a good place to take a bird's eye view of your past, describe the setting of a place, and set the tone for what's to come.

Editing the Book

• You can stretch the truth about your own goals and intentions, but don't include fabricated conversations with real people, or altered versions of events that really happened. Of course, you won't remember everything perfectly, but you should reflect reality as best you can.
• Get permission to use people's names or quote them if you're including content on what other people said or did. Some people don't appreciate appearing as a character in someone else's autobiography, and you should respect that by altering the way you describe them or changing their names if necessary. [6] X Research source

• If several people recommend cutting a certain section, strongly consider making the cut.
• Try to get opinions from people outside your circle of family and friends. People who know you might try to spare your feelings, or they might be biased - especially if they appear in the story.

• Bossy Pants , by Tina Fey.
• My Confession , by Leo Tolstoy.
• A Long Walk to Freedom , by Nelson Mandela.
• The Sound of Laughter , by Peter Kay. [7] X Research source

Publishing Your Story

• If you don't want to pay for a publishing service, you can still create a nice copy of your book by taking it to a copy store and having it printed and bound.

• Start the query letter with an airtight blurb succinctly describing the highlights of the book. Situate your book in the correct genre, and describe what will make it stand out from the rest. Tell the agent why you think he or she is the right person to shop your book around to publishers.
• Send sample chapters to agents who show interest.
• Sign a contract with an agent you trust. Make sure to read the contract carefully and check into the agent's history before signing anything.

• Many publishers don't accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries. Make sure you only send letters to publishers that accept them.
• If a publisher decides to move forward with a book deal with you, you'll need to sign a contract and set up a schedule for editing, designing, proofreading, and finally publishing the book.

Writing Help

Expert Q&A

• Your biography can also include a dedication, foreword, vital statistics, chronology sheets, family tree, and epilogue. Thanks Helpful 7 Not Helpful 0
• If the purpose of your autobiography is to pass on your story to your heirs, consider including memorabilia (e.g. pictures, heirlooms, medals, mementos, letters, etc.) and putting your story in a scrapbook format. Of course, you may not be able to copy the memorabilia that accompanies your autobiography, so you still have to think about what you intend to do with your original work and other items, such as medals or bulky heirlooms. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0
• Make your story vivid but don't get bogged down in unimportant details. While you want your autobiography to be memorable, you don't want it to be boring. Too many details—listing everyone that was at a party or trying to include all the events of each day—will bog the story down. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 1

• Be aware of what constitutes libel. If you write something defamatory or maliciously untrue about another person in an autobiography that you intend to publish, consider changing his or her name (if still living). Otherwise, you might find yourself facing a lawsuit. If you're unsure about what to change, consult a lawyer who specializes in libel. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing as a career, check out our in-depth interview with Gerald Posner .

• ↑ https://theamericanscholar.org/how-to-write-a-memoir
• ↑ https://self-publishingschool.com/how-to-write-an-autobiography/
• ↑ https://blog.reedsy.com/narrative-arc/
• ↑ https://cdn5-ss8.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_222705/File/Parents%20and%20Students/Star%20Works/How%20to%20write%20an%20Autobiography.pdf
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/04/how-to-write-a-memoir-jeanette-winterson-and-helen-macdonald
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/defamation-and-invasion
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/feb/07/biographies-autobiography-nielsen-2001
• ↑ https://www.pw.org/literary_agents

About This Article

To write an autobiography, start by making a timeline of your most important life events that you feel you could write about. Then, identify the main characters in your life story, including family members, ex-boyfriends or girlfriends, friends, and enemies. Once you have your cast of characters, pull life events from your timeline, such as a story from your childhood, a coming of age story, a love story, or a triumphant story. Write about these events and then connect them with a cohesive plot by writing in your own voice and being honest with the reader. To learn more about how to edit and publish your autobiography once it's finished, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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If your central character has a quirky name or a title (like Doctor or Detective) you can definitely incorporate this into your book title. Just look at Jane Eyre, Percy Jackson, or Harry Potter, for instance — working with one or more or your characters’ names is a surefire way to get some title ideas down. Equally, you can add a little detail, like Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, to add a little color to a name and make it title-worthy.

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You might be surprised at how many books refer to other works in their titles ( The Fault in Our Stars by John Green comes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar , and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men takes its inspiration from a Robert Burns poem). Going this route allows authors to use an already beautiful and poetic turn of phrase that alludes to a theme in their own book. From Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials , so many books have used this technique that might also work for you.

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Witty, eye-catching, memorable — these famous book titles have it all. Without further ado, here are 15 best book titles you can take inspiration from.

• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
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• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
• The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

Looking for even more story title ideas?

