how to write death biography

• Funerals & Memorial Services

How to Write a Biography for a Funeral Program + Examples

Updated 05/11/2022

Published 03/10/2021

Belinda McLeod, BA in Secondary Education

Contributing writer

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After a person dies, someone in the family usually writes a biography or obituary about the person. This task sometimes falls to a friend or the funeral director may also help with the writing process. 

You may then submit the biography or obituary to the newspaper through the funeral home. Most newspapers charge families a per-word rate to print the article. You may also write the obituary for the funeral program on the funeral home’s website.

Check out our tips for writing a biography for a funeral. We will also give you short biography examples to help you with your task of telling your loved one’s life story. 

Jump ahead to these sections:

Steps for writing a biography for a funeral, funeral biography samples.

Think of a biography (or obituary) as a news article informing the general public about a death that occurred. Even though you may feel emotional when writing an obituary, this is not typically the outlet for writing about your feelings. 

Even though the biography is an informative article, it is up to you to include the details. You can include pretty much whatever you want, but it’s a good idea to get the family’s general consensus regarding what you will write about in the biography.

The number and types of details may vary, depending on the person and where the biography or obituary will be used. A biography (or obituary) read at a funeral may include more details than one printed in the newspaper or funeral program . 

Step 1: Start with the general facts

You want to identify the deceased first. Use the full name (with the maiden name in parentheses) and the age of the person. If the deceased had an often-used nickname, consider putting it in quotes. 

The more identification factors you use makes it less likely that your loved one gets mistaken for someone else. This is especially important if your loved one had a common name. 

Step 2: Consider including the essential dates in the obituary

Some families choose to include the birth date and death date of the deceased in the obituary. You can present this information in a variety of ways. 

Others avoid giving this detailed information in hopes of limiting the likelihood of fraudulent activity. You may provide partial information, such as “She was born to Bob and Mary Smith in October 1982.”

Step 3: Consider including the cause of death

The family must decide whether or not to include the cause of death. Most people who read the biography will wonder, “What happened?” This question may seem nosy to you, but it is only human nature to be curious about such matters. 

Some families choose to leave this information out of the biography, which is their prerogative. Others may view it as a piece of information that may be helpful to future generations. Some may give partial information, such as “Mary Frankie Jones, 65, passed away after a long illness.”

Step 4: Include information about the early life of the deceased

Most people choose to include the names of the parents of the deceased as well as the city of birth. Again, only include specific information if you feel comfortable; some unscrupulous individuals use this biographical information for nefarious purposes.

You may consider including where the deceased graduated high school and/or college. Include any brief military service during this section of the biography as well.

Step 5: Include other family information

Often, you list a deceased person’s marriages in the article chronologically and list children at the end of the article as “survivors to the deceased.”

For some, it’s easy to write about the deceased’s spouse but makes a difficult task for others. Again, there are no “rules” on who to include, so you and your family must make those determinations.

People agonize over whether to include estranged family members. You may also wonder whether to label stepchildren differently than biological children. Ex-spouses and long-term partners that never marry may pause you as you write the obituary. 

Each situation is different, so most etiquette guides recommend that people do their best to keep their relationships with their living family members intact by not limiting the list of survivors in the obituary. 

Step 6: Write about your loved one’s professional life

A funeral biography is not the same as a resume, but most people give at least some general information about how the deceased earned a living. 

If the deceased worked his entire adult life at one place of business, you would include this detail in the obituary. If he job-hopped but stayed in the same industry, you may include a sentence about his profession.

You may make this section of the biography longer for those with active careers. 

Step 7: Consider including information about community involvement

Many families choose to include their loved one’s involvement in community groups. For example, you may choose to include the deceased’s involvement in a specific church, civic organization, or volunteer group. You may also want to include any offices that the deceased held in any of these organizations as well as any awards earned. 

Step 8: Add any details that made your loved one special

There’s much more to life than work and club memberships. Think about other details you could include in the biography that would help people understand what made your loved one unique. 

Perhaps you want to write about how she was a Star Wars superfan and waited in line each time a new film was released. Maybe your loved one was an avid camper and fisherman and spent each weekend in a tent. 

You may want to write a lengthy exposition about what made your loved one special, which you should do. Use this information to write your loved one’s eulogy or share your writing with close family members. Depending on where you publish it, you may find your writing limited by the amount of space available. 

To get you started in your writing process, read these short, fictional obituary snippets. 

For a parent or grandparent

Douglas Richard Schrute, 82, passed away peacefully in his home on Monday, June 23, 2020. His wife of 53 years was by his side at the time of death.

Douglas was born on December 22, 1938, to Richard and Mary (Sullivan) Schrute in Elmwood, Illinois. He was the fourth son born to the couple. 

After graduating from Elmwood High School, he joined the U.S. Army, serving his country in Korea.

For a child or grandchild

Mary Kate is survived by her parents, Michael and Patricia Carmichael, and one brother, Cole. Other survivors include her maternal grandparents, John and Tawnya Crabtree, and her paternal grandparents, Frank and Louise Carmichael. 

For a partner or spouse

Peter worked in the telecommunications industry all his life. He began his career at Southwestern Bell in 1973 and retired from AT&T in 2018. He worked as a technical salesperson for most of his professional life. 

For an adult without immediate family

Michael will always be remembered by his friends as the “man of 1,000 stories.” He began each conversation by saying, “Stop me if you’ve heard this before,” which no one ever did. He was the life of the party, and laughter followed him wherever he went. 

For someone who died after a long illness

Jack passed away Friday, December 8, after a long battle with lung cancer. 

The family wishes to express appreciation to the Elmwood Hospice organization for helping make his transition to heaven as peaceful as possible.

Take Great Care When Writing the Biography of a Loved One

If you are in charge of making all of the arrangements, you may find yourself overwhelmed by your list of “to-do” items. 

Even though you may find yourself pressed for time, carefully consider the wording of your loved one’s biography or obituary. Take care to be as accurate as possible by double-checking dates, the spelling of names, and other facts. 

Anytime you write something of this level of importance, it is good to have other family members and friends check the piece for accuracy, clarity, and grammar. Have others proofread the funeral program as well and help you pick which modern funeral program to include. 

You only have one chance to write the obituary of your loved one, so take your time as you complete this task. 

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Lesson of The Day

Writing a Short Biography With Obituaries

In this lesson, we invite students to learn about obituary writing in The New York Times, and then write about someone who led an interesting life, using the format of an obituary.

By Erica Ackerberg

Lesson Overview

Featured Section: Obituaries

When the reporter Margalit Fox retired, she reflected on her career as an obituary writer at The New York Times: “Writing daily obits only reinforced what I had long suspected: It is the best beat in journalism. The reason is simple: In following their subjects from cradle to grave, obits are the most narrative genre in any daily paper. For a writer, there is little better than being paid to tell stories.”

Since 1851, hundreds of thousands of obituaries have appeared in The Times. In the most basic sense, an obituary is an announcement of someone’s death. But each one is also a life story: It highlights the impact a person had on the world and what made him or her special. Those you’ll see in the pages of The Times are usually of famous people, such as Hank Aaron or Betty White , but you’ll also find obituaries of lesser known, but otherwise newsworthy, people, like Betty King, who worked backstage at Carnegie Hall, and André Cassagnes , the inventor of the Etch A Sketch.

In this lesson, you will read some of the obituaries published in The New York Times to find out what they’re like, what kinds of information they typically include and how they are written. Then, you’ll research and write an obituary for someone who led an interesting life.

Curriculum Connections

Teachers, writing an obituary can help your students practice essential research, writing and storytelling skills. You can have them write obituaries for people they knew, notable figures or anyone else whose life story is worth knowing. Here are a few ideas for different subject areas:

An English teacher might have students write an obituary for a character from a shared class text to better understand who that person was, what was important to him or her and what effect he or she had on others in the book. Students could also write obituaries for authors or other important people from your curriculum.

A social studies teacher could do the same with a historical figure. A math or science teacher might pick an influential person from a field of study students are learning about.

Health or advisory teachers could use this lesson to talk about ways to remember and memorialize those who have died. They might engage students in discussion on how different cultures honor the dead.

Watch this trailer for a documentary about the Obituaries desk of The New York Times, and think about the following questions:

What does it mean that obituaries are a way “to make the dead live again”?

Does writing or reading about someone who has died feel depressing to you, or even creepy? Or, as with these obituary writers, do you find it intriguing?

Is there anyone whose life story you would like to tell? What made that person’s life special or meaningful?

Pick one of these obituaries to read. Or search through the Obituaries section to find one that interests you.

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the obituary you chose, and then answer the following questions:

1. What, if anything, did you know about this person before you read his or her obituary?

2. List some basic facts about the person: Where and when was he or she born? Who was in his or her family? What did this person accomplish in life? When and how did he or she die?

3. Why do you think The New York Times wrote an obituary about this person? What made this person newsworthy? How was his or her life special?

4. Was there anything about the person’s life that surprised you? What detail did you find most interesting? Why?

5. What, if anything, do you find inspirational about the person’s story?

6. Now, read the obituary as a writer. What do you admire about the way this piece was written? What is your favorite line, and why?

Going Further

Now, it’s your turn: Write an obituary for someone — perhaps someone you knew personally, a historical figure you are learning about in school, a character from a novel you are reading or anyone else whose life story you’d like to tell.

1. First, you’ll need to do research. You might read newspaper articles or biographies, watch or listen to interviews featuring your subject, or talk with the person’s family members or friends.

(If you’re speaking with someone whose loved one has recently died, remember to approach the conversation with compassion. When Neil Vigdor, a Times reporter, calls someone who has lost a family member or a friend, he starts by saying, “I’m deeply sorry to be reaching out under these circumstances.” Then he asks to hear more about the person who died.)

