Writing About a Person

1
Writing About a Persons Life

• Biography
• Autobiography
• Personal Narrative
• Memoir

2
Biography

• History of a lifetime Must cover entire life
• Most important facts and events of someones life
• Contains anecdotes, memories, trips and cherished
  moments
• Is about another person

3
Autobiography

• Who you are in life Based on facts and
  research!
• What life means to you Your feelings, both past
  and present
• What your outlook on the future is Usually
  based on one event
• Written by same person that it is about

4
Personal Narrative

• Focus is on a particular event in a
  person/writers life
• 1st person
• Uses diction and sensory details to express
  emotions that place the reader in the personal
  experience

5
Memoir

• Autobiographical writing
• Captures certain highlights or meaningful moments
  in ones past
• Contemplation of the meaning of that event at the
  time of the writing of the memoir
• Much more emotional and connects the writer to
  someone or something that had an impact on
  his/her life

6
Characteristics of the MemoirForm

• Focus on a brief period of time or series of
  related events
• Narrative structure (storytelling elements like
  setting, plot, imagery, characterization,
  foreshadowing/flashback, and irony and symbolism
• Retrospective
• Fictional quality
• Higher emotional level/more personal
  reconstruction of the events and their impact

7
Memoirs Another perspective

• Explores an event or series of related events
  that remain lodged in memory
• Describes the events and then shows, either
  directly or indirectly why they are significant
• WHY do you STILL remember them?
• Focused in time events of story do not cover an
  entire life
• Focuses on problem/conflict and its resolution
  and why the resolution is significant in your life

8
How we will write a memoir

• Relationship between the writer and a particular
  person, place, animal, object or experience
• Explain the significance of the relationship
• Leave reader with one impression
• Limited to a particular phase, time period, place
  or recurring behavior
• Make the subject of the memoir come alive
• Maintain a first person point of view
• Use dialogue to bring characters and important
  moments to life