If you’re agonizing over your book title, you’re not alone! Some of the best book titles today emerged only after much teeth gnashing. The Sun Also Rises was once titled Fiesta ; Pride and Prejudice was once First Impressions . Then there was F. Scott Fitzgerald, who reportedly took forever to think of a good title. He ultimately discarded a dozen ( Gold-Hatted Gatsby , The High-Bouncing Lover , and Trimalchio in West Egg included) before reluctantly picking The Great Gatsby .

So it’s tough out there for a novelist, which is why we built this generator: to try and give you some inspiration. Any of the titles that you score through it are yours to use. We’d be even more delighted if you dropped us the success story at [email protected] ! If you find that you need even more of a spark beyond our generator, the Internet’s got you covered. Here are some of our other favorite generators on the web:

Fantasy Book Title Generators : Fantasy Name Generator , Serendipity: Fantasy Novel Titles

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Or if you think that generators are fun and all — but that you’d rather create your own book title? Great 👍 Kick off with this post, which is all about how to choose your book title . And once you've got the words down, make sure you capitalize your title correctly .

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Ilia Malinin nails six quadruple jumps and leads US team's stunning performance at worlds

U.s. figure skating team, led by ilia malinin's majestic routine, turns in its most impressive world championship performance in nearly 20 years..

MONTREAL — With the next Winter Olympics closer than the last, the U.S. figure skating team, led by 19-year-old jumping wunderkind Ilia Malinin , delivered its most impressive world championship performance in nearly 20 years, a development that might mean nothing by the time the 2026 Milan Games begin, or could mean everything. 

Malinin, the son of Olympians and self-described “Quad God,” jolted the 2024 world championships with the greatest athletic performance in figure skating history Saturday night, unleashing six majestic quadruple jumps, receiving the highest long program score ever awarded and easily winning his first world title. 

“I’m still in shock. I still can’t believe I did this,” he said more than an hour after he had done it. “When I got into the starting position, I knew this could be the best skate of my life or it could go terribly wrong. So I just thought, keep myself under control and try to attack everything.”

One quad led to another, then another. He was reeling them off, his Huck Finn locks flying here and there, a lithe youngster growing up before our eyes.

“I was hearing the crowd cheer, cheer, more, more, and just feeling that energy,” he said.

Spectators leaped to their feet. “I was just flying through the program. It was just amazing to hear at the very end of the program when I finished all my jumping passes, just hear the crowd go wild.”

When his music stopped and he hit his ending pose, Malinin immediately put his hands to his head and crumpled to the ice. “I couldn’t even hold myself up. It was just that emotional to me.” 

As remarkable as that scene was, Malinin was not the only American to win a gold medal Saturday on the final day at the worlds. Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates captured their second consecutive world title, which goes nicely with the 2022 Olympic gold medal they will receive sometime relatively soon, they hope, as captains of the U.S. team ensnared in the Kamila Valieva doping fiasco. 

The last time the United States won two gold medals in a world championship was 1996 when Michelle Kwan and Todd Eldredge won the women’s and men’s titles in Edmonton. In other words, it has been a long time. 

But there’s more. Isabeau Levito, 17, the twirling ballerina in figure skating’s glittering music box, capped a season full of self-doubt by winning an improbable silver medal in the women’s event.

That’s three U.S. medals in the four world championship disciplines — women, men, pairs and dance. The last time Americans won medals in three different disciplines at a world championship in a non-Olympic year was the 2005 worlds in Moscow, where Sasha Cohen and ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto won silver medals and Evan Lysacek won bronze. 

The non-Olympic year distinction is significant because figure skating hosts a world championship every year, including a month after the Winter Olympics. However, invariably, some Olympic medalists choose not to attend those worlds after their Olympic success, watering down the competition and theoretically making it easier for others to win a medal. 

Then again, this worlds was held without the formidable Russians , still banned from international figure skating events as their nation’s war in Ukraine rages on. So Levito’s accomplishment, coming after a dreadful meltdown in January’s national championship in which she fell three times in her four-minute long program, is a breakthrough, but one almost certainly aided by the absence of the dominating Russian women. Then again, the Russians just might be banned all the way through the 2026 Olympics for all we know. 

Like Malinin, Levito really likes to talk, and who doesn’t want to listen?

As she began her short program the other day, she told herself to stop thinking about what could go wrong. 

“Suddenly your legs are shaking and you feel like you could just get a flick and just fall over, like a feather in the wind,” she said. “You just have to remind yourself, ‘No.’ 

“Like the whole program, I was going:

‘Isabeau, no.’ 

“That was literally in my brain the whole time for the whole two minutes 50 seconds.”