2. Next, you’ll need to identify the most basic facts of the person’s life and death. Here is part of a tip sheet from The Times’s Obituaries desk on the essential information every obituary should include:

Date of death Place of death Age at death Cause of death Full birth name, and place and date of birth Education Military service Marriages, to whom and when; and divorces, if there are any. Names of parents, siblings, spouse or companion and children. Numbers of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The more biographical background the obituary can give, the better. For example, how did they start their careers? Details like education and military service should be given when relevant or interesting. If possible, give the names and occupations of the subject’s parents, as well as his or her place and date of birth.

But you don’t want your obituary to just be a list of dry facts. Add what journalists call “color.” What made this person’s life interesting? In “ How to Write an Obituary, ” Malia Wollan interviews Victoria Chang, a poet who wrote obituary poems after her mother died, and gives examples of these kinds of details:

“Everyone is special and quirky, and I think the best obituaries capture the essence of those qualities about each of us,” Chang says. What things did she collect? What did she love to eat? What brought her joy?

3. Finally, it’s time to write. The format of an obituary is often uniform. Ms. Wollan describes it this way:

An obituary tends to have three distinct parts: the beginning (name, age, date of death, cause of death [if possible to include], work, education); the middle (anecdotes that celebrate the person’s life); and the end (so-and-so is survived by, which Chang calls “a very efficient way of saying who’s grieving.”)

Also, consider the tone you want your obituary to have. Ms. Wollan continues:

An obituary is for the living, but you should consider the sensibilities of the deceased. How would the person want to be remembered? “Imagine what they would write about themselves,” Chang says. It’s OK to be funny. “There’s a lot of humor and oddity, strange tensions and funny stuff about people and the things they do together,” Chang says.

And if you want to get creative, instead of writing a traditional obituary, make a slide show of the person’s life with photos and text , put together a mixed media collage or write an obituary poem, as Ms. Chang did for her mother. Share what you make with your class.

If you want to learn more about obituaries in The New York Times, the documentary “ Obit ” is available on Amazon Prime. You can also listen to this interview on NPR with two obituary writers from The New York Times.

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here .

Funeral Biography

People always wonder what’s so good about goodbyes. There really is no acceptable answer for that. Saying our emotional farewells and letting go of the people we love is always tough. Goodbyes could mean we never get to be with our loved ones ever again. It also means we never get a second chance to say things we couldn’t vocalize. Hating the idea of never seeing someone ever again rides along with the fear of forgetting those that matter to us. That’s why, as we send them off to their final resting place, we must remember them, how they lived, and keep them in our hearts forever.

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A biography is a written record of the life story and details of a person, whether alive or deceased. In a biography, the writer is either a family member, friend, or anyone who knows the person very well. This is different from an autobiography where a person writes about his own life story and experiences. So with this definition, a funeral biography is a record of the life of someone who has passed away. This is read or presented during the person’s funeral as a way of remembering him before the final goodbyes are said. This is also kept as memorabilia long after the deceased has been laid to rest.

Who was he?

Funeral biographies can come in two forms: obituaries and eulogies. Although both detail a person’s life, their weight differs greatly. Obituaries are written newspaper reports about a person’s passing. This shortly discusses the life of a person, how they died, and the location of his memorial. They serve as an announcement to reach all those who knew the departed. They aren’t always as personal as eulogies, but they still get the job done. Eulogies, on the other hand, are more extended, more personal, and written by someone who was close to the one pushing daisies. This is tearfully read in front of the person’s family and friends during the memorial service. 

15+ Best Biography Examples

Shared below are steps on how to write a funeral biography. Tips that you need to remember in writing biographies are also included.

1. Basic Biography Outline Template

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Size: A4 & US Letter Sizes

2. Biography Report Template

3. Biography Worksheet Template

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4. Free Basic Biography Outline Template

Size: A4 & US Sizes

5. Free Personal Biography Outline Template

6. Free Sample Biography Outline Template

7. Professional Biography Outline Template

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Size: 45 KB

8. Artist Biography Outline Template

Size: 40 KB

9. Character Biography Outline Template

Size: 33 KB

10. Short Biography Outline Template

Size: 35 KB

11. Biography Essay Outline Format Template

Size: 44 KB

12. Biography Outline Worksheet Template

Size: 38 KB

13. Biography Report Outline Template

Size: 46 KB

14. Biography Outline Template For Elementary Students

15. Biography Book Report Outline Template

Size: 32 KB

16. Albert Einstein Biography

Remembering   You

Funeral biographies help readers and listeners remember the life of someone who has met the maker. This is a way for everyone, even for just a moment, to relive what it was like when the deceased was still around. This can be written in pamphlets or funeral service programs . But a string of recollected memories doth not a funeral biography makes. When writing a biography, you shouldn’t be too technical; you should bend your rules a little.

Written below are tips and tricks you can use when you need to write about a person who died.

1. Begin with the Basics

If you’re writing for an obituary, you shouldn’t forget about the basics. The birth date, residence, cause of death, and the deceased’s history are all vital parts in any obituary. These answer the questions the bereaved might feel too heavy to acknowledge. Since obituaries are usually written for newspapers, you should also include the location of the memorial service and burial date. This is to make sure all friends and family can come and commemorate the person’s life. God forbid they get haunted for not saying the final goodbyes.

2. A Little of You and Me

Writing eulogies requires a certain vulnerability, but you don’t have to be a professional content writer to makes something genuine. This is the part where you really recall the good times. You can detail what kind of person the deceased was, how he lived his life, and how much he mattered to people. This is where storytelling comes into play. By writing something heartfelt and relatable, you can make the whole church cry. You can use anecdotes, inside jokes, and even quote lines the guy famously said. It’s all about describing the person in a way that everyone can remember him by.

3. Light in the Darkness

As mentioned before, funerals and goodbyes are hard. They take an emotional toll on those who were close to the departed. Losing someone special always brings a negative feeling. So to combat that, you have to remember and recognize the good things. You could recall all the people whose lives were changed because of the deceased. You can write how he would finally be at peace. You can even mention all his awards, honors, and all his achievement certificates . This way, the coming of the angel of death would be easier to accept.

4. Art and Emotion

Funeral speeches can make anyone emotional. Why don’t you use these emotions to make something creative? Art created from the heart holds so much more than just physical value. Like how Walt Whitman wrote, “O Captain! My Captain” for Abe Lincoln, or how lead singer from FM Static wrote the song “Tonight” for his girlfriend, use your emotions to make something beautiful for your dearly beloved. This way, your creation would mean so much more than just an arrangement of words for the one who passed away. 

5. Words Only for You

Your funeral eulogy should also contain a special message for the departed. You can use cliched stuff like “you’re forever in our hearts” and whatever. Or you could be more in-depth. You can express how much the deceased impacted the people around him and how he changed the world in his little way. This part is where you can go all out. Pour your heart out on this one and let the departed know how you feel. You never know, there might be someone in the crowd who share your sentiments.

6. Picture Perfect Memories

A picture paints a thousand words. The encapsulated moments we never want to forget. That’s why you should include it in your biography and obituary cards . Seeing pictures of the lost one gives people a chance to see him in his happier days. They get to bring back the memories they shared with the departed. Everyone gets the opportunity to see his smile one last time before his burial. It could be a collection of photos from his childhood to his final moments, or photos of him with the people he loves most. 

Losing loved ones and coping with grief takes a lot of getting used to. But that doesn’t mean you also get used to not remembering them. That’s what writing obituaries are for; to remember our dearly departed. Besides, you don’t have to reread their biographies; you’ll always have them in your heart.

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How to Write a Biography of a Deceased Person

Rebecca cioffi, 29 sep 2017.

Everyone dies. It’s a simple fact of life. And when they do, many times an obituary is needed, which is just another word for biography. If you are writing one for a local newspaper or something that requires brevity, use three paragraphs. For anything else, like a eulogy or even a school paper on a dead relative, you can make it as long as you like. Just remember you are writing about someone's life and give your biography the respect that this person deserves.

Explore this article

• Begin with the background
• Include personality traits
• Was sad but so many rich things
• Fact check your article

1 Begin with the background

Begin with the background. Described who the person was as evidenced by whom he left behind, including spouses and children. You can also include details like where he worked and what he did. Include that he was a wonderful teacher or everyone loved his Santa at Christmas; it doesn't have to be a full life story, just some interesting tidbits and highlights. It doesn't have to be the Nobel Prize to be included, unless he did win the Nobel Prize.

2 Include personality traits

Include personality traits and unusual or funny characteristics. If he was extremely philanthropic or donated to one cause, mention that. Give a sense of the man here -- a sense of his personality, what he found funny or cared deeply about and why people liked him.

3 Was sad but so many rich things

End with the idea that his passing was sad but so many rich things came from his life. You can then end with some accomplishments of the deceased’s family. Remember that research is important here. Make some phone calls to his family and friends and interview them. Just a few comments from relatives can really add to the biography.

4 Fact check your article

Fact check your article thoroughly as you don't want to get any facts wrong including dates of birth and death, a list of survivors and funeral dates and times. If you are including sensitive information such as cause of death, check with the family first before publishing.

About the Author

Rebecca Cioffi worked in the entertainment industry for almost 20 years and is currently living in Phoenix, Ariz., where she is working on a book. She is also a phlebotomist.

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How to write an obituary.

Writing an obituary is an act of love that can accomplish many things. At its core, an obituary is a declaration of loss, an acknowledgement of grief, and an expression of joy all-in-one. It celebrates the life of a loved one in a way that few other ways can.

