How to Write Your Life Story

by Ralph Fletcher

The author's fifth writing guide for young readers teaches would-be autobiographers about the style and organization of a biography, and includes samples of work by young writers as well as interviews with authors such as Jack Gantos and Jerry Spinelli. Simultaneous.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Middle Grade, School, Teaching, Childrens, Education

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2007

About the author

Ralph Fletcher is a friend of young writers and readers as well as writing teachers. He has written or co-authored many books for writing teachers includng Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Lessons for the Writer's Notebook, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, and Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. Ralph has worked with teachers around the U.S. and abroad, helping them find wiser ways of teaching writing.

Ralph's many books for students include picture books (Twilight Comes Twice, Hello Harvest Moon, and The Sandman), novels (Fig Pudding, Flying Solo, and Spider Boy), poetry (A Writing Kind of Day and Moving Day), and a memoir, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. His novel Uncle Daddy was awarded the Christopher medal in 2002. He has also written a popular series of books for young writers including Poetry Matters, Live Writing, and A Writer's Notebook. Ralph lives with his family in New Hampshire. He is a strong environmentalist who believes we all must work together to live in a more sustainable way. His other passions include travel, good food, dark chocolate, growing orchids, and sports.

Reviews

[The Reading Countess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publisher's Summary:

Lies About Writing Your Life Story

You have to be a famous celebrity.
You must have an amazing life.
You can't write your life story until you're old and gray.
Nobody will read it, so what's the point?
************************************************************************************************************

I love Ralph Fletcher. When I ordered this book through Scholastic Book Orders, I thought my kids might find his book interesting and perhaps provide a call to them to write pieces of their own lives down. I wasn't prepared for practical tips for classroom teachers to share with their students. I also wasn't prepared for new sources of memoirs (listed in the back, there is a wonderful compilation of poetry, short stories, and early and older chapter books). This is a great resource for teachers looking for mentor texts for both reading and writing.

Favorite Passages:
"Squished" vignette on pages 54-55 about a teacher/writer's vivid recollection (talk about "explode the moment") of how she literally squished a toad to death, and her subsequent guilt about it.

In his "Dealing with the Hard Stuff" chapter, Fletcher's own recollection of a group of Blood Brothers (it never made his Marschfield Dreams memoir): "When I was a kid I had three best friends: Andy, Larry, Steve. Larry wanted the four of us to be blood brothers. He was always talking about it. 'All's you need is a little bubble of blood,' he said. 'We'll press our fingers together so the blood mixes. It's wicked simple.' We all agreed. and made a plan to do it first thing Saturday morning. The next day after school Larry was helping his cousin Owen tune up his car. Owen was a senior in high school. Larry and Owen had the car in the garage, the hood up, the engine running. The way I heard it, Owen was fiddling with the engine, when all of a sudden the flywheel spun off and cut Owen's head open. Blood gushed out everywhere. When Larry tried to stop the bleeding, he got his shirt and jeans coated with his cousin's blood. Owen died. Larry went to the funeral and we didn't see him for a couple days. His face was stone serious when he got on the school bus on Friday morning. I noticed that he was wearing a new pair of jeans and a clean white T-shirt. Next day the four of us played in the woods just like we alwasy did on Saturday morning. Larry never said another word about us being blood brothers. And nobody else mentioned it, either." (pgs. 78-79)

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that this book was very helpful in allowing me to write my memoir.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book as a resource for my students over a year ago and then misplaced it almost immediately. I finally found it today and was hesitant to read it because I am not really a fan of Fletcher's other instructional writing books for children. However, I must say that this one is by far the best. It has tips, interviews with authors, and writing samples from kids and adults. It is definitely geared more towards middle grades (4-6).

[Donalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid ideas for writing personal narratives, but I wonder if this is the sort of book that teachers like more than kids.

[Jack Loughrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very nice book that tought me alot of things like not to say mean things and being helpful.

[Danelle Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught my attention in the children’s area of our local library. I often edit memoirs for authors who want to self publish, so I was curious how Ralph would present this topic to young writers. He begins by shining a light on the “lies” that 1.) you have to be famous, 2.) you have to have lived an amazing life, 3.) you should wait until you’re older, and 4.) assuming no one will read your writing.

