Learn to Write Biographies

A biography is the story of someone’s life and can either extend for their whole life or just a specific period.  This course will give you the skills you need to write biographies and will answer your questions such as how to research for writing a biography, how do I plan a biography, how do I set the context and much  more.

• 100 hours
• Self paced flexibly study
• 1-on-1 tutor support

Course Aims

• Determine when, why, where and how biographies are written.
• Determine sources of information and then acquire appropriate information for a biography.
• To decide on the type of biography and context in which it should be developed, based upon researched information.
• Write different types of short biographies to meet different purposes.
• Analyse a life to determine the structure, style and content of a comprehensive biography that could become a small book, large book, or screenplay.
• Plan a type of biography.
• Determine how a biographical manuscript may be dealt with after writing is completed by the author; to produce and market a finished product.
• Apply knowledge and skills developed throughout this course, to research and produce a biographical short story.

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of Biographical Writing

• • The difference between a biography and autobiography
  • Unauthorised biographies
  • Using ghost writers in biographies
  • Choosing your subject
  • Biography vs. Memoir

2. Researching a Biography

• • Types of Evidence
  • Using Evidence
  • Fair Use
  • Where to find evidence
  • Conducting an Interview
  • How to deal with conflicting sources and information
  • Citations and Referencing

3. Developing Context

• • Determining Your Theme
  • Developing the theme
  • Themes and Structure
  • Using Context

4. Short Biographies

• • Principles of the Short Biography
  • Distilling Information
  • Preparing to write from life experience

5. Comprehensive Biographies

• • What makes a comprehensive biography comprehensive?
  • Writing a Great Biography
  • Voice in Writing

6. Planning a Biography

• • The Short Outline
  • The Detail-Heavy Outline
  • Outlining the biography
  • Defining a theme, writing to a central theme
  • Word Budget
  • Organising Chapter Content

7. Editing and Marketing a Biography

• • Editing
  • Writing a Sales Package
  • The Publishing Process
  • Publishing Processes for Ebooks
  • Self-Publishing Your Work
  • Distributing and Selling your Work
  • Grants for Writing

8. Project – Writing a Biographical Story

• • In this final lesson, you will bring together everything that you have been learning to undertake research and construct a first draft of a biographical piece of between 2,000 and 4,000 words.