Beyond what an obituary can accomplish emotionally, an obituary also has logistic importance, as it acts as an official notice of death that lets the community know of a loss. Historically, this communication of a death would happen via newspaper, where a family member would pay a newspaper several hundred dollars to publish an obituary and obituaries would be listed on an obituary section of the paper. However, on Ever Loved , you can write and publish an obituary online when you create a free online memorial website for a loved one. In addition to acting as a death announcement, an obituary can also be used to communicate service, burial, and memorial information and prescribe ways to donate to a cause, send flowers, volunteer, and help the bereaved.

An obituary is also a final tribute to a life well-lived, as it briefly recounts a loved one’s life as a short biography. It can be used to portray the arch of a loved ones life – from birth, through life, and arriving at death – and provide a symbolic closure to a person’s story.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write an obituary. We've also written a few obituary templates for you in case you need to write your own. We hope this obituary writing help can provide you with the tools you need to honor a loved one while also following traditional practices.

1. Announce the death

Writing a death announcement in the first paragraph serves the purpose of letting the community know the details surrounding the loss of a loved one. Typically included in a death announcement are a loved one’s name, age, and place of residence, along with the time and place of death.

When writing a death announcement, it is common to use any of the following phrases:

• Beloved mother, sister, and friend
• Peacefully passed away
• Died after a long struggle with
• Passed after a hard fought battle with
• Entered fully into the presence of his Lord and Savior on August 13, 2017
• Returned to his heavenly home on January 29, 2014

As you write a death announcement, be sure to think about how the message will be perceived by friends, family, and the bereaved. For example, when you consider if you will write that a loved one “died” or “peacefully passed away,” what tone do you feel would be most appropriate for the context in which your loved one passed? Some may think that “died” is too strong, while others may prefer to state the facts as they are rather than use softer words like “pass.”

Another example would be the difference between “long struggle with” or “hard fought battle with.” Depending on the appropriate tone and context, there may be an argument for choosing one way of wording a phrase over another.

2. Tell their story as a brief biography

The biography section of an obituary is an impactful way of honoring the life of a loved one in a few paragraphs. There isn’t a defined maximum or minimum requirement for writing a biography, so don’t feel discouraged to write more if you feel like adding personal stories or emotions. But typically a brief biography will include important life events and milestones such as:

• Date and place of birth
• Parent’s names including mother’s maiden name in parentheses e.g. William and Jane (Maiden name) Johnson
• Date and place of marriage, including birth name of spouse
• Military Service
• Passions and hobbies

Tip: Before you begin writing an obituary, make sure to interview friends and family to gather notes about their life. While not every memory will be able to make it into the brief biography, your time interviewing family members can help you place a loved one’s life events in chronological order and discover passions and hobbies you may not have known about a loved one–not to mention also being a therapeutic exercise when grieving the loss of a loved one.

As you write a biography, be sure to consider how you might bring a loved one’s story to life with a few anecdotes, memories, and even inside jokes that readers might appreciate. Remember: this is an opportunity to commemorate a loved one in a way that they would want to be remembered. If they loved music, why not list a few of their favorite songs! If they were passionate about the outdoors, talk about their favorite places! Of course it’s all up to you.

3. Name their family members

Naming a loved one’s family members when writing an obituary has a lot of value and often can be seen as a way to connect a family around the life of one family member. For one, it gives community members a way to know who is a part of the family and therefore who might be grieving and need attention. Additionally, naming family members can serve the purpose of honoring those who have previously passed while making a tribute to the bereaved.

There are two key phrases that you need to be able to differentiate to avoid confusion and possibly even embarrassing family members:

• When listing family members who are still living , it is common to use phrases such as “survived by”.
• When listing family members who have previously passed away , it is common to use the phrase “preceded in death by” or “predeceased by.”

Remember: when listing family members, it's best practice to include close family such as parents, siblings, a spouse, children, and grandchildren. It’s common to name parents, siblings, a spouse, and children while it is less common to name all grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Once you’ve identified the list of family members who you will want to include when writing an obituary, its common to use a semicolon (;) to indicate a pause between two statements. See an example of how to mention family members:

Bob is survived by his wife, five children and eight grandchildren as well as his sisters, Nila (Gigi), Nina, Norri, Dede and Carrie; his brothers, Danny and Mike (Toot); Son-in-Law Eric Jahnke; Daughter-in-Law Maia Conkey and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents, Margo and Samuel.

4. Outline service times, locations, and details

It is common for obituaries to list out funeral events, locations, times, and details so that community members know when and how to attend any events taking place. See an example of how to list funeral events:

A Memorial Service will be held at the American Legion Post 398 in Mound, MN on Thursday November 16 at 12pm (noon) followed by a banquet to celebrate Bobby's life; all are welcome.

Tip: On Ever Loved , it’s easy to list out funeral events with rich information such as maps in an elegant design. In addition, you can collect RSVPs to funeral events to make it easier to plan for the number of people who will attend the funeral events.

5. Special messages

Special messages are optional, but can add a touching finish to an already emotional obituary. Common special messages that are included at the end of an obituary include:

• Thanks given to the staff of a certain hospital, hospice, or nursing home (including doctors and nurses)
• “Flowers can be sent to” is a phrase commonly used to help instruct community members on ways in which they can send flowers. You can specify that “ flowers can be purchased on Ever Loved here ” if it makes it easier. Of course if you prefer to deter community members from donating flowers, you can use the phrase “in lieu of flowers” to instruct community members on other ways they can contribute. (This is often used when people prefer donations to a cause instead of flowers sent, for example.)
• A short prayer or poem can also add a nice touch

Photos can typically be added to obituaries published on newspapers for an additional fee. If you’re planning on publishing your obituary on Ever Loved , it’s free to create a page where you can share memories and collect pictures, memories, and condolences as part of creating an online memorial.

It’s important to get obituary writing help since an obituary can help express what’s at times hard to say, especially while grieving. An obituary can help acknowledge and announce the death so that a community may come together, commemorate a life well lived, and be provided with ways that they can participate in celebrating the life of a loved one. The best obituaries aren’t ones that are the most expensive to publish in a newspaper, rather obituaries that are well-written and are written from the heart are ones that stand out and stay with people forever. If you're struggling to get started on an obituary, you can also always check out some free obituary templates .

Interested in publishing an obituary for free? Create a memorial website for a loved one on Ever Loved to get started and add an obituary, funeral events, track RSVPs, add photos, and more. You can also use Ever Loved's AI obituary writer to get help with writing an obituary.

Create a memorial website

Get funeral quotes, get free grief support, top free obituary templates.

Writing an obituary can be hard, but you don’t need to go without help. That’s why we’ve put together a collection of free obituary templates, obituary examples and obituary samples to help you write an amazing obituary for your loved one. Each one is an easy-to-follow, fill-in-the-blank obituary te

How to Find a Grave, Cemetery or Death Record

Finding the grave of a loved one can be challenging, especially when families are more spread out across the US today than ever before. If you’re looking for a grave of a family member overseas, then it will likely require even more patience. But with a few tips, you can get started in the next few

What is an Obituary?

Have you been tasked with finding out how to write an obituary for a family member but don't know where to start? You've come to the right place. This article gives you information on what an obituary is, examples of an obituary you can post online, and can give you tools to get started with writing

Want to publish an obituary for free?

How to Write a Commemorative Biography

Why Write a Commemorative Biography?

When someone close to us passes away, we are often left with a question that can be overwhelming to face:  what now? How do we live with the memory of this person? How do we share this memory? How do we preserve it? The past is what shapes us, and remembering those we have loved and lost is an important part of living mindfully and building future relationships. Though there are a number of different ways through which one can preserve memories– photographs, memorial services, and other acts of remembrance– the writing of commemorative biographies is a practice that can be both deeply personal, as well as highly informative for future generations.

Why Collect Records?

In addition to having therapeutic emotional and mental benefits, writing down the life story of a loved one has a number of practical benefits as well. For example, by contributing to genealogical records, you are contributing to accessible records which may aid future generations in garnering a better understanding of their family history and relationships, as well as the development of their communities.

Unlike in the past when records such as these were often difficult to access as they existed in hard copy in specific locations, online access to genealogical records has increasingly become the norm. Just as grieving in the “digital age” has dramatically changed the ways in which grief is expressed as engaged with (via online grief support forums , for example), the ways in which the lives of those we lose are documented and preserved has also adapted. Qeepr’s own online memorials are exemplary of this, as we provide an online platform which can be personalized for recording and preserving the life stories of loved ones.

With our memorial profiles, you can record as much or as little personal information as you choose about those who have passed away; providing space to include all basic information about the individual (place of birth, occupation, family members, etc.), as well as offering the opportunity to share personal memories and anecdotes, upload pictures, videos, and write condolence messages. These kinds of biographical pages are both invaluable sources of information, as well as personal spaces for sharing memories and working through grief.

Top 3 Biography Writing Tips

• Draw information from everyone around you: Writing the life of someone is not something that can be done completely by a single person. It is important when writing a commemorative biography to speak to others who were close to the deceased. This includes family members, close friends, coworkers: anyone who spent time with the person who you have lost. By speaking to as many people as possible and noting how they perceived that person as well as stories of times they shared will lend itself to the development of a much richer biography.
• Gather as many documents as you can:   Gather marriage records, old photographs and videos, letters, citizenship documents, birth and death certificates- any documentation that speaks to aspects of the deceased’s life. These kinds of physical pieces of documentation are important for reference when writing a biography, and also can be scanned and added to any digital profile you are creating.

• Collect more than just records:  We all have drawers full of photographs and chances are our family members do as well! On a recent trip to visit family, one Qeepr team member found a stack of photos of their great-grandparents from the late 1800s. You can make the hunt for genealogical records that much more exciting by searching for family photos and digitizing them for everyone to enjoy.

