This is the third part in a series of articles about writing a biography, or a story on someone’s life. This series of articles will discuss what a biography is, how to prepare for writing a biography, and helpful strategies for good biography writing.
See Writing a Biography – Getting Started
See Writing a Biography – Get Researching
See Writing a Biography – Get Writing
10. Is it Finished?
After many months, maybe even years, of writing, a writer can find themselves with a completed story in front of them. In the case of the biography writer, after much researching and writing, they have completed the biography. But is it ready?
11. One last Edit
Some writers edit their work as they progress through their writing, others like to leave their work sit for a time and come back to it. What seems to be common to most writers is that all need to edit their work. It's unlikely that the first sentence or paragraph or chapter that came to mind was perfect, and often the best quality in writing comes from re-writing and re-finement.
Although the story may now be complete and all the chapters have been written, it's probably useful for the writer to give it one last edit and review. However it is up to the writer to finally say that the biography is ready.
12. To Someone to Read Drafts
It's very much a personal preference if a writer wants someone to read what they have written before they send it off to potential editors and publishers. There are a number of possible reasons for getting someone to review a biography before sending it onto the next stage it's it potential life.
Getting someone to check any spelling or grammatical errors is helpful. Sometimes the author can know their writing too well and simply not see mistakes. Spelling and grammatical errors can distract from the writing itself and impact it's professional image. So it's important, if a writer wants their work to be taken seriously, to check for any errors.
Another reason to get a biography read by someone else is to check facts and details. It might be that a biography is written about a person now deceased and the author wants surviving family members to read the book to ensure any information they provided was correctly translated into the biography. Perhaps it is also out of courteously that an author would provide a book for the contributors to review prior to it going to publication. Again, this is up to the author to decide what is most appropriate.
13. Take Copies
Hopefully the author will have taken many backups and copies of his or her work during it's development, but now that it's finished, it's even more important to ensure that the valuable writing is put in safe place and there are numerous copies in a variety of formats.
This article is part of a series and will be continued in Writing a Biography: Part Five.
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