The Life Story Interview – Write on the World

We often hear “memoir” and “autobiography” used interchangeably, but they serve very different purposes. A memoir is a slice of life—a deep dive into a particular time, theme, or transformation. An autobiography, by contrast, is your full life story—from childhood through the present. It’s the comprehensive telling of who you are and how you became that person, meant to offer not just facts but also meaning.

An autobiography attempts to tell the full story of a person’s life, typically in chronological order. It starts at or near the beginning—childhood, family background—and proceeds through adulthood, covering major events, accomplishments, and lessons learned. Think of it as a wide-angle lens: an overview of a life from beginning to (almost) end.

In this post, we’ll look at how to write a true autobiography. And if you’ve been following my series on going back to basics and applying the steps of the novel writing process to your own work, you’ll be pleased to know the same steps apply here. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, the process of planning, structuring, drafting, and revising holds up. The main differences lie in where your material comes from—memory and research rather than imagination—and how you go about shaping your story.

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