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How to write the perfect obituary, according to professional writers

I’m the writer in my family, which means that I am offered a great deal of unpaid work from my loved ones. If someone’s kid is applying for colleges, chances are high I’ll get an email asking if I have time to edit (i.e., completely rewrite) their personal essay. I’m also frequently paged to help with wedding toasts, job applications and dating profiles. Over the years, I’ve learned the importance of saying no , and usually politely decline most of these solicitations for free editorial assistance, unless someone is asking for help with an obituary or eulogy. When it comes to composing or honing one’s words of remembrance, I’m almost always ready to lend a pen.

Why am I so eager to donate my time to this rather morbid type of writing? On one hand, it’s because, having written eulogies for loved ones, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to think clearly when grieving , and I imagine that, if you’re not used to writing every day, the task of crafting an obit can be mighty daunting; but my interest in eulogistic composition also stems from my fascination with the fact that in the end, we all become stories. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, sure, but also: words to words. Writing doesn’t get much more meaningful than that, and there’s nothing quite so moving as an obituary that truly captures and honors the spirit of the deceased.

Earlier this week, thousands of readers were blown away by an obit that did just that and then some. The obituary of 82-year-old Connecticuter Joe Heller , penned by his daughter Monique Heller, was praised as the “best obituary ever” by The New York Times , which also profiled Heller’s “wacky” funeral, a casual affair that saw his coffin carried off in a vintage Mack fire truck.

Monique Heller was unsparing in her remembrance of her father as a penny-pinching prankster, a hoarder with a soft spot for dogs (whom he gave hilariously vulgar names) and a “consummate napper” who spurned suits and snobbery. It’s possibly the funniest obituary ever to make the rounds online, and yet it is also incredibly loving and informative. The reader is given interesting facts about Heller’s life — like that he was a self-taught chemist, a volunteer firefighter and a Navy veteran. The reader is also provided essential details about Heller’s memorial service, where to send donations, and who survives him — but even these particulars are delivered in a sportive spirit of fun-poking and wit.

What makes a great obit?

I never met Joe Heller, but boy, I wish I had. I also hope that if I’m ever responsible for writing the obit of someone very close to me that I can do half as good a job, because this obit, as Hannah Sentenac , a freelance writer who specializes in obituaries says, is “legendary.”

“I was incredibly impressed that it was written by a family member and not a professional writer, although it makes sense given the incredible level of detail and personal insight,” says Sentenac. “I think the fact that this went viral speaks to the fact that people don't want ‘traditional’ obituaries; they want humor, flair, wit, personality.”

Katharine Blossom Lowrie , owner/writer at The Précis, a provider of obituary and eulogy services, was also impressed by Heller’s obituary, and shared it on her site for prospective clients to read.

“I intend to urge future clients to read [Heller’s obit] before filling out their forms so they can see the possibilities, the humor, the beauty of telling the truth about someone,” Lowrie says.

Susan Shain , a freelance writer who provides obituary writing services is in agreement with writers Lowrie and Sentenac (along with pretty much everyone who reads it), that Joe Heller’s obituary is wonderful, adding that it accomplishes what all obits should by being “unafraid to let the person’s personality shine.”

The anatomy of a good obituary

How can we compose similarly fantastic obituaries for our own dearly departed friends and family, or even for ourselves ahead of our final days?

We’ve compiled a list of tips that the pros recommend.

1. Jot down the key facts first

Even the most sensational obituaries should include key details about the person’s life and death. First, you’ll want to include the person’s name, birth place, age, date of death, location and cause of death (optional). From there, Shain says you should go on to include other biographical staples such as “whether they got married, had kids, [details of] their careers and retirement.” You’ll also want to share the names and relationships of who survives the deceased, and finally, include the details of the memorial service, where to send flowers or donations and any other must-know information for mourners. The recitation of these details can feel a bit cold and clinical, but it’s important to have the basics down. Free online obituary templates can help serve as a checklist here.

2. Write in the present tense, in letter form and change it later

Emma Goss , an eyewitness news reporter for Bakersfield Now and former producer at NBC News, has written obituaries for celebrities, beloved community members and, strange as it sounds, for famous people who aren’t yet deceased. Goss’s most practical tip is to “write in the present tense and change it to the past tense later.” This approach can help you “feel like you’re really connecting to who you’re writing about,” Goss says, adding that you can also benefit from a first draft in letter form. “Deliver it like you’re writing it to their husband or wife or best friend. Tell them something [positive] that they may not have known.”

3. Reach out to friends and family for memorable stories

Part of what makes Heller obituary so lovely is that it gives you all the staple information of a traditional obit, but functions more as a eulogy, with tons of anecdotes and character. To write an obit like this, narrow in on your clearest memories.

“What are the first words that come to mind when you think of the person [who has passed]?” asks Shain. “What are some stories that demonstrate those qualities? It's a good idea to talk to other family members because you will jog each other's memories. See what other people remember — that’s a really good place to start.

Sentenac stresses not to be shy when it comes to recalling “funny stories, mishaps or eccentricities. Sometimes those kinds of things best represent a person's life.”

4. Ask yourself these questions about your loved one

Sentenac shares some questions she asks her clients when crafting an obit for their loved ones:

• How would you describe your loved one’s personality? What did people say most often about him/her?
• What are some of your favorite memories of your loved one?
• What were your loved one’s proudest accomplishments?
• What were your loved one’s hobbies/favorite things?
• What was the thing you loved most about your loved one?
• Any foibles/quirks or other personality traits that made your loved one extra special?

Also fodder for thought: “How would they want to be remembered? And how will they be genuinely remembered by those who loved them? It's a dance between the two,” says Sentenac.

5. Don’t feel like this has to be funny

Joe Heller’s obit has numerous LOL moments, which works for his obituary because he was an infamous jokester, but humor may not be suitable for the obit you’re writing.

“If someone is more serious, more traditional, I don’t use humor at all,” says Shain.

Additionally, one’s death may just be too tragic for a jocular obituary. Goss recounts writing the obit of a 10-year-old boy who died after a heart transplant went awry. There’s just no way to make that obit hilarious, nor should there be. It’s okay for the obit to be short and to the point with just a few lines about the remarkable impressions the departed one has left on the world.

“Use your own judgment about what's appropriate,” says Sentenac. “If you knew the person well, chances are you'll be able to assess the tone and style that would suit them.”

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

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While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

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Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character arc to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

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When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in medias res , Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to self-publish your biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and self-edit your manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing software , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

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Writing about death is one of the hardest, most valuable things journalists do — here’s how to do it correctly. 

Alma matters: journalism resources for professors and students during the covid-19 pandemic.

Welcome to Alma Matters, a regularly updated feature on Poynter.org to assist educators and student media organizations.

Struggling and need advice? Have a tip or tool you want to share with others? Email me at [email protected] .

Reminder: All News University self-directed courses and webinars are free until May 31. Use the discount code 20college100 

One of the toughest rites of passage for young journalists is writing about someone who just died.

For many working journalists, interviewing distraught loved ones and grieving friends is a hard but necessary part of the job — and something we’re used to.

The nation’s student journalists are about to face this nearly alone.

The in-person support network that a college newsroom used to offer is gone, replaced by teleconferencing and texts.

Advisers and experienced student editors should be mindful of their staff members as the death toll for COVID-19 mounts, keeping an eye out not just on deceased community members but the students who are being asked to cover their deaths.

Here are my best tips for dealing with death. I hope you won’t need them.

A hard necessity

First and foremost, understand that writing about a person who has died is important and meaningful. You cannot skip this part of the job because it’s intimidating. Telling stories of people’s lives and deaths is a way that journalism connects humanity, and that’s more important now than ever.

An easy litmus test: Think of someone you truly hold dear, and imagine them dying (unpleasant, I know). Now imagine that a local TV station airs a long story about this person without ever talking to you. How do you feel about being excluded from this process to tell stories and celebrate the life of your loved one? Carry that thinking with you throughout your reporting process. It will help you always do the right thing.

Make a plan

If they haven’t already, student media organizations should get a plan in place. Consider:

• Who will write profiles of the deceased?
• Who will edit and fact-check them?
• Has your staff been briefed on how to deal with grieving sources?
• Will you treat students, faculty, staff, donor and alumni deaths the same or differently?
• Where will these stories reside? Are you creating a special page?
• Who will gather photos and perhaps audio/video?

Interview skillfully

Interviewing the bereaved is hard enough in person, but this time it’s going to be even harder without the body language and potential physical contact you can have with sources.

You should do it anyway.

Arrange a time and place for a phone call, Facetime, Zoom, or Google Hangout, or whatever technology you’re most comfortable with and are assured the other party can use. Encourage your source to pass the phone/device around and talk to as many loved ones as you can if there are multiple people at the home.

Loved ones congregating at one home may not happen now, so be sure to get as many names and numbers as you can from your initial source so you can call other people.

As with most journalism, a richer and more full story emerges as you talk to more people. Do not rely on texts or emails for these stories if at all possible. Really attempt personal connection, even if it’s virtual.

Where to start with sources

A cardinal rule of death writing is that you must talk to the family and friends — you cannot rely on loving social media posts or online funeral home memory books.

The best sources for stories about death are immediate family — spouses, children, parents. Start there and move outward toward siblings, friends, cousins and coworkers.

Call the funeral home. Often there’s a person designated there to be a contact for the family, and the funeral home will let that person know there’s a media inquiry into their loved one’s death. Some funeral homes understand the important role journalism plays in mourning; others don’t. Don’t be intimidated either way.

