How should I tell my life story?
An author who prefers to remain anonymous has asked me this: “I am 74 years young and would like to write about my life… Should I simply tell the story or write the book with fictional characters. Which would be more interesting and pull the readers in? I don’t know how to start.”
I think there are two parts to the answer: experience, and audience. For the first, what is your experience of writing? Even if you have none, it would be easier to approach this as a memoir than as fiction – at the very least, you could simply tell the chronological story of your life. This will be a more interesting narrative if you can find points of drama in it, the highs and lows that all of us have in life; every story, real or otherwise, is stronger for the conflict or jeopardy it takes the reader through. If you have little or no experience, it might be harder to tell this as fiction in a compelling way without coming across as stilted or as simply a memoir with the names changed. Perhaps your only strong reasons for fictionalising it would be to settle old scores and avoid being libellous (but why would you want to be driven by such a negative impetus? and it doesn’t sound like that’s the case here anyway – plus even a fictionalised version could still attract the lawyers) – or because you have experience of telling really engaging stories. But if nobody knows who you are, a fictional account will find it harder to get traction in the marketplace.
If even the idea of writing a lively narrative of your life daunts you, there are options: to pursue it yourself, you will need to break down the challenge into smaller steps. As mentioned above, this could be through simple chronology; alternatively, you could look at the ‘big themes’ of your life journey and take those for your framework, breaking each one down into sub-themes (or moments in your life which exemplify those themes). You could also consider a ghostwriter, although a full ghosting service could be very expensive. Another option for this sort of work would be to contact one of the many life story companies – there are firms which will send out someone to interview you and then write your story up into a book and produce it; or there are freelancers who do this sort of interview-based work too (I can recommend people if required).
To return to the audience angle: you should always consider who you are writing for. Is it just for your own benefit, so your voice has a form of expression or you can lay ghosts to rest, or challenge yourself? There’s no reason not to go for it if so, and see where it takes you. But if you want others to read it, who will they be? What’s in it for them? If it’s just for people who know you, a life story service as mentioned above would work well, or you could write it, get it edited and typeset and have a small number of copies printed. If you think the world at large should hear your story, focus on thinking about them and not you: why would they want to read it? Who is your target reader? Try to imagine them and what they would find interesting. There will probably be a niche out there just for you – but be realistic about wild expectations of fame and fortune! If you want to ‘pull the readers in’, you need to think about them and what would urge them to turn page after page.
This week’s link: “Once the bad ideas are emptied, strong ideas begin to arrive.” The creativity faucet offers an interesting way to think about your writing.