“Many people believe that you must have lived an amazing life to be a writer. I strongly disagree. In most cases, writers are people who simply find and tell the interesting stories in their ordinary lives. Often when we write about small, ordinary moments, we’re surprised to find that other people, even total strangers, will relate to what we have written.” I love that.

Ralph details the three ingredients of a good story, how to get started/gather ideas, and the importance of finding a focus. He defines different types of writing (biography, autobiography, memoir, letters, diary, prayers, etc.) and offers four helpful craft tips for autobiographical writing (include details, invigorate verbs, create characters like fiction, and use your narrative voice to be an active character).

He wisely points out that strong autobiographical writing reflects on the significance of the subject (a person, place, or event)—why it matters and what it means to you. Life transitions provide great material.

Ralph also talks about time and how to vary your writing by pruning irrelevant spans of time, exploding a particular moment in time with detail, and weaving in routines that happened on a regular basis to set the mood or describe what your life used to be like.

Don’t leave out the bad stuff when you write your life story. Our most awful experiences may be the most important because they are the ones that truly shape who we are. But you should write about them only if, and when, you’re ready to do so.

He includes interviews with several other authors, but I didn’t get much out of those chapters. Some of those authors describe writing about difficult topics. For that reason, I would rate this book PG13. Overall, a helpful, easy read about writing your story.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, easy to follow book. Some of the harsher comments about this book failed to take into account the audience--middle school students. In this respect, I think the book goes into an appropriate amount of depth in how to get started and key points of biographical writing. I would suggest it as a helpful suggestion for any students wishing to write about their lives. Super quick, easy read for adults.

[Logan Nott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This non-fiction novel written by Ralph Fletcher is a great source for memoir writers and I enjoyed it. The only downside was that Ralph was too much into giving tips than actually writing a story which hoped for more story that how to write a memoir. I know the title tells me why he gives tips but I would've enjoyed a bit more context into his life.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is targeted clearly toward younger writers, particularly gradeschoolers, and has an educational feel to it. Such readers might find it a 4 star read or better. I doubt most older or experienced writers would learn a lot from it but it was good to be reminded of some basic things about writing memoir. It's an easy read and entertaining.

[Diego Dotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this little book while wandering around Orinda Hills in one of those little free libraries.

I think it’s meant to be a kids’ book on how to write biographies. Since I’m kinda a kid when it comes to writing skills, it worked for me.

I especially loved the idea of drawing a map of where the story takes place. Such a cool tool to spark your memory.

[Lauren Haynie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It taught me a lot about how to write my own autobiography or memoir. It also taught me what is a good story and what is not. To write a good memoir you should only add some details of your life. This taught me a lot about how to write my own life story.

[Jack O'Shaughnessy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty educational and I hope that the things I learned from the book will help me when writing my memoir. The most important thing I learned was even if it's embarrassing for another person you can still include it.

[Natalie Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it was very useful in my writing. it wasn't really my type of a book. i don't like reading how to write stuff. when i write a memorial i will follow my heart and try to remember as much as i can.

[Abd Abd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written for middle school student. Great introduction to writing personal stories.

[Zachery Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book and it helped me learn how to better my writing.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so incredibly helpful for me in thinking about writing my own autobiography/memoir. The tips, author interviews, examples, and genres were golden material.

[Marisa Russello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for kids. Used in my creative writing class.

[Elysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

this review spoils everything.

[Hannah Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book wasn't my favorite, it definitely had a lot of good ideas and pointers for whoever may want to write an memoir. I liked the sense of humor used throughout the story and I look forward to using some of the tips I found in these books, later in life.

[Makenna Quinby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though i didn't really enjoy the book I would recommend to someone wanting to get info on writing memoirs. I learned some really good facts that I will use in the near future.

[Alisha Funkhouser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fletcher, R. (2007). How to Write Your Life Story. New York: Collins.

