Writing your autobiography is an interesting way to let people know more about your life. Such books contain valuable first-person views as the author also doubles as the subject. While creating an autobiography may seem as simple as telling a story about your life, it’s actually more difficult than that. However, there’s no reason why you can’t do it. Here are some writing tips that will help you perfect that autobiography.

1. Create a timeline

Your life is made up of a sequence of events that helped shape you to where you are right now. Before you begin writing, create a timeline so that you don’t miss the important dates and events in your life. Your timeline would be the outline to form the backbone of your autobiography. You can write anything in your timeline, whether you include it in your book or not. Everything you write in there could potentially serve as a building block on which your book will stand.

2. Identify the main characters

Just as in a good novel, an autobiography is filled with all kinds of great characters. Determining the characters in your life story is just as important as telling yours. It would almost be a given that the people closest to you, such as your parents or your spouse, would play a huge role throughout the book. However, you can also add minor characters such as friends, rivals, and exes that can add spice and interest to your story. You can even integrate factors that have proven influential for you such as mentors, pets, celebrities, and even the places where you lived.

3. Extract the best stories

Writing your entire life within 150-300 pages is not easy. Because of this, it might be necessary to pare down your autobiography to its bare essentials. You should ask yourself which elements play a large role in crafting the story of your life. Add the stories you think people would be most interested to hear as well as factors you think had an influential role as you grew up. Among the most interesting things in anyone’s autobiography include the early years, a coming-of-age story, an identity crisis, and a conflict of some sort.

4. Write in your own voice

One of the biggest reasons why people purchase autobiographies is because they want to take a closer look on someone’s life. To create a best-selling bio, you must do exactly that. One of the best ways is by writing in an active voice. That way, you can easily engage readers. The way you write should reflect your personality. Also, never hold back when telling your story. While it doesn’t have to be a tell-all, it is important that you give the full picture. You can talk about both the positives and negatives, reveal your personal thoughts, and share your beliefs, no matter how controversial they might sound.