I am trying to write my life story!

puffbear · Post by **puffbear** » 20 Feb 2015, 11:23

I realized the other day that I really really want to write my life story. I have been through a lot and well....everyone has a story! I just can't decide if I want to write it anonymously or not. There is not anyone I will hurt or anything like that, but I would like to write it. I have never written a book, but I have lots of book ideas, so maybe I will give a try.

Has anyone here written their life story?

CataclysmicKnight · Post by **CataclysmicKnight** » 20 Feb 2015, 11:31

You should definitely go for it - worst case , you get some writing experience

puffbear · Post by **puffbear** » 20 Feb 2015, 11:43

You are so right....I never looked at like that! I do need some writing experience very much, great idea my friend!

spablo_94 · Post by **spablo_94** » 20 Feb 2015, 11:45

Go for it..as you said no one will get hurt.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 20 Feb 2015, 17:05

Writing your life story sounds awesome. If you're not taking jabs at anyone, I don't see why it would need to be anonymous. It could be a memoir, I guess. One thing you can do in a memoir is just change everyone's names, and mention that you did so to protect the innocent... and the guilty. Ha ha.

I say go for it! And keep us posted on your progress.

-- 20 Feb 2015, 18:08 --

(Actually, I'm not certain of that. Does anyone out there know whether you should/could change names in a memoir?)

KS Crooks · Post by **KS Crooks** » 21 Feb 2015, 00:27

It is a great way to clear your head and give yourself some perspective. You could even use it as the basis for a fiction novel.

puffbear · Post by **puffbear** » 24 Feb 2015, 14:51

I agree, I thought it would be a great way to clear my head and also let go of some things that need to be said. At the same time, I could totally work it into a fiction novel. Thanks for all of the support

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 28 Feb 2015, 21:35

Well, I suppose if you've had a long and fascinating life like Henry Miller, or a shorter but rough journey like Jack Kerouac, your life story might be a captivating read.

If not, I'd ask "why?" In other words, don't get trapped in what I call an "Aunt Edna" story: "Oh, my dear Aunt Edna passed away last fall. She was such a dear woman and everyone loved her, I'd like to write her life story. I'm sure everyone would love to read it!" When in fact nobody would.

There are only 2 reasons for writing your autobiography (whether you cast it as fiction or not): 1- Your life has been a thrilling adventure, or 2- vanity.

-- 28 Feb 2015, 22:37 --

KS Crooks wrote:It is a great way to clear your head and give yourself some perspective. You could even use it as the basis for a fiction novel.

Just for grins, a "novel" is by definition fiction. There is no such thing as a nonfiction novel.

-- 28 Feb 2015, 22:43 --

My recommendation is to not get stuck trying to write an autobiography, unless your life experiences are on a very grand scale. I get the impression however that you're not that adventuresome and that you're fairly young. Question: Would you pay to see a movie that depicted a life that you've led thus far?

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not dissing your life experiences or your desire to write. But very very few people have lived a life that would make a good biography. I've been around the world and had all sorts of strange things occur to me, and I'm in my 70s. But I have no delusions that my life is worth chronicling.

Better to write a novel about a completely different subject, and then weave into the book some of your life thoughts and experiences into the fabric of the novel. Make yourself a minor character, for example. Or just have your protagonists go through some of the most memorable events of your own life.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 28 Feb 2015, 22:21

Tsk, tsk, moderntimes.

Raise your hand if you're not guilty of vanity.

(No hands go up.)

I don't think that PuffBear seems remotely vain, which means by elimination that her life has been a thrilling adventure. Write on, write on!

-- 28 Feb 2015, 23:25 --

(Sorry, moderntimes. I didn't mean to write that YOU are vain, but that everyone is. It may have read wrong.)

mmandy38 · Post by **mmandy38** » 28 Feb 2015, 23:15

Okay, so you say you would not take a jab at another person, but are there things you wouldn't want others to know about you? That's the only other reason I would write it anonymously. I say go for it either way though! Good luck!

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 01 Mar 2015, 11:21

Oh, I'm guilty of vanity, zelda, to that I freely admit.

My admonition is to not become stuck in a vanity trap and spend an inordinate amount of time spinning comfy webs about your own life. Unless you've led a fascinating life, telling about it might border on boredom. That's the point I was trying to make, to not believe your own hype.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 01 Mar 2015, 14:11

Oh. (I'm vain too... HA HA!)

When I was younger, I took a million stabs at my life story. Now, my life story was neither boring nor glamorous--rather, it was depressing as all get-out. Not to mention, horrifying, scandalous, and downright distasteful.

Anyway, all those attempts of mine to narrate my life led to dead ends, obviously. I was a diary-keeper, and the stuff in my last diary was so unspeakable that I wound up shredding it. And there is one warning in there to anyone writing their life story: sometimes when you put something down on paper, it takes on a life of its own that can't be undone, kind of like opening a Pandora's box.

Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. All those diaries I kept made me a good writer. Every time I'd experience an interesting interaction with someone, I'd narrate it with dialogue, setting, etc. That was just amazingly good practice at seeing life as a story, which later led me to branch into fiction. So anyway, my point is that even if Puffbear has led a boring, tedious life (which I doubt), then she can still gain good experience from narrating it. <Shrug.> Where else are you going to start? I also believe that everyone has a story to tell, and we can all grow from others' experiences. But from a "writing your memoirs at the age of 20" angle, you're right. Even if you've experienced the world, you haven't processed it yet at that age.

But you have to start somehow. I'm a self-taught woodworker. If someone had said, "Oh, you can't do it. You can't learn to make furniture," what if I had believed them?

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 01 Mar 2015, 18:28

I'm just saying that by trying to write a life story about yourself, you may become mired in self-deceit. Few people have lived such a fascinating and full life that it's worth setting down in print. I of course don't know. Puff may have sailed solo across the Atlantic or climbed K2 in the winter. Or fought in Afghanistan or maybe Vietnam or traveled extensively through central Africa on a medical mission. Or spent years studying polar bears like Jane Goodall did with the chimps.

If not, maybe it's best to start with a totally clean slate, write a book about not-yourself but embed part of your vast life experience in that other book. In my mystery novels I've included a few life experiences as plot threads, taking them as starter material and then creating total fiction from them. That might be the better route, unless, as I say, puff has had some amazing life experiences to write about.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 01 Mar 2015, 18:52

God bless Puffbear if she's done any of that stuff! Jeepers. I donate to Goodwill... does that count?

I don't know what Puffbear has experienced, but look at what we do know, just for the heck of it: she said there's no one who she wants to hurt in writing her life story. She must have a beautiful, innocent spirit. If I were to write a tell-all, I'd "out" at least fifty different parties for treating me terribly. No, I'm not proud of that--just being honest. (Don't worry--I'm sticking with fiction. HA HA. And the world breathes a collective sigh of relief...) I personally would love to read Puffbear's life story, just so I could learn how to be so gracious.

Anyway, I think I understand where you're coming from.

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 01 Apr 2015, 00:40

Puffbear, there is another alternative to clearing out the stuff in your head, the things which have happened to you during your life. You don't have to chronicle them as fiction or non-fiction, you can, instead use the emotions they evoke in completely fictional pieces. Something like how an actor draws on some event which induced a particular emotion in order to play a part.

By exploring the emotions you have experienced (wow, alliteration), you can marry them to ideas which follow your 'what-ifs'. The outcome is still cathartic for you as an author, but you don't fall into the autobiographical fiction trap, and you can often explore even greater truths of the human existence.

Just my two cents worth.