How do you write a biography?

Question

I'm writing a two page biography on a famous author, and I'm wondering about the format. I borrowed a biography written about him from the library and the book is like 700 pages long. what kind of information should I focus on because I really don't want to read the whole book ^-^. Also, it has both factual and personal information, so should blend the two types together, like one fact or an event followed by thepersonal perspective, or should I state all the facts first then the personal stuff? Also, how should I start it? Should it have a thesis like an essay, or do I just go in chronological order. I really need the help, thanks!

should I add my personal views too, like starting the report with: "He was the greatest writer of his time and genre" or something?

Answer 1

A biography is simply an entertaining story about someone's life. Include highlights from the person's life, and personal information such as date of birth, death, schooling and special accompllishments.

Look at the book and note the chapter titles. That should help you focus on aspects for emphasis in your biography.

Do searches on line and find brief biographies of writers, artists, politicians, etc. as examples. These links should give you ideas. I've included a couple of sample short biographies. I hope this helps. Best of luck with it.

Answer 2

Homework Center – Writing Skills
How to Write a Biography
A biography is simply the story of a life. Biographies can be just a few sentences long, or they can fill an entire book—or two.

Very short biographies tell the basic facts of someone's life and importance.
Longer biographies include that basic information of course, with a lot more detail, but they also tell a good story.
Biographies analyze and interpret the events in a person's life. They try to find connections, explain the meaning of unexpected actions or mysteries, and make arguments about the significance of the person's accomplishments or life activities. Biographies are usually about famous, or infamous people, but a biograpy of an ordinary person can tell us a lot about a particular time and place. They are often about historical figures, but they can also be about people still living.

Many biographies are written in chronological order. Some group time periods around a major theme (such as "early adversity" or "ambition and achievement" ). Still others focus on specific topics or accomplishments.

Biographers use primary and secondary sources:

Primary sources are things like letters, diaries, or newspaper accounts.
Secondary sources include other biographies, reference books, or histories that provide information about the subject of the biography.
To write a biography you should:
Select a person you are interested in
Find out the basic facts of the person's life. Start with the encyclopedia and almanac.
Think about what else you would like to know about the person, and what parts of the life you want to write most about. Some questions you might want to think about include:
What makes this person special or interesting?
What kind of effect did he or she have on the world? other people?
What are the adjectives you would most use to describe the person?
What examples from their life illustrate those qualities?
What events shaped or changed this person's life?
Did he or she overcome obstacles? Take risks? Get lucky?
Would the world be better or worse if this person hadn't lived? How and why?
Do additional research at your library or on the Internet to find information that helps you answer these questions and tell an interesting story.
Write your biography. See the Tips on Writing Essays and How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay for suggestions.
You'll find biographies of lots of famous people in the encyclopedia. (Look them up in the Infoplease search box to find them.) You can also browse these short biographies of Selected Figures from Recent History.

Answer 3

Make an outline of the important topics in the authors life: Perhaps:

Early life
Education
Work or activities leading to the author's fame
The famous work
Later life and death (if relevant)
Summarize: why is this person important or significant

Writre a paragrah or two on eeach and you'll have a couple of pages.

Answer 4

i'm with Persiphone_Hellecat. there is very much of study in contact. the terrific suggestion i will supply you is circulate to the library or a e book place and verify out the main recent biographies that are obtainable. additionally, study the manhattan situations e book overview (it comes out on Sundays with the manhattan situations paper) and verify out the non-fiction bestsellers checklist. a million/2 of the books that are on the checklist are biographies and autobiographies. that provides you with a concept on what anybody is reading. it relatively is yet another theory to objective out. detect an area action picture star and write approximately them. There must be somebody on your community that anybody is talking approximately. initiate your biography as a journalistic piece, and then build from there. Be arranged to do an incredible volume of study. do no longer forget to triple-verify your information. continually characteristic YOUR supplies. This tidbit is quite significant. initiate with that to locate theory. i desire you detect somebody to place in writing approximately. good luck and take care.

Answer 5

Mainly you need to read what the person did that is most important in the book/or in that preson`s life.Most of that will be found in the introduction.Do not blend true facts and peasonal facts together......do those facts seperate.
Good luck on your report.

Answer 6

essay