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Publishing a biography

Having just finished a 300 page epic, I wanted to share the pleasure and pains of writing a biography. If you are thinking of committing your story to paper, you might find my journey to publication enlightening.

Why do it?

For you, the effect can be very therapeutic. Call it ‘self-counselling’ but a book is a good way to set the record straight. Many report a bonding effect on any extended family but are they ready for your version of the truth?

In a world where families are often estranges by distance or dispute, a book could be a way to build bridges. For the rest of the world, your story forms part of a rich and largely unrecorded popular history. Committing your story to paper ensures that the events you have witnessed become part of the popular record. At least one copy of every book published in most countries is stored in the national library for future scholars. Anyone over 70 has witnessed changes in technology and the world order that merit a personal record.

What to write?

Pick out the incidents that you remember. There is no point in giving equal space to the mundane routine that has occupied most normal lives. It is the high and low points that you need to record.

Your plan

The best advice would be to set out some chapter headings. The chapter headings provide the structure for your work and research.

Look on this sketch as a map. Without it, you will ramble. With a detailed plan, your writing will come together much faster.

Keep your sketch map with you and adjust it as the work develops or you might end up visiting the same place twice.

You might then decide to limit the scope of your book. You might also think about the cast of characters. You will have to limit the number of people you include so try and focus on the key ones and see that they can carry your story. It has to be a story that people will want to read.

Another very early decision is to decide if this is going to be written in the fist person. You might tire of talking about ‘I, me and mine’ instead of describing yourself in the third person. You can compromise and quote yourself when you want to make it personal.

Your biography would probably benefit from a focus. For many, it is the drama of wartime but it could be life in some particular setting. It is possible to weave all the stories and experiences of a lifetime into a story that only seems to cover a part of a life.

Research

As well as giving your perspective on events, it would probably make your story more interesting if you could put it in the wider context. This calls for some research. Other books are the obvious place to look but these are called secondary sources. You might enjoy a visit to your local archive to look up what they have recorded. The local paper can also be a valuable reference. If your story is set on the national stage, a visit to the Public Records Office would entertain you for a week. The people who staff the enquiry desks are the patient servants of scholarship. In my experience they are tireless in the help and advice they will offer. But it is important that you have worked out what it is you are looking for. It might be better to start with a narrow question and then allow your researches to expand. If you do it the other way round, you will probably not find what you are looking for.

It is important to check fact. Make sure you get your dates right. Your reders might spot them but since you are going to the trouble of making a record you owe it to posterity to do your best to get it right. If you are uncertain then say so.

If you are making this as a record that others might like to follow, it is worth keeping track of the references you use. A cheap concertina file is very useful to hold all of the photocopies, cuttings, letters and notes that you make. It can add a lot to the credibility of your story if you can list the sources of some information.

What to write?

People say that the English are very bad at expressing their feelings but that is what people want to read about. How did you feel as events unfolded. How did those around your respond in your drama. This is your story and you are allowed to speculate how other s felt but just be careful that you do not start blaming people as they might take offence or even sue if they are still alive. You can say almost anything you like about the dear departed as they cannot be libelled but you will soon loose the sympathy of your readers if you come across as a ‘know-all’. Readers are much more sympathetic to a narrator who is accident prone and tell tales against themselves. Perhaps this is the time to own up to the mystery of the broken window or the parrot that changed colour.

Devote at least as much space to how you felt as to relating what you did. This same rule should be applied to the other people in your story. It is both polite and good writing to introduce people. You can do this before or after their appearance in your story. If you meet the love of your life, you would probably describe the event and tell us about their background later,

Readers have to love or hate the people in your story so that they care what happens to them. You should look up your writing as a cartoon or caricature. You have to limit the number of lines to portray the essence. If you go into to much detail, the pattern will be smudged. If your old boss had a heart of gold but behaved like a hungry hyena then say so. It provides a clear image against which they can judge future actions.

Style in a personal matter but you will find that it improves once you get going. Do not be afraid to rewrite a section. It is often easier to do that than fiddle about with the words to make it read well. Watch a potter at work: If the shape is wrong they abandon it and start again. Reworked clay, like reworked words, are inherently weak.

Think of a good line to start each section. ‘I nearly died when..’ grabs the readers attention and you can then relate how it began as just an ordinary day. ‘If I had known that…’ invites the reader to join you on a short voyage of discovery whereas a tale of woe might not engage their interest. Listen to the way people tell stories. ‘You are going to laugh at this’ or ‘I could have swung for him’ sets the scene for what is to follow.

How long is a book?

A book with 100 pages is a good ambition This will need 30,000 words.

But beware just counting words. Add up the times you use the word ‘very’. Then read the passage again leaving out ‘very’. Repeat the exercise with other adjectives and you will be surprised how much the work is improved. Get tough on yourself. Wasted words take time to type, paper to print and detract from what you are writing.

The process

It is possible to sit down for a few hours and write a page of your story. There is no rule that says you have to start at chapter one. In fact, many writers would suggest that you leave the beginning until you are well into the flow. The style and writing improves and you want to make a good impression with your first chapter.

Later you will have to set aside a large block of time to draw all of the sketches together into a single picture.

Computers

You have to learn to use a computer. Even if you spend a few weeks just learning to type, it will eventually save you months. If you are not familiar with computers, scrounge an old one from the family and ask them to set it up so your work will be saved in a directory or folder reserved just for the book.

If you are determined to hand write the book, start looking for someone who can transcribe it for you. Unless it is somebody in the family, it will be expensive.

Who is going to read it?

Publishers like to tell us about multi-million book contracts and massive sales. The reality is that selling 500 copies of a first book is good and 30-40% of books end up unsold and re-cycled. The best sales come after you talk to a local group or society.

The internet makes it very much easier to sell books into specialist markets but the reality is that your book is going to have a local appeal.

New technology means that you don’t have to dedicate a room in your home to store unsold copies of your book. With print-on-demand, small batches of books can be bought when you need. The big publishers do it this way now. The technology has been harnessed by firms like WritersServices to deliver books to order through bookshops and on-line sellers such as Amazon. WritersServices make sure the book is in the catalogues and then collect the money for you from sales.

You would be unwise to look at your biography as a way to supplement your pension but there might be money to be made if it promotes you as an expert on some event, place or development. You might find yourself being called on a few time each year as a paid speaker.

Should you start?

It took a long time. What started out as a favour, turned into a six-year epic investigation.

It was hard work. In the early stages it was possible to write as and when but to put the book together took many weeks of concentrated evenings. There

But the end product has made the whole project worthwhile.

It is an experience I can recommend.

Chas Jones  © writersservices.com 2004