Biography questions for project

Ask around. Contact other authors, not just biographers. Reach out to libraries, historical societies, or family members of your subject.

Know when to stop researching. You will likely have more than enough. You can always go back later and fill in the gaps.

Use your research selectively. You can always use excess material in blog posts or videos, articles, speaking appearances, or future projects.

You’ll need to devise a thesis—a main takeaway. You might instead, or also, have various themes that run through the book.

8. Start outlining.

You need an outline—early on. You can start this as early in your process as you like.

The traditional bulleted list works well for most—but others will start with a handwritten "mind map” or by writing on and rearranging virtual (or actual) sticky notes.

As you make your outline, refer to your thesis and/or themes. Refer to your timeline. Start to figure out how you might want to divide the chapters.

You will aim to have six to ten chapters, of roughly equal length, plus an introduction and a conclusion, all amounting to no more than , words. A book that’s shorter than that may be easier to sell to traditional publishers. (Click here to read my article “What’s the ideal word count for a nonfiction book?”)

Mary McVicker’s advice for biographers in The Writermagazine is sage:

“You can literally shape nonfiction. . . . Few lives have the sort of structure you’d give a novel. . . . But you can control the amount of space you give each element in your book.”

Each chapter need not cover the same number of years. Certain events may get condensed. Others may get expanded. Some of the “broader context” stuff will be amplified. Or it may get downplayed.

As Jon Collins writes, “not all biography needs to be exhaustive, or indeed should be.”

Working with people’s interpretations, amplified or missing details, confused accounts, and various explanations and justifications, “the biographer’s job becomes that of creating a coherent narrative, triangulating, extrapolating, and gap-filling.”

It can be a lot of fun!

Be open to fine-tuning or even refocusing your outline.

9. Budget for the inevitable.

Set aside some funds for books, research, editing, image permissions, and other eventualities.

Dedicate at least several hours a week to work on this book so you can get it done in a timely fashion.

Prepare to start writing.

What do you need to start writing? A new office chair or a new set of headphones? Don’t go overboard here, but do set yourself up for success and make your workspace as conducive to writing as possible.

If you’ve followed these 10 steps, you’re ready to start writing. You got this!

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—Daniel