And it worked. “For me,” she said, “it’s just all building blocks, just learning more experiences, and becoming wiser so that I can be the best that I can be by the time of the Olympics.”

There’s that Olympics word again. It keeps popping up. It’s hard to believe but the Beijing Winter Games were 25 months ago, while the Milan Olympics are just 23 months from now. And it just so happens that Olympic figure skating is part of the family business for Malinin. 

His mother, Tatiana Malinina, was raised in the Soviet Union and competed at 10 consecutive world championships for Uzbekistan. She finished eighth at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and fourth at the 1999 worlds. His father, Roman Skorniakov, represented Uzbekistan at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. He and Malinina moved to the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington before Ilia was born and coach skating, most specifically their son. 

It almost sounds too good to be true, a story like this. But then the son of these standouts from another generation took the ice Saturday night and the rest is history.

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Ilia malinin wins first world figure skating title with historic six quadruple jumps.

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Ilia Malinin won his first world title by landing the best collection of jumps in one program in figure skating history.

The 19-year-old American performed a quadruple Axel, quad Lutz, quad loop, quad Salchow, another quad Lutz (in combination with a triple flip), a quad toe loop (in combo with a triple toe), plus tacked on a triple Lutz-triple Axel combo to end his unprecedented four-minute free skate.

He became the second man to land six quads in one skate after 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen, but Chen didn’t land all six clean and never tried a quad Axel, the hardest quad.

“When I got into the starting position, I knew that this could be the best skate of my life, or it could go terribly wrong,” said Malinin, who had planned six quads in a free skate in previous competitions without landing them all clean.

FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Results

He broke Chen’s world record free skate score (with 227.79 points) and totaled 333.76 points between two programs, distancing Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan by 24.11.

“The past few weeks have been such a mental and physical challenge for me to get through,” Malinin said, repeating his revelation from after Thursday’s short program, where he placed third. “I was even debating whether or not to come to the world championships.”

Malinin had positive grades of execution on every jumping pass. He is the only skater to ever land a clean, fully rotated quad Axel, doing so seven times in full competition over the last two seasons.

“I didn’t even realize what was going on (while skating),” he said. “I was just flying through the program.”

He capped a rapid rise to the top of the sport: from ninth in his senior worlds debut in 2022 to third last year and now gold.

Malinin had a skate for the ages in arguably the most important skate of his life — going last at the world championships.

Before that, Kagiyama had a near-flawless free skate with three quads until he fell after landing a huge triple Axel.

“I will be competing for years to come against (Malinin),” the 20-year-old Kagiyama said, according to a translator. “When I see him at the next competition, if we both perform at our 100% ability, I don’t think that I will be able to win against him. ... I’ll be working on my skating skills and to acquire GOEs (grades of execution) on all of my elements so as to be able to catch up to him.”

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa leaped from 19th after the short program to win bronze.

He entered the event ranked third in the world this season by best total score and landed four quads in his free skate, plus an illegal back flip that cost him a two-point deduction (but didn’t affect his final standing). He also performed a back flip in winning January’s European Championships.

Two-time defending champion Shoma Uno of Japan dropped from first after the short program to fourth overall.

In the free skate, he fell on his opening quad loop and put a hand on the ice to save two other jump landings. Uno matched his lowest finish in his last nine Olympic or world championship appearances.

He was followed by two-time U.S. Olympian Jason Brown, who was once again the top man without a quad jump.

The 29-year-old elder statesman had the highest artistic score (his trademark) and had one total jump error between two programs — a popped Axel late in his free skate.

With Isabeau Levito’s silver from Friday, the U.S. had a top-two finisher in the men’s and women’s events at the same worlds for the first time since 2003 (Michelle Kwan, Timothy Goebel).

It’s the first time a teenage American woman and teenage American man made the podium at the same worlds since 1991 (Kristi Yamaguchi, Todd Eldredge) and the first time U.S. male and female teens were both in the top two since 1968 (Peggy Fleming, Tim Wood).

With Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ gold from earlier Saturday, the U.S. won two titles at a single worlds for the first time since 1996 (Kwan, Todd Eldredge).

The next figure skating season is expected to begin in earnest with the start of the Grand Prix Series in October.

Malinin has teased the idea of going for the first quintuple jump in competition. He could try to land all six different types of quads in one free skate.

What is next for the aptly self-nicknamed “Quadg0d?”

“I guess we’ll have to find out; I’ll leave it for a surprise,” he told the crowd at the Bell Centre. “But you guys have to stay looking forward to next season.”

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Piece by Piece

Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflec... Read all Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflects a different creative milestone. Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflects a different creative milestone.

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