How Can I Improve My Writing Skills for an Autobiographical Book?

[vulsite]

I am a college student interested in writing as a career. I am particularly interested in autobiographical writing. But before I do that I need to polish my writing skills. I need help in that .

 

[Danger]

You could start with reading "Writer's Digest" magazine. I haven't bought it in years, but it sure had some good advice in it. They also offer books.
You do realize, however, that autobiographical writing is pretty much a one-shot deal as opposed to a career. (Unless you plan to serialize it and produce a new chapter every year.) There'll also be quite a limited readership unless you've done a lot of very interesting or funny things in your life.
(Or did you mean 'ghost writing' other people's autobiographies?)

 

[zoobyshoe]

You do realize, however, that autobiographical writing is pretty much a one-shot deal as opposed to a career. (Unless you plan to serialize it and produce a new chapter every year.) There'll also be quite a limited readership unless you've done a lot of very interesting or funny things in your life.

If autobiographical writing only consists of relating the facts of the life, then, yes, it's a one-shot, limited readership proposition. However many authors create wildly entertaining reading from the meager facts of their lives by virtue of being great creative writers. You really aren't reading them for the story content at all, but for how they tell the stories. Feynman's two autobiographical books are cases in point. Henry Miller is an even better example: he filled several autobiographical books with his compelling manner of telling the relatively mundane stories of his life. The Remembrance of Things Past, by Proust is several volumes long and considered an autobiographical masterpiece, though Proust never did anything of note except write that autobiography.

It's very much like being a stand-up comic: all the things they talk about are common experiences to everyone. It's the way they pitch it that makes the difference.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The best way to polish one's skills as a writer is to write. Have you been writing?

 

[OAQfirst]

The successful writer doesn't worry about writing skills. They just write. If you're going to worry, then worry about the content, the story. You might be surprised by how sloppy most manuscripts are by the time they reach a publisher. Tidy them up in the end, sure. Just don't fuss over details like commas and participles. Almost every commercial publisher has its own editing department. They will edit your book at no charge and whether you want it or not. So if it's a writer you want to be, then write.

The first few pages might be astounding to you. Then as you go along it might seem like crap. Then it looks like it picks up in quality. Then it sinks... None of that matters. You'll find your way, and once you finish the draft, you'll go over it and over it. Put that inner dialog aside and just do it. Let it happen. Then you'll have something to work with. And a lot of valuable experience.

 

[Danger]

Where'd my post go?
If it was deleted due to a commercial reference, would someone please PM me to let me know?

 

[chroot]

Danger,

No posts have been deleted from this thread. Maybe the electron bandits got it?

- Warren

 

[Danger]

That might be. I've noticed a lot of that crap since I switched to a new power bar.

So, anyhow, the basic idea of the unposted post was that I agree with Zoobie now that he's expressed himself. I was using too narrow a definition for 'autobiography'. I also suggested (which is why I suspected a commercial link deletion) that someone out for a chuckle should check out Leslie Neilson's 'autobiography' entitled 'The Naked Truth'. There's not a word of truth in it, but it's funnier than hell. From his affair with Sophia Loren up to his saving the known universe... and that little bugger does it all with a straight face, just as he played his roles in 'Airplane' and the like.

 

[JasonRox]

You could start with reading "Writer's Digest" magazine. I haven't bought it in years, but it sure had some good advice in it. They also offer books.
You do realize, however, that autobiographical writing is pretty much a one-shot deal as opposed to a career. (Unless you plan to serialize it and produce a new chapter every year.) There'll also be quite a limited readership unless you've done a lot of very interesting or funny things in your life.
(Or did you mean 'ghost writing' other people's autobiographies?)

Considering he's a member of PF, I doubt his life is that interesting.

But for this guy...

Graham David Hughes

I would read his every year probably.

 

[Danger]

Haven't heard of Hughes, but that put me in mind of something else. There's a mini-bio by Harlan Ellison, who is considered one of the all-time greatest SF writers. (He wrote 'The City on the Edge of Forever' for the original Star Trek series, and 'The Demon With the Glass Hand' for the original Twilight Zone.) As a reporter in his late 20's, he went undercover with a teen street gang (think of 'Jets' or 'Sharks' from 'Westside story' rather than 'Bloods' or 'Crips'). His account of that time is entitled 'Memos from Purgatory'. You can't put the damned thing down, and even when you're finished you'll probably stay awake for a while thinking about it.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Any writer will tell you that the best thing you can do is to write and write and write and then write some more. Most would even suggest writing something every day even if its nonesense or crap or only a few lines long.

Next you should look for a creative writing class and/or writers workshops in your area. There are several writers' resource websites out there that will likely have listing and you can probably check with your local community college.