What to ask

Do research beforehand. Your list of questions should attempt to answer some basic biographical questions: the decedent’s birthplace/hometown, where they grew up, where they moved around to and settled or lived when they died, where they went to high school and/or college, their major, the date they graduated or were set to graduate, where they worked and in what industry, the name of their spouse(s), the year they got married, names and birth years of children. You should also ask about hobbies, interests, extracurriculars or volunteer work. The more questions about their life you have going into an interview, the smoother it will go.

Use other published material and social accounts to fact-check and backup your story.

Don’t forget the pictures

Get photos. Publish several. Write good cutlines on each one.

It’s preferable to ask for family photos than to take them from social media profiles, but you can also ask permission to use social photos. Sharing a photo on social media does not waive ownership, and it’s not an invitation for you to copy and republish it, experts say.

Style and accuracy check

As hard as it is sometimes, we always say that someone died, not that they “passed away” or “passed on.” You can certainly use this language in your questions, but when it comes time to write the story, stick to “died.”

Generally, obits and death stories focus on the positive parts of a person’s life. That’s generally OK.

Bear in mind that a project like this is an important historical work that may be kept in the family for generations to come. Often, this is the single bit of press a person will get in his or her lifetime.

Self-care matters

Despite what we might have heard from older generations of journalists, you shouldn’t tough this out alone. There’s absolutely no shame in having and sharing serious emotions around death, and your experiences as you gather news around that topic. You want to maintain a level of professionalism, but even the pros can become distraught on the job .

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma offers the tip sheet Covering Breaking News: Interviewing Victims and Survivors that’s worth reading in its entirety, and Poynter has this advice for self-care for journalists.

Here are highlights from the Dart Center’s tip sheet:

• Be transparent, calm and soft-spoken.
• Identify who you are, what organization you represent, what will happen with the information you collect from the interview, how it might be used and when it will appear.
• Tell them why you want to talk with them.
• If they are open to an interview, then proceed. If not, then leave your contact information with them and ask them to contact you anytime if they would like to talk.
• If they are not interested in talking, or willing to speak on the record, there will be another opportunity to find another source.
• Don’t patronize.
• Don’t ask “How do you feel?”
• Don’t say “I know how you feel,” or “I totally understand,”  because in most cases nobody truly knows what somebody else is going through.
• “So what you’re saying is…”
• “From what you’re saying, I can see how you would be…”
• “You must be …”
• Give ample time for the interview – you may need more time than you think.
• Record the interviews so you can always go back and listen – in case you missed something in your notes.
• Don’t take things personally. Sometimes sources may be going through interpersonal responses to trauma and may not be showing you signs in the interview of interaction – don’t take this personally, it may be the way they are dealing with the situation.

Don’t bottle up your feelings. Don’t forget that covering a traumatic event can impact you, too. Be sure to find ways to talk about the experience with your friends, family, adviser or editor. They may have covered something similar and/or can just be a listening ear. You should not keep your emotions bottled up; sharing your experience is one way of coping with witnessing and reporting on such a difficult event.

Send me your questions, ideas, solutions and tips. I’ll try to help as much as I can in a future column. Contact me at [email protected] or on Twitter at barbara_allen_

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How to write a biography: 7 life-writing ideas

Biography – literally ‘life writing’ – poses a variety of challenges. Balancing historical narration and day-to-day incident, for example. Or choosing what to include and what to leave out. Read 7 ideas on how to write a biography, with examples from biographical writing:

• Post author By Jordan
• 4 Comments on How to write a biography: 7 life-writing ideas

7 life-writing ideas:

• Create compelling voice
• Think about representation
• Decide on narrative style
• Use illustrative anecdotes
• Find interest in the mundane
• Avoid hagiography
• Fictionalize where necessary

First: What type of biography do you want to write?

There are many different types of biography, both in fiction and non-fiction.

Popular types of biographical books

If you want to write non-fiction, you may be working on either an autobiography (a book about your life) or memoir , or a biography of a public figure.

Biographies can straddle both fiction and non-fiction, too. Many authors have written semi-fictionalized biographical stories (such as Now Novel writing coach Hedi Lampert’s novel , The Trouble with My Aunt ) with the author themselves as a main or supporting character.

For example, in Ivan Vladislavic’s Portrait with Keys , the author invents a brother. This fictional addition allows for lively debates between him and this imaginary relative about urban spaces and race politics in the city of Johannesburg.

Novelized biographies (such as Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield or Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre ) often follow a central character’s life arc in a linear way , from early life to later years or even death.

Other types of fictional biography include fictional letters and diaries. These allow you to play with other modes of representation.

For example, Sue Townsend’s popular Adrian Mole series (the first book being The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ ), presented as a British teenage boy’s diary.

Let’s examine 7 ideas about how to write a biography:

1. Create compelling voice

You could say that voice is a crucial ingredient of any story , especially in first person (where the narrator is the character).

In autobiography, in particular, you want your reader to form a clear sense of who is telling the story. Are they funny? Serious? Angry? Inventive? Philosophical? Just a little bit insane?

Consider the comical, self-aware voice that comes through from page 1 of Townsend’s novel. The first chapter, under the heading ‘THURSDAY JANUARY 1ST’, begins:

These are my New Year’s resolutions: 1. I will help the blind across the road. 2. I will hang my trousers up. 3. I will put the sleeves back on my records. 4. I will not start smoking. 5. I will stop squeezing my spots. 6. I will be kind to the dog. 7. I will help the poor and ignorant. 8. After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol. Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982), p. 5.

Adrian Mole’s resolutions range from the virtuous to the droll (e.g. helping the ‘poor and ignorant’; scathing remarks on his parents’ drunken ‘disgusting noises’).

From the opening page there’s a clear sense of the voice of the subject of this diary-format biography. We form a sense of Mole’s desires, faults, attitudes and beliefs straight away.

2. Think about representation

Whether you’re writing fictional or non-fictional biography, how you represent events or tell the story is a creative decision.

Besides curating content (choosing what formative experiences, dramatic incidents, background details you include), there are different ways to approach representation , the way you tell the story.

As respected literary biographer Hermione Lee says, in an interview with James Rivington , there’s a difference between ‘autopsy’ and ‘portraiture’:

Autopsy, yes. There is a kind of biographical process that is, necessarily, cutting into the dead corpse, however ghoulish that can seem. You are as ruthlessly as possible trying to dissect and analyse the nature of the life. The other approach is more akin to portraiture: to see how the person looked from the outside, how they affected and influenced people, what their friendships were like, how they were one thing to one person and another thing to another person. I think you have get at both inside and outside if you can. Hermione Lee, interviewed by James Rivington for The British Academy

What Lee touches on is the issue of representation .

How will you mix biographical and historical facts (e.g. born here, raised there, had this key experience) with more painterly ways of revealing character ?

3. Decide on narrative style

Deciding how to write a biography means choosing between many available narrative modes or styles.

Will your story run from A to B to C, documenting each decade in a person’s life? Or will it be a crisscross portrait cutting back and forth in time?

A fragmentary style of narration may suit certain subjects and contexts better than a linear story. Says Lee:

I think that biography has to be watchful of making life seem too predictable, or determinist, or shaped, or ordered. Biographies go through fashions. There used to be a fashion for making the study run smoothly and look definitive – ‘this leads to this leads to this.’ I think life-stories are more bitty and piecemeal. Hermione Lee, interview for The British Academy

Example of inventive narrative style: Roland Barthes

As an example, Roland Barthes, a pioneer in semiotics (the study of signs and symbols and their interpretation), famously wrote an autobiography in fragments called Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes .

In this book, Barthes includes the preface ‘it must all be considered as if spoken by a character in a novel’.

What follows are captioned images from Barthes’ life, and then titled fragments where Barthes reflects on incidents, places, experiences and the development of his body of work.

For example, in a short section about the discomfort of writing called ‘Truth and Assertion’, Barthes refers to himself in third person , expressing discomfort in how words committed to paper express more than our original aims:

His (sometimes acute) discomfort—mounting some evenings, after writing the whole day, to a kind of fear—was generated by his sense of producing a double discourse, whose mode overreached its aim, somehow: for the aim of his discourse is not truth, and yet this discourse is assertive. (This kind of embarrassment started, for him, very early; he strives to master it — for otherwise he would have to stop writing — by reminding himself that it is language which is assertive, not he). Roland Barthes, Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes , p. 48, available here.

Fragments provide a fitting choice of narrative style for an unconventional autobiography that is as much a self-portrait of Barthes as a questioner of seemingly self-evident truths, as it is the representation of his life.

Barthes’ use of third-person and questioning reflections on the act of writing creates the ‘looking from the outside’ effect Hermione Lee describes as ‘portraiture’ in biography. Even as Barthes creates a self-portrait, he resists the idea of the ‘assertive’ author, the ‘completeness’ of the ‘final report’.

4. Use illustrative anecdotes

An English professor once asked his third year class ‘What is an anecdote?’

A girl put up her hand and answered, ‘It’s what you give someone when they’ve been bitten by a snake’, to which he replied ‘Please don’t ask someone for an anecdote if you’re ever bitten by a snake, for they will talk and talk and you will die.’

This is an anecdote. These usually short, often humorous stories about events involving a particular person are great fodder for biographies. They may illustrate a person’s quick wit or surly, non-communicative demeanor .

In biography, a brief anecdote may be all the reader needs to develop a sense of a key figure – a parent, friend, lover, rival or other.

Example of illustrative anecdotes: Dorothy Parker

The writer, poet and satirist Dorothy Parker is known for her witty comebacks and phrases.

