19/08/2025
We've edited dozens of autobiographies over the years, often ones that authors want to publish just for family and friends. But even the most devoted family member would struggle to get through some of them, so here's four ground-rules if you're thinking of writing your life-story:
1. Don't start with your birth: start with the most dramatic incident of your life, in order to grip the reader, then go back to when you were born.
2. Write it as if it were a novel and include dialogue (yes, you'll be making up most of the dialogue but it will have its basis in truth)
3. Don't keep stepping out of the time-period by telling readers things like: 'well, of course we didn't have mobile phones back then' - it spoils the reader's immersion in the period
4. Constantly ask yourself 'who cares?'. That's a tough one, because although YOU may still care about the fact that the coach that picked you up for your special holiday was an hour late, your reader sadly does not.