Informational Book

Booklist Review

How to Write Your Life Story is exactly what it says - a book on how to write your life story. This informational book gives great insight to anyone who has every thought about writing about their own life or even about someone else. It goes through different techniques on ways to remember things from your childhood or how to write about something special. The author provides interviews with other authors who have written their life story as well. He goes through different forms, finding a focus, and how to write about a difficult or hard time in your life, like a death of someone close. He also lists several different memoirs that would be great inspiration.
What I really liked about this book, was that even though it is aimed at junior age level, I took a lot from it as well. It made me want to write a story about myself as well. I think he did a great job of inspiring young writers and gave some really helpful techniques, like drawing a map of your neighborhood and marking special or meaningful spots. I also loved that he used examples from students so that students reading the book could really connect and feel like they could do this too.
I would definitely use this book if I wanted my students to write something about themselves. I think it would be a great project and would probably create some new writers in the classroom!

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice small and simple book to step into this mind-frame. Talking about "bridging" certain fragmented writing particularly interested me because it makes my head spin when I think about attempting to glue and flesh out what I write.

These are the notes that I pulled out of the book that were relevant to me and the writing I do:

I can’t think of any other genre that allows a writer to say so much with so few words. Poetry has a way of cutting through the fluff and getting down to what really matters.


*Multi-Genre Autobiography*

Interior Monologue
Personification poem: “I am a grassy field”
Obituary


...“true” memoir when I wrote it I made up certain details when I couldn’t actually remember them.

The nouns create the pictures, but the verbs make those pictures move. Your writing will improve instantly if you find intriguing and muscular verbs to drive those sentences.

Pick the most important moments and write about them in detail.

Memory is always slippery…whenever you call up a memory, the act of calling it up is to exaggerate its importance.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. I'll definitely be using many of the suggestions with myself and with my kids. In fact, this is a great book for adults who are intimidated or don't know where to start with their own personal history.

Ideas I loved:
event map
heart map
gather artifacts and "listen" to them
finding a focus
various forms
how short a memoir can be

Thing I didn't love:
on p. 54 there's a story that disturbed me slightly. Whereas there's a final chapter on writing about the "hard stuff," this story was not prefaced, so the fact that this girl poked a frog until its guts came out its mouth, then she carried the shame forever (which is worse, I don't know) really took me by surprise. That's the only thing about the book I would change.

[John Orman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A juvenile version of the standard "Write Your Life Story" book.
I thought it was very useful to list the Lies About Writing Your Life Story:

1. You have to be a famous celebrity.
2. You must have an amazing life.
3. You can't write your life story until you are old and gray.
4. Nobody will read it, so what's the point.

I thought the author was persuasive in overcoming the Lies as roadblocks to even starting a project.

Also has a good chapter listing example memoirs, such as those by Roald Dahl, Russell Baker, and Lance Armstrong!

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ralph Fletcher provides some very useful information in a small package titled "How to Write Your Life story. Although writen for young peolpe I found the book full of interesting and well writen instuctions on everything needed to start writing. I am sure I could have found something with a lot more technical and a larger assortment of ideas; nevertheless I found just what I needed in Ralph Fletcher's book.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that How to write your life story is a really good book because Ralph Fletcher gived alot of good interesting examples.
I would reccomend this book to young writers cause this book is about writing for writers!!!
This book is detailed and organized so I think that it would be a good book for everyone to read.
I like the part where Ralph gave examples so that I could understand better.
In the future, I would like to write books like Ralph's awsome books.

[Trista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book included lots of great advice for children (and anyone, really) who wants to write their life story. He included several examples and interviewed a few children's authors to get their thoughts. Very easy to read and gives advice on how to make one's writing powerful (I liked the tip about having powerful verbs, not necessarily adjectives). A great resource for kids, teachers, and writers alike.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wham-bam kind of book. Short, but full. Simple, but complex. Chock full of examples of writing from fourth graders to adults.

This book turns the daunting task of writing your life story into something not only doable, but something to look forward to! I could easily use this book to help plan a memoir unit with its suggestions for generating ideas, getting started, and great examples.

[Barb Keister · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Ralph Fletcher's short books written for kids, but so helpful for teachers trying to find the right language to use with young writers. Good ideas for writer's notebooks as well as a memoir unit of study. Great examples of real student work and great reading list for immersing students in the genre.