Lastly, if you simply intend to write one book and try to get it published you can always go the way of a professional editor. Some of them will take your manuscript and overhaul the whole thing with suggestions and advise on every little thing you wrote, or they may even rewrite it for you. Of course they are expensive and they really aren't worth it unless you are really intent on getting published and are sure you will be making money.

DO NOT send a sloppy crappy manuscript to a publisher. It needs to be neat and it needs to read well or its gone. The publisher may not even get through reading page one before tossing it aside. Yes they have editors and spelling and grammar mistakes can be taken care of but no publisher is going to sign a deal on crap with a writer who can't check their own work and just have their editors overhaul it. If their editors were that great of writers then they wouldn't need you now would they?

 

[Danger]

Too right, Stats.
Apparently the proper approach nowadays is to submit your work on disc. When I was doing it professionally, it had to be typed in 10 pitch, double-spaced, with 1 1/2" margins (except for screenplays which have half a dozen different margins depending upon whether it's action, dialogue, setting, etc.), on #20 bond paper with return postage. It cost a freaking fortune.

 

[Pythagorean]

I don't think you have to necessarily have that exciting of a life. You just have to be able to flourish the right parts.

I used to fish commercially and now I'm about to get a physics degree. I feel like I've been through a nice spectrum of experiences. I just have to implore some creativity and I could make it feel like I was on a pirate ship looting national treasuries with plasma rifles.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Too right, Stats.
Apparently the proper approach nowadays is to submit your work on disc. When I was doing it professionally, it had to be typed in 10 pitch, double-spaced, with 1 1/2" margins (except for screenplays which have half a dozen different margins depending upon whether it's action, dialogue, setting, etc.), on #20 bond paper with return postage. It cost a freaking fortune.

Most recently I read that you are still expected to send a printed out manuscript. Its probably becoming more acceptable to send manuscripts on disk now though its best to check with a publisher first.

I've been reading up on it here and there since I'd like to be a writer myself. I was amazed at just how difficult and involved the process is.

 

[Danger]

I was amazed at just how difficult and involved the process is.

Yeah. The writing was fun; the submittal process was not. Unfortunately, since I've been on the ADD meds for the past seven or eight years, I haven't been able to write a word. About the best that I can handle any more is the stuff that I do here on PF. It's definitely not of commercial quality.

 

[OAQfirst]

Geeze.

vulsite, please please please go to a writers' forum. There are thousands of them all over the Internet. This is the wrong place to get that kind of advice. Surround yourself with insiders and people who've been through it all. Now, this is a fantastic place for science questions, but for the support on writing, try http://www.writingforums.com or http://www.writers.net/forum/ . Scope around for others on the Net until you find one that you feel comfortable with.

You don't need an editor. You already know how to write, so take off those training wheels and do it. There's a very good reason why so many writers say the same thing (write!); that's what works. You don't need to take a creative writing class, either. Not that you can't benefit from it, but fussing over skills you naturally already possesses is the direction our experienced writers see in newcomers all the time; it typically leads to procrastination. Writing is a journey and can be a most rewarding one, but you have to get going with it. If anything, you could try a critiquing service because they are better suited to judging the story, instead of focusing on the punctuation marks. Editors are not writers. If the commercial publisher needed you to have your work professionally edited, then they wouldn't need their editing departments, now would they? Sure, you need to be able to write with a reasonable degree of intelligibility, but I can tell from your four sentences alone that you have the mechanics down. You have what you need.

Go to a writers' forum, please. Make friends there and follow their experiences. It can be an amazing and rewarding journey.

 

[Danger]

I am a college student interested in writing as a career. I am particularly interested in autobiographical writing. But before I do that I need to polish my writing skills. I need help in that .

One tip... don't begin a sentence with a conjunction.

 

[OAQfirst]

One tip... don't begin a sentence with a conjunction.

And why not?

 

[Danger]

 

[OAQfirst]

Seriously, I don't believe there is any historical basis for that. Even R.W. Burchfield wrote that writers have started sentences with conjunctions since Anglo-Saxon times.

 

[Danger]

I'm not saying that it isn't done; I merely point out that it isn't proper English.

 

[OAQfirst]

I'm not saying that it isn't done; I merely point out that it isn't proper English.

Then I suppose the Bible isn't proper English, either?

 

[Danger]

Then I suppose the Bible isn't proper English, either?

Of course it isn't. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek, and after that into various languages. The New Testament was originally in Aramaic, then followed the same translation process. Either one in English bears only a passing resemblance to what was originally written.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Geeze.

vulsite, please please please go to a writers' forum. There are thousands of them all over the Internet. This is the wrong place to get that kind of advice. Surround yourself with insiders and people who've been through it all. Now, this is a fantastic place for science questions, but for the support on writing, try http://www.writingforums.com or http://www.writers.net/forum/ . Scope around for others on the Net until you find one that you feel comfortable with.

