Are you looking for an autobiography template?
First things first.
What is your story? Not the shiny, air-brushed one you edit before posting on Instagram or the one you politely share during a writer’s chat on Zoom.
By your story, I mean the one with the cracks in it caused by childhood insecurities or the deep craters forged by unexpected collisions with life—the triumphs and tragedies that are forever etched into your DNA.
When you’re truly ready to write an autobiography, you’ll know it because you’ve come to a point in your life where the beauty of sharing your story has nothing to do with perfection. It’s knowing that despite the roller coaster ride that started at birth, you’ve found the courage to stay on it—sometimes holding on for dear life and other times riding with your hands up and screaming at the top of your lungs.
Get your autobiography template here:
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You’ve lived thoroughly and learned to embrace who you’ve become in the process, scars and all.
This post will show you the format for writing an autobiography and the best way to package your story so you can provide the best reader experience possible.
The basic definition of an autobiography is that it’s a first-person account of your life. It differs from a memoir, which usually focuses on a single event or group of events that lead you to a discovery about yourself, your life, or some other revelation. An autobiography is a look at the total sum of your life from birth (early childhood) to the time of your book’s writing that highlights the key points that shaped who you’ve become.
Ready to start writing your autobiography? Let’s get into it…
Just like any good story, every autobiography has a beginning, middle, and end. But before you begin filling in the sections, you want to come up with a theme for your book. Most people have too much life content to fit into one book. Selecting the parts that fit under the umbrella of a theme will make the book easier to follow.
When coming up with a theme, think about what you want the key takeaway to be for the reader. You don’t want to give them some boring slog through your life history. If you want them to feel something, your book needs direction. That’s where your theme takes the lead. By keeping it in the back of your mind while writing, you’ll give your readers a track to stay on. Otherwise, they may lose interest and stop reading.
Once you have your theme, right down the events in your life that are related to your book’s focus. You’ll plug these into the outline as you develop it.
Some examples of autobiography book themes are:
Your theme can be whatever you want it to be, but keep your audience in mind when selecting one.
Below you’ll find an autobiography template. It includes an outline with writing prompts in each section.
Whether you are an “outliner” (someone who outlines) or a “pantser” (someone who writes by the seat of their pants), the outline has enough structure and flexibility to make both writer types happy.
I’ve laid out what a traditional autobiography might look like below. But to really help you get the most out of the blog post, I recommend downloading our nonfiction book outline to use alongside this guide.
Need A Nonfiction Book Outline?