How to write a book about your life
You do not need to be a writer, and you do not need to type. A book about your life is built one answered question at a time. Here is the whole process — and how to get it printed at the end.
The seven steps
1. Decide what the book is for
Most people writing a book about their life are not chasing a bestseller — they want their children and grandchildren to know where they came from. Say who the book is for out loud. It settles what goes in, what stays out, and how honest you are willing to be.
2. Make a rough list of turning points
Not a plan — a list. Where you were born, the house you remember best, leaving school, the first job, meeting your partner, the move, the loss, the thing you are proudest of. Fifteen or twenty lines is plenty to start a whole book.
3. Talk each one through instead of writing it
This is the step that gets a life story finished. Answering "What was your first pay packet, and what did you do with it?" is easy; "write chapter three" is not. Speaking also keeps your own words, which is what your family will want to hear when they read it.
4. Give each memory a scene
One room, one day, one person. "My father worked hard" is forgettable; "he came in at six with brick dust in his hair and ate standing up" is the sentence your grandchildren will quote back to you.
5. Sort the answers into chapters
Only after you have the material. Childhood, work, family, the hard years, what you learned. Your list of turning points has usually done most of the sorting for you.
6. Check the names, dates and spellings
Keep a running list of people and places as you go. A misspelled maiden name is the one mistake families notice, and it is the easiest one to prevent before printing.
7. Print it while you can hand it over
A life story stops being a file and becomes an heirloom when it has a cover and large, readable type. Sixty pages is a proper book. Order enough copies for everyone in the story.
Six questions to start with today
Answer these out loud, in any order, for as long as you like. That recording is the first chapter of your book.
- Where did you live when you were small, and who else was in the house?
- What did your parents do all day?
- What was the first job you were paid for?
- How did you meet the person you spent your life with?
- What was the hardest year, and how did you get through it?
- What would you want your grandchildren to do differently?
If you are not a writer
Nothing to it writing (NTI Writing) exists for exactly this. It asks the questions, listens for as long as you want to talk, writes your answers up as chapters in your own voice, and shows you every change before it is saved. You read it, correct anything that is wrong, and print it. There is nothing to type and nothing to organise.
Writing about one part of your life rather than the whole of it? The memoir guide covers that, and the how it works page shows each stage from first recording to hardcover. If you would rather hand the whole job over, see our autobiography writing services.