One anecdote illustrating this character gives an alleged exchange between Parker and a snooty woman at an event, where both were trying to enter through a door at the same time:

It is recorded that Mrs. Parker and a snooty debutante were both going in to supper at a party: the debutante made elaborate way, saying sweetly “Age before beauty, Mrs. Parker.” “And pearls before swine,” said Mrs. Parker, sweeping in. Dorothy Parker, attributed. More on this anecdote at Quote Investigator.

Parker’s clever comeback to the woman’s quip about her being the older (and the implication she is less beautiful) evokes Jesus’s sermon on the Mount in which he said ‘Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine…’

The anecdote is a brilliant illustration of Parker as a quick-witted person with a sharp tongue and an ear for comedy. An anecdotal exchange here conveys a good sense of personality.

5. Find interest in the mundane

When we think about how a biography is written, we might think in terms of grand, important or scandalous events. Yet a biography is not a gossip column.

Lee makes this important point in her interview, regarding Virginia Woolf’s eventual suicide.

In writing the author’s biography, Lee describes the pitfalls of writing it as though Woolf was thinking about suicide every day.

It would possibly be sensationalizing (rather than allowing multiple ‘Woolfs’ to come through) to assume this linearity:

When, as in the case of Virginia Woolf, you have a very important, much-read woman writer who kills herself, there is a powerful desire to make the story move towards that point. You see that also in the life of Sylvia Plath – perhaps even more, because she was so much younger. It becomes all about the suicide. […] So one of my motives in writing about Virginia Woolf was to get away from the determinist sense of a story that had to end that way. Lee, interview for The British Academy

How do we make the repetitive, ‘boring’ parts of life interesting in life-writing?

• Skip over them (e.g. ‘For the next 5 years she was busy establishing the Hogarth Press. Then…’)
• Show their interesting place within a wider arc (e.g. ‘With every manuscript the Press put out, she gained a keener understanding of X that would lead to …’)

6. Avoid hagiography

Hagiography, the term for the writing of the lives of saints, also means ‘to display a subject undue reverence’ in writing.

The British statesman Arhtur Balfour is alleged to have said ‘Biography should be written by an acute enemy.’

There’s truth in this, since an enemy would dissect their rival’s life without mercy. Perform a thorough autopsy, and paint a colourful (even if unflattering) portrait.

In deciding how to write a biography, make sure you choose incidents that reflect multiple dimensions of the subject’s life. Their glorious and inglorious moments.

For example, to write the story of a now-revered author as the story of success after success may ring false for readers who know about the 12 rejections their first manuscript received.

Plan the scenes and incidents of a biography the way you would build a character profile. Ask, ‘What are the subject’s…’

• Impressive moments?
• Cringe moments?

7. Fictionalize where necessary

Author and essayist Geoff Dyer has written books in many forms, from travelogues blending fiction and non-fiction to books about writing biography ( Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with DH Lawrence ).

Dyer’s book But Beautiful: A Book about Jazz is an example of his genre-defying approach.

Part biography of renowned jazz musicians (including Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk), part homage to the improvisational and playful language of jazz, it combines historical details, photography and discussion of music. Rather than tell a linear story of each musician’s life, Dyer captures fleeting moments and experiences in a manner evocative of jazz music’s ephemeral nature.

This approach naturally involves plenty of fictionalizing, filling in and describing unknown details.

For example, here Dyer imagines a road trip where Duke Ellington’s driver muses on their road-tripping and the impossibility of recording every detail:

He’d bought the car in ’49, intending just to hop around New York, but soon he was driving Duke all over the country. Several times he’d had an impulse to keep a notebook record of how far they’d traveled but always he came to thinking how he wished he’d done it right from the start and so, each time he thought of it, he gave up the idea and fell to calculating vaguely cumulative distances, remembering the countries and towns they had passed through. Geoff Dyer, But Beautiful: A Book about Jazz (1991), p. 4.

Adding fictionalized events, such as particular exchanges between Duke Ellington and a driver that may not have happened ‘exactly that way’, is a useful part of biography. Like the driver’s thought process, there are ‘vaguely cumulative distances’ you, the biographer, must calculate and recreate for your reader.

Writing a fiction or non-fiction (or semi-fictional) biographical novel? Get constructive, considere d feedback from a writing coach.

Related Posts:

• How to write memoir: 9 ideas for a vivid slice of life
• How to write your life story: 7 tips to start
• From trauma to triumph: using life writing to heal
• Tags biography , life-writing , memoir

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

4 replies on “How to write a biography: 7 life-writing ideas”

This article is brilliant, useful and educational which I admired the most and I can’t wait to read more. Thanks for the topic you’ve shared!

Thank you, Rosella. Thanks for reading our blog and sharing your feedback.

I would like to write a biography of someone who is a brother to me. Inorder to be remembered forever.

That sounds wonderful. Have you started writing or planning it?

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How to Write a Biography

Learn how to write a biography with our comprehensive guide.

Last updated on Dec 8th, 2023

When you click on affiliate links on QuillMuse.com and make a purchase, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission—this helps us keep up with publishing valuable content on QuillMuse.  Read More .

Table of Contents

How to write a biography can be a fun challenge as you share someone’s life story with readers. You may need to write a biography for a class or decide to write a biography as a personal project. Once you’ve identified the subject of your biography, do your research to learn as much as you can about them. Then, immerse yourself in writing the biography and revising it until it’s best. What I am going to share with you in today’s post is how to write a biography. If you want to know the rules of how to write a biography correctly then this post of ours is essential for you. 

Introduction

While it’s true that most biographies involve people in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. But most of the time, famous or not, the person we’re talking about has an incredible life. Although your students may have a basic understanding of How to write a biography, you should take some time before putting pen to paper to come up with a very clear definition of biography.

Before knowing how to write a biography, let’s first understand what a biography is. A biography is an account of a person’s life written by someone else. Although there is a genre called fictional biography, by definition biographies are mostly non-fiction. In general, biographies trace the subject’s life from early childhood to the present day or until death if the subject is deceased. 

Biography writing is not limited to describing the bare facts of a person’s life. Instead of just listing basic details about their upbringing, interests, education, work, relationships, and deaths, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of a person’s personality as well as that person’s life experiences.

Tips and Tricks For How To Write a Biography

1. ask the subject’s permission to write a biography.

Here are the first tips on how to write a biography. Before starting your research, make sure you get your subject’s consent to write their biography. Ask them if they’re ready to be the subject. Getting their permission will make writing a biography much easier and ensure that they are open to information about their lives.

If the theme does not allow you to write a bio, you can choose another theme. If you decide to publish a profile without the subject’s permission, you may be subject to legal action from the subject. 

If the topic no longer exists, you don’t need to ask permission to write about them. 

2. Research primary sources on the topic

Primary sources may include books, letters, photographs, diaries, newspaper clippings, magazines, Internet articles, magazines, videos, interviews, existing biographies, or autobiographies on the subject. Find these resources in your local library or online. Read as much as you can about the topic and highlight any important information you come across in your sources. 

You can create research questions to help you focus your research on this topic, such as: 

What do I find interesting about this topic? Why is this topic important to readers? 

3. Conduct interviews with subjects and their relatives

Interviewing people will turn your research into reality: the people you interview will be able to tell you stories you can’t find in history books. Interview the subject as well as people close to them, such as spouses, friends, business associates, family members, co-workers, and friends. Interview in person, over the phone, or via email.

For in-person interviews, record them with a voice recorder or voice recorder on your computer or phone. You may need to interview the subject and others multiple times to get the documents you need.

4. Visit places important to the topic

Whenever you want to know how to write a biography, to understand the history of the subject, spend time in places and areas that are significant to the subject. This may be the subject’s childhood home or neighborhood. You can also visit the subject’s workplace and regular meeting places. 

You may also want to visit areas where the subject made important decisions or breakthroughs in their life. Being physically present in the area can give you an idea of what your subjects may have felt and help you write about their experiences more effectively.

5. Research the time and place of the subject’s life

Contextualize your subject’s life by observing what’s going on around them. Consider the period in which they grew up as well as the history of the places they lived. Study the economics, politics, and culture of their time. See current events happening where they live or work.

When you studying how to write a biography, ask yourself about time and place: 

What were the social norms of this period? 

What happened economically and politically? 

How has the political and social environment influenced this topic?

6. Make a timeline of a person’s life

To help you organize your research, create a timeline of a person’s entire life, from birth. Draw a long line on a piece of paper and sketch out as many details about a person’s life as possible. Highlight important events or moments on the timeline. Include important dates, locations, and names. 

If you think about how to write a biography You can also include historical events or moments that affect the topic in the timeline. For example, a conflict or civil war may occur during a person’s lifetime and affect their life.

7. Focus on important events and milestones

Major events can include marriage, birth, or death during a person’s lifetime. They may also achieve milestones like their first successful business venture or their first civil rights march. Highlights key moments in a person’s life so readers clearly understand what’s important to that person and how they influence the world around them.

For example, you might focus on one person’s achievements in the civil rights movement. You could write an entire section about their contributions and participation in major civil rights marches in their hometowns.

8. Cite all sources used in  biography

Most biographies will include information from sources such as books, journal articles, magazines, and interviews. Remember to cite any sources that you directly quote or paraphrase. You can use citations, footnotes, or endnotes. If the biography is for a course, use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style citations according to your instructor’s preference.

9. Reread the biography

Check the biography for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Circle all punctuation marks in the text to confirm they are correct. Read the text backward to check for spelling and grammar errors. 

Having a biography full of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors can frustrate readers and lead to poor grades if you submit your work to the class.

