Often written in narrative form an autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person.
The definition states:
“he or she gives a vivid description of his or her childhood in their autobiography” Sub sections are memoirs, life story, or personal history.
It differentiates from the periodic self-reflective mode of journal or diary writing because it is a review of a life from a particular moment in time, rather than a diary entry, which although reflective moves through a series of moments in time. In other words an autobiography takes stock of the writers life by way of memory from the moment of the composition. A distinction on autobiography versus memoir is that a memoir is less focused on self and more on others.
The ‘life’ autobiography may focus on a subjective view of the person’s life, which in some cases can lead to misleading or incorrect information by way of the inability or unwillingness of the writer to recall memories accurately.
A ‘spiritual’ autobiography follows the writer’s journey towards God or other deity, which resulted from a conversion. It is a vehicle to endorse his or her new found religion.
A ‘fictional autobiography’ is a novel about a fictional character written as though the character were writing their own autobiography in first-person and reflecting on both internal and external experiences of their character.
An I-Novel is a Japanese literary genre used to describe a confessional type literature where the events related correspond to the author’s life. In many cases it exposed the darker side of society or the author’s own dark side.
A memoir differs from an autobiography as it focuses on more intimate memoirs, feelings and emotions, rather than the ‘life and times’ of a writer in a typical autobiography. For example, memoirs about politicians or military leaders glorify their public exploits.
Have you written or are you thinking of writing your autobiography?
Whose autobiography have you read that you enjoyed?
I still vividly remember reading The Dairy of A Young Girl (Anne Frank) at school. It is such a powerful and emotive book. Of course, I have read ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King several times (or more!)
An excellent book for writing autobiography is “Your Life As Story” by Tristin Rainer. She offers many different approaches to autobiographical writing in addition to your list. I have incorporated some of them into my life as a fictional narrative. Thank you for this awesome genre description.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 
March 7, 2018 at 6:53 pm
An excellent book for writing autobiography is “Your Life As Story” by Tristin Rainer. She offers many different approaches to autobiographical writing in addition to your list. I have incorporated some of them into my life as a fictional narrative. Thank you for this awesome genre description.
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March 7, 2018 at 7:52 pm
Thank you for the tip, Kathie. Another great guide book to get you started is Your Lifetime of Stories which helps you decide what themes, memories etc. you wish to include and how. http://www.dreamwritepublishing.ca/retail/books/your-lifetime-stories
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