A Study of Biography: 3 Resources
Penelope Niven
Earlier this year, just about the time I realized my biography project was stalled (see From Stalled to Inspired), I read an interview with Penelope Niven in the March/April issue of The Writer’s Chronicle. Talk about timely!
Niven is the author of four biographies. Interviewer, Sheryl Monks, engaged Niven in a discussion of the exact issues that were paralyzing me.
- How am I going to manage the girth of material I’m uncovering in my research?
- How can I make the process of research and writing work?
- How can I shape this story?
Most importantly, Niven gave voice to my major concern. She says that writing a biography is “an act of audacity.” That’s exactly what I was feeling: Audacious. Who was I to try to tell this man’s story?
And I didn’t really like Niven’s conclusion either when she went on to say: “You cannot compromise even for an instant the veracity of your work.” Oh dear! I was going to have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I was getting more worried by the moment.
But I was also oddly challenged and motivated by the article. There were biographers talking about their work, discussing the ins and outs, the challenges, and the rewards. After reading the interview with Niven, I began to look for material that discussed biography and the work of writing biography.
I found 3 resources:
- Four or five terrific books about biography.
- A fabulous organization with a newsletter and website: Biographers International Organization
- Some stellar magazine articles about the craft and genre.
In my next few posts, I’m going to review the books I’ve read and then move on to highlighting some of information I’ve gleaned from the other two resources.
I’d love to hear about resources you’ve found related to big writing projects or biography in particular.
In my last post, I wrote about my stalled writing project and how I took the problem to my writing group. You can read about the stall here. In this post, I’m going to discuss how their gentle shove resulted in an attitude adjustment and some direct action.
Here is what I learned from my writing group that has changed my attitude:
- FEAR and BUSY-NESS are the two things stopping me.
- My freelance business and the book project use the same kind of energy.
- Look for ways to “hold the spirit of the thing together.”
- Look for ways to hold myself accountable.
- Understand why am I infatuated with this man? Explore my own opinion of him and be prepared to change my mind.
- Don’t concern myself with what others say/think.
- Just start writing.
- I am the right person to do this because I want to–I have the curiosity.
After meeting with the group, I leaped into action. Here is what I’ve done:
- Re-read an article in Writer’s Chronicle on biography and took lots of notes.
- Ordered 3 more books on biography that have arrived and are engrossing, motivating, and full of practical ideas.
- Organized my materials and started working on an effective filing method.
- Designated a notebook to keep with me all the time to jot down things I hear (just about anytime I mention the project folks mention things I want to remember) and the random thoughts and ideas that immediately started popping into my head the minute I returned my attention to the project.
- Set up computer in separate room with no Internet.
- Made a commitment to spend at least a half hour a day on this computer doing something project related, transcribing, organizing, planning, and taking stabs at writing little vignettes from my notes. (So far, that half hour has been more like an hour and half and once 4 hours.)
I feel like the project is revived. I’m still scared but I understand why I’m scared. As one of the books I’m reading says, “To write a biography is an act of audacity.”
In future posts, I plan to talk about what I’m learning about the genre of biography.
My Blog
Twilightme.My Books
Non-fiction books.