10. Show your biography to others to get their feedback

It is a momentous step of how to write a biography. Once you have completed your draft biography, show it to your colleagues, friends, teachers, and mentors to get their feedback. Ask them if they have a good understanding of someone’s life and if the biography is easy to read. Be open to feedback so you can improve the biography and make it error-free. Revise profile based on feedback from others. Don’t be afraid to trim or edit your biography to suit your readers’ needs.

11. Use flashbacks

Flashbacks happen when you move from the present to the past. You can start with the present moment, and then bring in a scene from the person’s past. Or you could have one chapter focusing on the present and one focusing on the past, alternating as you go.

The flashback scene must be as detailed and realistic as the present-day scene. Use your research notes and interviews with subjects to better understand their past to reminisce. 

For example, you can move from a person’s death in the present to reminiscing about their favorite childhood memory.

12. Outline Your Story Chronologically 

This is another important step in how to write a biography is to write an outline that describes your story in chronological order. An outline is a tool that helps you visualize the structure and key elements of your story. This can help you organize your story into chapters and sections. 

You can write your plan in a digital document or draw it with pen and paper. Remember to store your outline in an easily accessible place so you can refer to it throughout the writing process.

What citation style should I use for my biography?

Use MLA, APA, or Chicago Style citations based on your instructor’s preference when citing sources in your biography.

Should I include personal opinions in a biography?

No, a biography should be objective and based on facts. Avoid injecting personal opinions or bias into the narrative.

What’s the difference between a biography and an autobiography?

A biography is written by someone else about a person’s life, while an autobiography is written by the subject themselves about their own life.

Can I write a biography about a living person?

Yes, you can write a biography about a living person with their consent. Ensure you respect their privacy and follow ethical guidelines when writing about them.

Conclusion 

Other than creating a sense of closure, there are no set rules about how a biography ends. An author may want to summarize their main points about the subject of their biography. If the person is still alive, the author can inform the reader about their condition or circumstances. If the person has died, inheritance can be discussed. Authors can also remind readers how they can learn from the biographical subject. Sharing a closing quote or about a person can leave the audience with a point to consider or discuss in more detail.

For further insights into writing and to avoid common mistakes, check out our article on Most Common Mistakes in Writing . Additionally, explore the Best Writing Tools for Writers to enhance your writing skills and discover the tools that can assist you. If you’re looking to improve your typing speed and accuracy, our article on How to Type Faster with Accuracy offers valuable tips.

How we've reviewed this article

Our content is thoroughly researched and fact-checked using reputable sources. While we aim for precision, we encourage independent verification for complete confidence.

We keep our articles up-to-date regularly to ensure accuracy and relevance as new information becomes available.

• Current Version
• Dec 8th, 2023
• Oct 22nd, 2023

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How to write a biography can be a fun challenge as you share someone’s life story with readers. You may need to write a biography for a class or decide to write a biography as a personal project. Once you’ve identified the subject of your biography, do your research to

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Sample funeral biography

Sample funeral biography: a guide to writing a tribute to your loved one.

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences that we may encounter in life. When a family member or friend passes away, it can be challenging to find the right words to express how much they meant to us. One way to honor their memory is by writing a funeral biography or obituary. This article will provide you with a guide to writing a sample funeral biography, including the essential elements that should be included.

What is a funeral biography?

A funeral biography is a written tribute to a person who has passed away. It is an opportunity to celebrate and remember their life, achievements, and contributions. Funeral biographies are usually read at the funeral or memorial service, published in the obituary section of a newspaper or online, or included in a funeral program.

Why write a funeral biography?

Writing a funeral biography can be a therapeutic process for those who are grieving. It allows you to reflect on the life of your loved one and remember the happy moments you shared together. A funeral biography also serves as a way to inform others about the deceased’s life, accomplishments, and personality. It is a way to honor their memory and celebrate their life.

How to write a funeral biography?

Writing a funeral biography may seem like a daunting task, but it can be a meaningful and healing process. Here are the essential elements that should be included in a funeral biography:

1. Basic Information

The first section of the funeral biography should include basic information about the deceased, such as their full name, age, date of birth, and date of death. You can also mention their place of birth and where they lived.

2. Family Background

The next section should provide information about the deceased’s family background, including their parents’ names, siblings, spouse, children, and grandchildren. You can also mention their family traditions, values, and beliefs.

3. Education and Career

The third section should highlight the deceased’s education and career. You can mention the schools they attended, degrees they earned, and any professional organizations they were a part of. You can also highlight their career achievements, such as promotions, awards, or significant projects.

4. Hobbies and Interests

The fourth section should focus on the deceased’s hobbies and interests. You can mention their favorite activities, such as sports, music, or art. You can also highlight any volunteer work they did or any causes they were passionate about.

5. Personality and Traits

The fifth section should provide insight into the deceased’s personality and traits. You can mention their sense of humor, kindness, or any other qualities that made them unique. You can also include any stories that showcase their personality.

6. Legacy and Contributions

The final section should focus on the legacy and contributions of the deceased. You can mention any charitable causes they supported or any community service they did. You can also highlight any impact they had on their family, friends, or community.

Why use FuneralPamphlet.com?

FuneralPamphlet.com is an online platform that provides customizable funeral programs, obituaries, and funeral biographies. With FuneralPamphlet.com, you can create a personalized tribute to your loved one that reflects their unique personality and life story. FuneralPamphlet.com offers a wide range of templates, designs, and themes to choose from, making it easy to create a funeral biography that honors your loved one’s memory.

In conclusion, writing a funeral biography is a meaningful way to remember and celebrate the life of your loved one. It allows you to reflect on their achievements, contributions, and personality. With the help of FuneralPamphlet.com, you can create a personalized tribute that honors their memory and provides comfort to those who are grieving.

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How to Write a Biography (Examples & Templates)

A biography is a written account of a person’s life that details their life in chronological order. Another person usually writes this detailed account, and it contains reports of their childhood, career, major life events, relationships, and social impact. It also details their relationships with their family, children, and life accomplishments.

The best way to find out more about a popular figure is through reading their biographies, so you need to make sure you get the correct information. Before writing a biography, you need to do a lot of research and interviews to represent a person’s life accurately.

Types of Biography

A biography is the story of someone’s life as written by another writer. Most biographies of popular figures are written years, or even decades, after their deaths. Authors write biographies of popular figures due to either a lack of information on the subject or personal interest.

A biography aims to share a person’s story or highlight a part of their life.

There are different types of biographies, depending on the story. Some biographies are written true to the story, while some are written as fictional works. Biographies can give you true understanding of a person on an internal as well as external level along with a lot of life lessons.

Autobiography

An autobiography is different from a biography because it is written by the subject of the story, themselves. The author writes in the first-person narrative, and it flows step-by-step like a story of their life. Autobiographies contain personal accounts of the subject’s life, along with their perspectives and opinions on events in their life.

How To Write a Biography

Pick a subject.

Picking a subject is the first step in writing a biography. You can pick an already famous person or a relatively unknown person with a great life story. If you already have a few in mind, you can start by asking yourself some questions such as;

• What has the subject accomplished that makes them a good subject?
• Have they had an impact on society?
• Is the subject a celebrity or a well-known personality?
• Will the biography appeal to a wide audience?

Get Permission

When you pick a subject, the next thing to do is to get permission from them or their family or rights owners. Although, with some historical figures, there may not be any need for permission. Getting permission from your subject makes it easier for you to get stories to put into your book. You can get the chance to obtain additional personal stories and anecdotes that will make your book more interesting by doing so as well.

Do The Research

Research is the most important part of a biography’s process as the entire content of the book is dependent on it. Irrespective of what you know about the subject, you need to carry out as much research as possible to get the story’s facts precisely.

Biography research comes from various sources, depending on the book’s subject. Firsthand reports from family, friends, or personal accounts from the subjects are primary sources. They are usually the most accurate and reliable, and they are crucial for a biography. Secondary sources come from other sources like magazines or documentaries.

Pick a Format

Biographies come in various formats, with each of them having their pros and cons. A typical biography will start at the beginning, usually with the birth and childhood of the subject. Yet, if the biography’s theme involves a different event in their life, the author may want to explore the flashback option or one with concurrent events from different times.

Usually, biographies have a theme or a general life lesson at the center. The author’s role is to tell the subject’s story leading up to the major event.

Which-ever format you choose should place the theme at the center, with the other events detailing the journey.

Create a Timeline Of The Story

Since a biography takes place in chronological order, there needs to be a timeline of the events in the right order. The timeline should contain the key events in the subject’s life, in the order the author plans on revealing them. A great way to declutter the story and keep it interesting is to use flashbacks . This way, the author can introduce past events and explain later events excluding the element of monotony.

Add In Your Thoughts

The good thing about biographies is that you don’t have to stick to the hard facts only. As the author, you can share your opinions and emotions in writing. The author has the freedom to do this by commenting on a significant action by the subject in a manner that describes why they feel the subject may have done what they did.

The author can also include commentary on events depicted in the biography – how it was influenced society or its impact on the lives around them. Recounting these events through a different perspective can make the biography more relatable and interesting to read.

FAQ’s

Why is a biography template important.

A biography template has an outline that makes the writing easier for the author. Biography templates usually contain a sample timeline, format, and questions that provide more information about the subject. With a great biography template, you can cut your writing time in half and spend less time coming up with an outline.

How are biographies better in comparison to autobiographies

Since a different person writes biographies, they tend to be more objective and somewhat accurate than autobiographies. An autobiography tells things from the author’s perspective, so their views and perspective cloud it. Thus, a biography will likely tell a more factual story.

These are the important steps you need to take to help you write a great biography. Now, to make things easier for you, we have a free customizable autobiography and biography template that you can use to start your first book. Get the template and start writing today

What are some of the most important elements to keep in consideration while writing a biography?

