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  1.  

    I hope this is an okay thread to make.

    Obviously, it’s for what’s stated in the title. But as I read about writing, there seems to be some sort of negative connotation with anything based on your life. Why? Do you agree?

  2.  

    I wouldn’t write an autobiography, I don’t think. It usually seems like people who write about themselves are self-absorbed and have a sense of self-importance. There seem to be a lot of people who write them because they think they are so wonderful and so interesting. The truth is that some are right, but a lot are not.

    There are exceptions to this of course. If someone had a really extraordinary life, then I think that it seems less self-important, or if they were involved in a major historical event (i.e. the Holocaust). But things like Miley Cyrus’s autobiography are just ridiculous.

    Memoirs are different a lot of people write memoirs not for publishing but for something to leave behind for their families.

    Just my opinions.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2009
     

    I think there are far too many autobiographies out there. It seems like every “celebrity”, every 15-minutes-of-famer, every douche who’s been on the news a few times, goes out and writes an autobiography, which is usually either full of lies, plain boring, or plagiarised bits from other people’s lives.

    If I were to read an autobiography I’d want to read about someone who m,ade a difference to the world, whose ideas or situation was truly inspiring. I don’t want to have to sift throuygh thirty different autobiographioes of has-beens, never-weres and teenaged hacks who sold their lives to Disney, wrote a shitty novel that never deserved to be published, or wrecked a few houses in a three-day binge party.

    No, ‘slice of life fiction’ is subtly different: in that genre I prefer to read about the ordinary, the commonplace. Characters who do little more than survive in the world, and possibly not even that… because the author can put thoughts and emotions and motives and situations in a fictional character’s life that cannot exist in a biography, and autobiographies are only ever, from what I’ve seen (excepting the few truly good ones), either blatant attacks on another person’s character, or Mary Sue-inducingly reverent of their own efforts and achievements.

    •  
      CommentAuthorMoldorm
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2009
     

    It’s not really worth writing memoirs unless you’ve either done something significant or are sufficiently old to have enough insignificant yet interesting anecdotes to share. It really annoys me how “celebrities” insist on having their ‘autobiographies’ ghost-written before they’re even 30, then have another one published a few years later.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2009
     
    Rory Stewart wrote a couple excellent autobiographies- 'The Prince of the Marshes' and 'The Places In Between' but then again he's been a governor of an Iraqi territory and walked across Afghanistan in early 2002. He gets a bit melodramatic at times but his books are worth the occasional page of philosophy.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2009 edited
     

    I don’t think. It usually seems like people who write about themselves are self-absorbed and have a sense of self-importance.

    If you’re a celebrity, you have a degree of self-absorbedness anyway, I don’t think you’d be able to cope with the pressures of it if one didn’t thrive upon the attention.

    However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t read autobiographies, you have to pick and choose. As you say, there’s no point reading something like Miley Whatsherface because how old is she? Grow up and get some experience.

    And yet, you pick up something by someone who has had a long and memorable career in TV/radio/music and an autobiography can be terribly interesting. I think one of my favourite autobiographies was Sting’s. Sure, he’s a self-obsessed twat, but his story was fascinating. The things he did and hard times he went through to succeed? It is incredibly gripping and worth a read. It’s not especially extraordinary, in that he didn’t scale mountains or whatever, but comparing life (and celebrities) from back then to now is fascinating.

    I don’t read enough autobiographies, however, Chris Evans (a radio DJ) has released one here recently, and he’s had such an… insane life, and I like him, so I’d be interested to pick it up. The trouble is, I never read them more than once, so I feel a bit cheated buying them. Maybe I’ll wait for people to take it to the charity shop in a few months. ;)

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 8th 2009
     

    Some autobiographies (the one that comes to mind is Frederick Douglass’ autobiography (well, autobiographies)) are excellent, though. It really depends on the person—sometimes, a person’s life was so different that only they could explain what it was like, so an autobiography is the best way to read their story.

    Of course, it still has to be a life that anyone actually cares about…

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2010
     
    I really enjoyed C.S. Lewis' autobiography, 'Surprised by Joy'.
    But I enjoy everything he writes.
    Frederick Douglass was good too. It read like a novel.
    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2010
     

    I have to read The Glass Castle for my PoliSci class, and I assumed I’d hate it because I don’t really like memoirs. Either they’re all over-the-top or they make me cry, usually both. But it’s actually really good so far.

    • CommentAuthorNo One
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2010 edited
     

    Depends on the author. For example, an autobiography I read a long time ago (I forgot the name and title, I still remember enjoying it and some contents) was written by someone with disability. It’s interesting, to read their story and experience life as a wheel-chair bound person. Or some other forms of disability.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2010
     

    and walk in their feet, experiencing life as a wheel-chair bound person.

    facepalm metaphor fail. I mean, really.

    A lot of autobiographies on the market are ones that I really wouldn’t read, like celebrities, politicians and people far too young to have any kind of biography or memoir out yet.

    I did enjoy Boy, but that’s because it was a fictionalised account of the author’s childhood, rather than a guy talking about how great they were.

  3.  

    metaphor fail. I mean, really.

    Ouch.

    A lot of autobiographies on the market are ones that I really wouldn’t read, like celebrities, politicians and people far too young to have any kind of biography or memoir out yet.

    My sentiments exactly.
    A few years ago, I heard that even K-Fed started working on his autobiography.