Learning the Craft of Biography
Scottie Patrick
Mary Blew, mentor
BACKGROUND
Most of my life, I have had a desire to document stories of unique and
extraordinary people. I’ve had a
handful of people in my life with such stories that have died and taken most of
their stories with them. For me,
losing the extraordinary stories of common people is a tragedy.
The main question/difficulty I’ve had is a lack of knowledge and understanding
on the process of writing other people’s personal stories.
The task seems too monumental to tackle and the stories seem too intimate
to try to understand and write.
I would like to research a series of non-fiction writers and their writing
processes.
CURRENT PROJECT
What I need to do now is read and carefully analyze the techniques of a few
biographies. I also need to find
some non-fiction writers’ handbooks and try to identify and practice the
techniques they suggest, and to also see where these differ.
I would also like to interview a few writers who teach at the University
of Idaho to better understand their writing processes and to see if any of the
handbooks’ suggestions are helpful for them.
PLAN FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS
This semester, the goal is to study the techniques and processes of a few
non-fiction writers, which will hopefully help improve my skill and knowledge of
non-fiction writing. My goal in
this project is to gain skills that I can apply in my professional career as a
writer after I graduate.
First, I must read. I would also
like to conduct interviews with Mary Blew, Joy Passanante, and maybe a few other
writers in the department at UI.
Then I want to analyze and practice techniques that other writers use under the
guidance of my mentor.
I will use this research as the basis to improve my own writing process, which I
would like to eventually evolve into a career as a non-fiction writer.
IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO PRESENT THIS WORK
My goal for a “product” is to show techniques of several writers in a
presentable, cut-and-dry format, but then to also show that I have developed
techniques of my own through a presentation of a collection of my creative
writing.
I would like to present this work by giving a brief explanation of how
non-fiction biographies are approached by each author that I study.
I hope to then read a part of my own work to the class and describe the
break-down of my chosen techniques and the process I took to get to that point.
TENTATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blew, Mary Clearman, and Imogene Welch. Writing Her Own Life: Imogene Welch,
Western
Rural Schoolteacher.
Literature of the American West, v. 14. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 2004.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild.
New York: Villard Books, 1996.
O'Sullivan, J. "Not the Authorized Biography - Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan,
by Edmund
Morris." NATIONAL REVIEW -BRISTOL CONNECTICUT-. 51. 20 (1999): 33-37.
Schrand, Brandon. The Ender’s Hotel: A Memoir. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 2008.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing
Nonfirction. New York: Quill,
2001.
Zinsser, William. Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American
Biography.
Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 1988.