You don't need an editor. You already know how to write, so take off those training wheels and do it. There's a very good reason why so many writers say the same thing (write!); that's what works. You don't need to take a creative writing class, either. Not that you can't benefit from it, but fussing over skills you naturally already possesses is the direction our experienced writers see in newcomers all the time; it typically leads to procrastination. Writing is a journey and can be a most rewarding one, but you have to get going with it. If anything, you could try a critiquing service because they are better suited to judging the story, instead of focusing on the punctuation marks. Editors are not writers. If the commercial publisher needed you to have your work professionally edited, then they wouldn't need their editing departments, now would they? Sure, you need to be able to write with a reasonable degree of intelligibility, but I can tell from your four sentences alone that you have the mechanics down. You have what you need.

Go to a writers' forum, please. Make friends there and follow their experiences. It can be an amazing and rewarding journey.

Many famous people who write their autobiographies, particularly ones who are otherwise too busy to spend lengthy periods of time on the book, use professional editors. Like I mentioned of course its expensive and you would have to justify the cost by knowing it will be published. We may doubt that Vulsite is famous or worthy of automatically getting published but who knows.

As for writing classes and work shops, even famous writers go to work shops to help hone their skills. There are many mistakes that are typical of inexperienced writers whether they are "good" writers or not. There are also many things that help make your writing better. You can learn about these sorts of things in a class or work shop as well as get direct face to face criticism. There are certainly forums and resource websites that you can go to, which is all I have done so far myself, and these may be helpful but many people may find direct personal interaction much more helpful.

I'm simply throwing out there the options that are available so he can decide what to do. They are the same options I have read on writers resource websites.

 

[Danger]

I will add to Stats' post with the caution to stay as far away as possible from 'vanity publishers' (also known as 'subsidy press'). Those are the ones who will edit, print, and distribute your book at your expense. If it's a viable project, a reputable publisher will foot the expense in hope of reaping a profit. The vanity press preys upon talentless egotists.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I will add to Stats' post with the caution to stay as far away as possible from 'vanity publishers' (also known as 'subsidy press'). Those are the ones who will edit, print, and distribute your book at your expense. If it's a viable project, a reputable publisher will foot the expense in hope of reaping a profit. The vanity press preys upon talentless egotists.

Too True! I read a lot about that. There are a lot of scams out there too connected to vanity publishers.

 

[Danger]

The worst book that I've ever seen in my life was entitled 'Power Sphere' written by Leo Brett. After I bought it (for 10 cents at a charity event), I realized that it came from a vanity publisher. I read the whole thing, just on principle, but I wanted double my money back when I was finished. When I was still writing, I kept it as a course-book on what not to do. It was far and away the best bad example that you could hope to find.

 

[OAQfirst]

Many famous people who write their autobiographies, particularly ones who are otherwise too busy to spend lengthy periods of time on the book, use professional editors. Like I mentioned of course its expensive and you would have to justify the cost by knowing it will be published. We may doubt that Vulsite is famous or worthy of automatically getting published but who knows.

Short of already having a deal, how does one know their book will be published?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My uncle ran a vanity press business. I don't know what he was charging people, but I doubt he was preying on anyone. Anyway, the business went belly up. He described the business to me in terms that seemed honest enough. You send him the manuscript and he turns it into as many books as you want to pay for. He gets the money, and you get the books, that's the deal. Distribution, publicity, gigs on the Tonight Show, that's all your responsibility and the customers are aware of it.

 

[OAQfirst]

Of course it isn't. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek, and after that into various languages. The New Testament was originally in Aramaic, then followed the same translation process. Either one in English bears only a passing resemblance to what was originally written.

I don't see why translation is relevant, but anyway... I see countless examples in current books, from some uncommon titles to best-sellers, that avoid the rule you've described. Here are some quickies:

How to Win Friends and Influence People
p85: "And so I had him thinking of me..."
p 92: "And not only important personages..."

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
p51: "When you allow yourself to be bored..."
p50: "But after a while I got used to it..."

The Road to Reality
p520: (21.10) "But if we ask of a wavefunction 'where is the particle?', by..."
p622: (24.8) "But we are by no means finished with this story; I have described merely..."

The American Heritage College Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.
p xi: "But it is also too important to be exempt from critical review."
p xii: "But while the practice of the educated middle class generally determines..."

So, should we avoid their examples, or assume the professional editors either missed them altogether? And what is "proper English?"