Any author looking to write a biography must consider the factors below. They aren’t the only important factors, but a biography isn’t complete without them. • Date and place of their birth • Academic background • Professional expertise • Death, if deceased • Facts and anecdotes about the person • Main accomplishments • Detailed accounts of their child and adult life

Biographies tell the untold stories of some incredibly relevant people in the world. But biographies are not always strictly accurate. So, every biographer needs to follow the necessary steps to provide a biography with all the requirements.

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How to Write a Death Announcement

Last Updated: February 9, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by David I. Jacobson . David I. Jacobson is the founder of Chicago Jewish Funerals, an independent Jewish owned funeral provider that evolved into two funeral homes in the Chicagoland area. With over 30 years of experience serving families, David is a leading expert on Kavod Hamet, the Jewish traditions of honoring and respecting the dead. David is an active funeral director that serves people planning and in need of funerals, lecturing to congregations, community groups, and schools extensively about the values of the Jewish funeral as well as the dying process and the value of one’s legacy.  This article has been viewed 230,488 times.

The death of a loved one is an emotional time. The last thing on your mind might be writing a death announcement to publish in a newspaper or online. Fortunately, writing a death announcement can be simple. At a minimum, you should provide the name of your departed loved one, the date of death, and when a memorial service will be held. If you choose, you can write a more detailed death announcement either for the newspaper or to announce the passing to family and friends.

Drafting a Basic Announcement

• You’re publishing an announcement in a newspaper. There may be a word limit, so you may want to keep the announcement as short as possible.
• You want to invite people to the funeral but don’t know them too well. You can limit the amount of information you share with people you don’t know. You can send a more intimate announcement to friends and family.

• For example, you can write, “The Smith family announces with great sadness the loss of their beloved mother, Eileen, age 81, on September 1, 2016.” [1] X Research source
• Here is alternate wording: “The Smith family announces the passing of their mother, Eileen, who died peacefully on September 1, 2016.”
• Another wording: “Eileen Smith. 81. Our beloved mother passed away on September 1, 2016.” [2] X Research source

• For example, you can write: “A service will be held on September 8, 2016, at 8:00 pm at the synagogue in Plains, TN.” [3] X Research source
• If you’re having a funeral, then write: “A funeral service will be held on September 8, 2016 at 2:30 pm at United Methodist Church, Any City.”

• For example, you can write, “Memorial donations in Eileen’s name may be made to the American Cancer Society.”

Writing a Longer Announcement

• For example, you can write: “Ken Jones, 68, died on Sunday, July 17, 2016 in Any City, USA.” [5] X Research source

• For example, you can write, “He was born June 22, 1948 in Los Angeles, California, to Kevin and Charlotte Jones.” [6] X Research source

• For example, you can write, “He attended Middle Town Community High School and the University of Michigan.”

• For example, you can write, “In 1970 he married Carol Johnson and is survived by his wife and two daughters, Jean and Joan.” [8] X Research source
• If your loved one is predeceased by a spouse, you can write: “He is survived by his two daughters, Jean and Joan, and pre-deceased by his wife Carol, whom he married in 1970.”

• For example, you can write, “Ken served for 35 years in various government jobs, rising to the office of City Hall Manager, where he served from 2000-2008. Upon his retirement, he received the Outstanding Citizen Award from Any City’s mayor.”

• For example, you might write: “Ken’s colleagues and family will miss his unique sense of humor, which saw him dress up in costume on holidays, whether as Santa or as the Easter Bunny.”

• For example, you can write: “A memorial service will be held at Castle Funeral home on July 27, 2016.” [11] X Research source

• For example: “Donations may be made in Ken’s name to the city’s Recreation Fund.”

Sending an Intimate Notice to Friends and Family

• An intimate death announcement allows you to adopt a more informal tone. You can address the reader as “you.”

• For example, you can write: “Our family is devastated to announce the untimely death of our beloved uncle, Jack, who passed away last Friday.” [12] X Research source

• surviving family members
• professional accomplishments and education
• personal details (hobbies, quirks, etc.)
• donations or charities people can contribute to

Help Writing a Death Announcement

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://brandongaille.com/8-death-announcement-wording-ideas/
• ↑ https://www.everplans.com/articles/death-notice-templates-and-obituary-templates
• ↑ http://www.writeexpress.com/announ42.html
• ↑ David I. Jacobson. Funeral Home Director. Expert Interview. 14 July 2020.

About This Article

To write a death announcement, begin with a simple sentence saying who has died and the date of their passing. For example, write “The Smith family announces with great sadness the loss of their beloved mother, Eileen, aged 81, on Saturday.” In the second sentence, say when the service will take place. If you want to ask for memorial donations in the name of the deceased person, include details of where the donations should go. For a longer death notice, add sentences about when the person was born and what they did during their life. Additionally, name other family members who have survived the deceased. For tips on how to send a notice to close friends or family, keep reading. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Writing a Unique Eulogy

Learn the meaning of eulogy.

How Long Should a Eulogy Be?

How to write a eulogy.

How to Add Humor to A Eulogy?

How to write a eulogy in 5 easy steps, 1. brainstorm ideas and gather information.

2. Write an Introduction

3. write a brief biography, 4. share special life moments, memories, and qualities, 5. conclude the eulogy with some comforting words, need help talk to our funeral directors.

How to Write a Biography

Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us.

While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Primarily, though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led an incredible life.

In this article, we will explain biography writing in detail for teachers and students so they can create their own.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal-clear definition of one.

What Is a Biography?

A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of their childhood to the present day or their death if the subject is deceased.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality and experience of life.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

• Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
• Explore the language and perspective of both.
• Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
• Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
• Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
• A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

Features of a Biography

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of Biography. An excellent way to determine how well they understand these essential elements is to ask them to compile a checklist like the one blow

At a minimum, their checklists should contain the items below. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the biography.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach provides clarity on how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography

Biography writing tip #1: choose your subject wisely.

There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:

Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.

Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.

Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.

Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice in the form of a biography?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! Research! Research!

While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.

As with many types of writing , research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If a student wishes to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.

An effective way to approach the research process is to:

1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life

2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:

•      Physical looks
•      Character traits
•      Values and beliefs

3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:

• Childhood : Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
• Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
• Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
• Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.

As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.

Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.

Research Skills:

Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:

• Gather relevant information
• Evaluate different information sources
• Select suitable information
• Organize information into a text.

Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).

These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘ fake news ’ and misinformation after all!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing

Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.

Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.

One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life. For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.

Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Student Examples of Biography Writing

• Year 5 Example
• Year 7 Example
• Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:

This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.

Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.

When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:

• Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
• Which biographies didn’t?
• Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
• Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?

Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.

When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:

This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.

Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.

Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:

This session aims to get students into the researching phase and then prioritise events and organise them chronologically.

Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.

Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.

They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:

Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.

Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.

This is known as the thematic statement . With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.

BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

Get our FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.

Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.

HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO BIOGRAPHY WRITING

How to write an Autobiography

How to Write a Historical Recount Text

15 Awesome Recount & Personal Narrative Topics

Personal Narrative Writing Guide

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Addiction, Motherhood, and Jesus with writer Anne Lamott

Writer Anne Lamott has garnered a cult following with her shockingly honest prose on love, death, faith, writing and more. This hour, her wisdom from a career that has spanned 20 books and 40 years.

This episode of TED Radio Hour was produced by Rachel Faulkner White and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour.

Our production staff also includes James Delahoussaye, Katie Monteleone, Fiona Geiran, Matthew Cloutier, and Harsha Nahata. Irene Noguchi is our executive producer. Our audio engineer was David Greenburg.

Jennifer Garner mourns death of father William Garner in emotional tribute: 'Today is for gratitude'

Jennifer Garner is mourning the death of her father William John Garner, who died over the Easter weekend.

The actress revealed her father’s passing in an emotional tribute posted to Instagram Monday. A cause of death was not disclosed.

“My dad passed peacefully Saturday afternoon,” Garner wrote alongside a throwback photo of the father-daughter pair. “We were with him, singing Amazing Grace as he left us (did we carry him across or scare him away— valid question.) While there is no tragedy in the death of an 85-year-old man who lived a healthy, wonderful life, I know grief is unavoidable, waiting around unexpected corners.”

She added: “Today is for gratitude.”

A few of Garner’s celebrity pals shared their condolences in the comments section of her post.

“I’m so sorry for your loss ❤️” Julianne Moore wrote.

“Beautiful tribute to your lovely dad. ❤️” Yvette Nicole Brown commented.

'Life is so short and precious': Kris Jenner mourns loss of 'beautiful' sister Karen Houghton

Jennifer Garner remembers ‘quiet strength’ of father William Garner

Garner’s tribute to her father featured a series of family photos from the actress’s childhood. The “Family Switch” star also shared an adorable clip in which William John crashed her interview with brand partner Capital One .

“We are grateful for Dad’s gentle demeanor and quiet strength,” Garner wrote in a lengthy caption. “For how he teased with a mischievous smile, and for the way he invented the role of all in, ever patient girl dad. We are grateful for his work ethic, leadership and faith.”

Jennifer Garner pays tribute: Actress and '13 Going on 30' co-star Mark Ruffalo sweetly honor rom-com during Walk of Fame ceremony

Garner also thanked Charleston Area Medical Center and City of Hope for their medical care of William John, which she noted “extended Dad’s life and gave him time to be in his favorite spots— surrounded by daughters and grandchildren, cheering for his beloved Aggies, captaining a boat, and— most of all—next to his wife of 59 years, our Mom.”

“There is so much to say about my dad— my sisters and I will never be done talking about how wonderful he was, so bear with us,” Garner concluded. “But for today I share these memories with my appreciation for the kind and brilliant man, father, and grandfather he was, as well as the loving legacy he left behind.”