Have you ever wanted to write your life story? Ever wondered how to do this feat and have some success at getting it published? The first thing I always ask is, who wants to read about me? What is there about my life story that is special? If I write about a normal middle-class girl who has normal middle-class parents and goes to a normal public school with very little of anything else to attract a reader, who indeed will want to read it?
Something to remember when doing your personal story is, you may be writing it for no one. It may well be a story you HAVE to tell just because for prosperity's sake, someone needs to record it. Maybe you have kids, or grandkids, and they will one day want to know more about you and your life as a youngster. That's perfectly fine, and self-publishing such a story is quite fine.
The difference I think is when some people start out writing about their own personal experience and realize half-way in that it isn't exciting enough to catch a reader for long, so they begin fictionalizing it and trying to twist it into something it was not meant to be. Care should be taken at this point as you may find writing salable fiction is even more difficult than writing a solid biography.
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Kim Smith
author of Avenging Angel, a Shannon Wallace Mystery
Beach Bummed now available at mouthfullofbullets.com
The Blue Goose now available at mystericale.com