Start Writing a Biography—in 10 Easy Steps
Want to write a full-length biographical book about a famous person or family member? It’s easy to get started if you follow these simple steps.
From the idea stage to the first word, read below to learn the first 10 things you need to do.
These author tips and strategies for writing a nonfiction biography book will set you up for success!
Related articles are also included, below.
How to start a biography project—the smart way.
1. The first step to writing a biography is to choose a person you are interested in.
Write the book because the story matters to you and the thought of telling it excites you, not because you care about becoming rich as a result.
You’ll be working on this book for one or more years, so it has to matter. A lot. If you have any hopes of selling your manuscript to a traditional publisher—or selling your self-published book, it has to interest would-be readers, too.
Ask yourself: will I still be interested in this a year or two from now? If the answer is an emphatic yes, that’s a good start.
2. Get clear on the basic facts of the person’s life.
Reading a few short articles—Wikipedia- or encyclopedia-style articles, obituaries, feature articles, or academic articles, for example—should help you to form a short profile of your subject.
3. Start digging a little deeper to learn more about the person and their life.
Read a book or two about your subject or, if nothing has been written, read about your subject’s era.
Start learning the answers to such questions as
Why is the subject significant or interesting?
How did the subject influence others?
What words come to mind when describing this person?
What were/are the major moments in the subject’s life?
What did the subject accomplish? What setbacks did the subject have? What moments of triumph and tragedy did the subject experience?
What would be different had this person not done what they did?
Why would a reader be interested in my book?
Who might read this book? Who, exactly, am I writing for?
4. Explore the context of the subject’s life.
You need to gain a solid understanding of the time and place in which the subject lived.
Be able to clearly answer these questions:
What major events or trends were occurring at that time, and how did they shape the subject’s life?
How did the subject influence events? How did the subject influence others?
5. Learn and contemplate what has already been written or said about your subject (the “historiography”)
Hint: reading reviews of previously published books can be very helpful!
You should ask yourself these questions:
How might my book differ from other biographies about this person?
How does my book challenge or add to what others have written or said?
Do I have new material? A new spin?
Is this person more relevant because of societal changes or current events?
Is there a relevant anniversary coming up—in a year or two—when my book is likely to be published?
Don’t become discouraged if you learn that others have written biographies on the same person—or even that a biography is about to be published.
6. Make a timeline.
The timeline should include a) chronology of the subject’s life, and b) significant events and points of historical (and possibly political or cultural relevance).
You might lump a) and b) together. Better yet, write them side-by-side in two columns.
Looking at this timeline will help you chart out how much time—relatively speaking—to dedicate to particular events in your book. It will also help you think about how the context shaped the subject’s life.
7. Develop and implement a research plan.
Make a detailed list of research tasks to do and update it regularly. Then begin researching.
Incorporate a mix of primary and secondary sources. Your secondary sources should include recently-written material.
Primary sources are firsthand accounts—letters, journals, diaries, emails, interviews, memoirs, websites and social media, and newspaper articles.
Secondary sources include books, journal and magazine articles, and documentaries. Use recent materials, not just older books. If you rely too heavily on older materials to form your analysis, antiquated and biased thinking may creep into your biography.
A great way to locate primary and secondary sources is through WorldCat.
Click here for my article on how to do research for your book with an invaluable author tool: WorldCat.
Ask around. Contact other authors, not just biographers. Reach out to libraries, historical societies, or family members of your subject.
Know when to stop researching. You will likely have more than enough. You can always go back later and fill in the gaps.
Use your research selectively. You can always use excess material in blog posts or videos, articles, speaking appearances, or future projects.
You’ll need to devise a thesis—a main takeaway. You might instead, or also, also have various themes that run through the book.
8. Start outlining.
You need an outline—early on. You can start this as early in your process as you like.
The traditional bulleted list works well for most—but others will start with a handwritten "mind map” or by writing on and rearranging virtual (or actual) sticky notes.
As you make your outline, refer to your thesis and/or themes. Refer to your timeline. Start to figure out how you might want to divide the chapters.
You will aim to have six to ten chapters, of roughly equal length, plus an introduction and a conclusion, all amounting to no more than 100,000 words. A book that’s shorter than that may be easier to sell to traditional publishers. (Click here to read my article “What’s the ideal word count for a nonfiction book?”)
Mary McVicker’s advice for biographers in The Writer magazine is sage:
“You can literally shape nonfiction. . . . Few lives have the sort of structure you’d give a novel. . . . But you can control the amount of space you give each element in your book.”
Each chapter need not cover the same number of years. Certain events may get condensed, others expanded. Some of the “broader context” stuff will be amplified, some downplayed.
As Jon Collins writes, “not all biography needs to be exhaustive, or indeed should be.”
Working with people’s interpretations, amplified or missing details, confused accounts, various explanations and justifications, “the biographer’s job becomes that of creating a coherent narrative, triangulating, extrapolating, and gap-filling.”
It can be a lot of fun!
Be open to fine-tuning or even refocusing your outline.
9. Budget for the inevitable.
Set aside some funds for books, research, editing, image permissions, and other eventualities.
Dedicate at least several hours a week to work on this book so you can get it done in a timely fashion.
10. Prepare to start writing.
What do you need to start writing? A new office chair or a new set of headphones? Don’t go overboard here, but do set yourself up for success and make your workspace as conducive to writing as possible.
If you’ve followed these 10 steps, you’re ready to start writing. You got this!
Writing a book or wanting to?
Get emails with resources for authors, publishing-industry insights, guides and how-tos, and more! Join in today!
What’s your favorite biography? Why?
Thanks for reading,