How to Write an Autobiography: Questions, Principles, & What to Include

When you are assigned an autobiography to write, tens, and even hundreds of questions start buzzing in your head. How to write autobiography essay parts? What to include? How to make your autobiography writing flow? Don’t worry about all this and use the following three simple principles and 15 creative questions for writing a life story about yourself that truly deserves a high grade.

Our specialists will write a custom essay on any topic for 13.00 10.40/page

308 certified professionals on site
Learn More

And don’t forget to bookmark Custom-writing.org, here you’ll find tons of study advice and superior writing help.

❗ How to Write Autobiography: 3 Main Principles

First and foremost, you should remember that an autobiography (also called a memoir) is a story about your own life. If you write the life story of another person, that is called a biography.

You will quickly write a winning autobiography if you follow these three simple principles:

  • Make it logical. Choose one main idea and express it in a thesis statement to combine all memories into a meaningful whole.
  • Do not be a bore. Reveal some personal details and tell something that nobody but you can tell.
  • Make it easy to read. Include an introduction, main body, and conclusion; do not hesitate to use a new paragraph to develop a new idea; avoid using overly complicated language and constructions.

❓ 50 Questions for Writing an Autobiography

Even when you use the 3 above-discussed principles, you might still stumble in the middle of your autobiography. Your inspiration can betray you after you start writing a memoir. But the following 50 questions won’t let you down. This list will help you generate brilliant ideas for your autobiographies whenever you need them:

  1. What famous quote can describe your life? 
  2. Which 3 adjectives can be used to describe you as a person
  3. Who influenced your personal development
  4. What are your best and worst childhood memories? 
  5. What is your family social and ethnic background
  6. What is your relationship with parents and other relatives? 
  7. What are your main achievements in life? 
  8. What are the weaknesses that you would like to get rid of? 
  9. What are your goals for the future? 
  10. What places would you like to visit and why? 
  11. What skills would you like to develop and why? 
  12. What was the most memorable day in your life? 
  13. What was the most important lesson you have ever learned? 
  14. What are the most important values in life, in your opinion? 
  15. Which fault would you never forgive in others or yourself? 
  16. Does ethnic identity play an important role in your life?  
  17. What leadership skills do you have?  
  18. What is your personal health vision?  
  19. What is your opinion of art?  
  20. What is the role of music in your life? 
  21. What do you think of classical music
  22. Can you describe your first day at college?  
  23. What lessons did you derive from your first semester at school?  
  24. What do you think of epistemology philosophy?  
  25. Have you ever attended logic courses?  
  26. What are your impressions from your last vacation?  
  27. What impact does your emotional intelligence has on your personal relationships?  
  28. What do you think of aging?  
  29. Does your personal happiness depend on household activities?  
  30. Have you ever adopted a pet?  
  31. What did you learn from your first job?  
  32. How was your first date?  
  33. What is your ideal social meeting place?  
  34. What challenges did your friendship face?  
  35. What does being responsible mean to you?  
  36. What steps do you take to improve your interpersonal relations?  
  37. What is your personal vision of a home?  
  38. What is your vision of dystopia?  
  39. What is your favorite superheroine and why?  
  40. What career would you like to choose? 

If you are a student, your life story might not be that long. However, these 15 questions will guide you in writing an autobiography that you can be proud of and the 3 simple principles discussed above will help you make your memoir flawless.

Just in
3 hours!
We will write you a plagiarism-free paper in hardly more than 3 hours!
Learn More

🤗 What to Include in an Autobiography?

  1. Explore your background. Try to recall how a biography of a prominent person usually starts. It always opens with their parents’ or even grandparents’ achievements or vices. Rather than beginning the autobiography with your date of birth, dedicate a paragraph to your ancestors. Providing background information will put your life into a complete picture. The following questions will help you decide which events prior to your birth are worth attention.
What kind of family do you come from? What did your parents do for a living, and how did it influence their lifestyle?
Are there any prominent achievements of your ancestors you could boast of? How did these accomplishments impact your family?
How did your parents get acquainted?
Where were you born, and what distinctive features of this region could you point out?
Were you the first, second, or third child?
  1. Pick out your childhood memories. This is the most touching paragraph of your piece of writing. Even though your childhood may seem ordinary, the following template questions will guide you in the right direction. Something in your life will always be unique for everybody else.
Where did you live when you were a child (in the country, suburbs, town, or large city)?
Did you spend a lot of time outdoors? Did you gain any skills from playing there?
How did your relatives prepare you for school?
What defines your most important choice in life?
Describe the moments that shaped your personality or made a major change in your perception of life?
Which events influenced your choice of a program for college?
  1. Research your culture. Your family traditions are unique. In the modern world, every family is free to observe or ignore some customs. Special moments are what we recall many years later. Sometimes they are formed spontaneously, but most of them are created by our family, friends, and relatives.
What was the most anticipated holiday for your family?
Who did you invite to your place for the celebration?
What was the most important and valuable gift in your life?
Does your family have any traditions that are not related to holidays?
Is there a particular food you cook and eat only on important days?
Were there any adverse events related to your family traditions?

🔗 References

This article was developed by the editorial team of Custom-Writing.org, a professional writing service with 3-hour delivery.
Comments (35)

Naina
Naina

Lovely tips…thanks a lot …you made my day cuz I really wanted to explore myself

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

It’s so nice to hear that! Thank you very much for your kind words indeed.

Andrei
Andrei

Nice article I wish your team make a more useful article that can help people thanks btw 😊😊😊😊(●’◡’●)(●’◡’●)

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Thanks for your attention, Andrei. It means so much for us😊!

Jennifer Thorn
Jennifer Thorn

Hi, you have a very amazing way of making all of this understandable. Its pretty easy to understand but I was wondering what if we wanted to write an autobiography of some other thing, for instance, a book. This does not cover some of those facts. It would be a great help if you could cover those fields as well. Other than that this website is amazing

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Hi, Jennifer!
Thank you for your feedback. We will use it for future improvement!

Namrta Singh
Namrta Singh

I am a blogger. And eager to write my autobiography that how i turned to writing world. Your blog pretty much helped me to write what i want. Thanks, it was value reading your blog

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Thanks for your kind words! We look forward to seeing you again!

Abhinav Chauhan
Abhinav Chauhan

Really helpful! I’m a student studying in grade 11 and was given a project to write your own biography. This blog has really helped me thank you for writing this one.

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Glad you liked our article! Your opinion means so much for us!

devid
devid

Super helpful! Thank you for this post! Grammarly doesn’t provide enough. In addition to Grammarly, I was relying on content performance optimization software. Now I use INK for All.

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Thank you for the feedback, Devid! Glad the article was helpful to you.

Lameck makorii birundu
Lameck makorii birundu

I have read these principles when writing an autobiography. I have my book which I have written, but I don’t have a market where to sell it. How can you help me?

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Hi there,
You should probably search for a local publishing company.
Thanks for reading the article!

Custom Writing
Custom Writing

Thanks for the feedback, Margaret!

See your paper’s price