TRUE PREJUDICE
TOWARDS AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
I
was born. One day, I will die. In the interim I will have lived quite a while.
Everything I have done or accomplished, everything I have thought or said is
equally important. Therefore, I organized every event in chronological order, (hired
a ghostwriter), wrote a book, and will promote it to you and the world.
I
will sell millions of copies and make bunches of money because my name is a
household word: I saved the planet by replacing plastic with biodegradables,
destroyed it with a racist political policy that condoned genocide, set and
broke records in the Olympics or the Boston Marathon, acted in and/or directed
block buster movies, or made a fortune after being voted into public office (that
I stuffed into a tax-exempt non-profit).
You
can learn from me, respect me, honor me, abhor me, or maybe be jealous of me
because I thought enough of myself to write an autobiography.
Everyone
thinks they know everything about me but the masses will buy my autobiography
in the hope to learn something new about the trials, tribulations, failures, and
successes of my life. It will be an expose autobiography because it will include
specific details that only I know and provide a new framework of intrigue by
connecting details into a different way to look at me. This will allow my
readers to relate more personally when I survive and thrive through whatever challenges
I may have had.![]() |
(pink-perfection) |
Autobiographies
can be comprehensive and really, really long. They are usually written in
first-person point of view (there’s going to be a lot of I’s), and focus more
on the facts than how the writer feels while life occurs. The reader won’t
necessarily see, hear, and feel the joy, fear, panic, or hope that the writer
does. The reader may not be allowed to get into the writer’s head as intimately
as in a memoir, but they might be invited as a voyeur and hitch a ride as the
pages turn.
Autobiographies may cross over into memoir, fiction, non-fiction,
and creative non-fiction genres. In all of these, dialogue, settings, a solid
narrative, and true character descriptions should be present. In these genres
more than most others, the writer may worry about being accused and sued for
libel and or slander. Scenarios should be depicted as truth and as accurately
as possible. Memories are not infallible. Disclaimers are invaluable, should be
included, written as inclusively as possible, and approved by a literary
attorney.
It is believed that Saint Augustine of Hippo in Carthage wrote
the first modern autobiography. Confessions
consisted of a series of thirteen books written between AD 397 and 400. Saint
Augustine outlines his sinful youth (he thought of himself a bad boy) and how
he cleaned up his life after his conversion away from pagan worship to the
Christian faith.
For more information on genres related to writing stories on one's heritage:
https://www.aslongasibreathe.com/2019/10/heritage-for-infamous-prejudice-towards_9.html
For more information on genres related to writing stories on one's heritage:
https://www.aslongasibreathe.com/2019/10/heritage-for-infamous-prejudice-towards_9.html
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(pov-memoir) |
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True Crime Memoir –
Survivor: As Long As I Breathe
is dedicated to:
survivors of emotional, physical, spiritual, or sexual abuse,
those who have had to bury a murdered child,
former members of a religious cult based on misogyny,
children born with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome,
and anyone who was falsely accused of a crime.
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Joyce A Lefler is a true crime survivor and the author of
From Miracle to Murder: Justice For
Adam.
She is a facilitator for Parents of Murdered Children,
a bereavement counselor, registered nurse,
and an advocate against abuse.
Connect with her:
Website:
Facebook:
Advocacy
project:
Amazon: