Howdy Friends!

[cc.slim]

First off I would like to welcome back dorkelf! Your shared knowledge is greatly appreciated for an honest critique is extremely rare! And thank you all who participate in the writing challenges! I learn more through your work and by words you choose!

Now if I may ask for a small bit of advise and opinion. I have recently involved myself in a poetry group and they have a biography section that I have basically left blank because I know not where to start. I don't have major degrees and my life is not as rambunctious and illustrious as some. Hehehe I do believe I should leave out the worm part of my life for I was so defeated I shagged to join the army and they denied me due to medical reasons! One black eye to receive yet another! I do believe I would have never began to write if were not for you my friends here and my desire to serve God!

So this is why I ask. How can a simple man with a simple plan that has been touched by a variety of cultures begin to write a biography that endures?

 

[dorkelf]

First off I would like to welcome back dorkelf! Your shared knowledge is greatly appreciated for an honest critique is extremely rare! And thank you all who participate in the writing challenges! I learn more through your work and by words you choose!

Now if I may ask for a small bit of advise and opinion. I have recently involved myself in a poetry group and they have a biography section that I have basically left blank because I know not where to start. I don't have major degrees and my life is not as rambunctious and illustrious as some. Hehehe I do believe I should leave out the worm part of my life for I was so defeated I shagged to join the army and they denied me due to medical reasons! One black eye to receive yet another! I do believe I would have never began to write if were not for you my friends here and my desire to serve God!

So this is why I ask. How can a simple man with a simple plan that has been touched by a variety of cultures begin to write a biography that endures?

Dale, I highly recommend you read a good autobiography or two. That is the best way to discover what good biography writing is all about. I think you will find that the essence of a good biography is the same as the essence for good fiction or non-fiction. It is not that you gain a sense of respect or awe or even understanding for the individual, but because you experience a meaningful connection through authentic experiences that are reflected in your own life.

The problem for many of us when writing or talking about ourselves is due to our conditioning through our affluent Western culture that weakness and inadequacy are never to be admitted without some sort of caveat. This is very much enforced in sermons and Bible studies at church. If something negative is expressed, it is almost always something that happened to that person unfairly, not that which is due to a weakness or shortcoming. This is one of the reasons, I think, that so many unchurched people who drop in on a service do not find it to be a real or authentic experience.

Have you ever heard a testimony where someone admitted to wrong-doing, inadequacy, failure, rejection due to their own shortcomings and sin? Do you relate to that? Would it be better if they just put those old sins and shortcomings at the foot of Jesus and only talked about how blessed and happy they have become?

Let me tell two true, biographical stories I heard recently and you tell me which you can connect to better. Story #1: A woman backed up in her garage before the convertible top of her vehicle had retracted down. It hit her garage and was destroyed, and she had to pay $3000 to replace it. The accident was entirely her own fault. Story #2: A man told me he bought a fake diamond ring and presented it to his now-wife and said 'will you marry me?'. She took it, noticed right away it was fake and threw it back at him. He then added that this happened after they'd already been married and she already had a nice ring he'd saved up for months to buy her. The fake ring had just been a joke he'd played on her recently.

Think about the two stories. What if the ring had not been a joke? What if he'd really given her a fake ring to propose to her and she had cried or thrown the ring back at him? What if the accident had been due to a defect in the woman's garage door and she'd sued the garage door company for the damage. How do these changes impact your interest, your ability to relate, your feelings about each person?

 

[cc.slim]

Sorry for my delayed response but you put me into some serious research that required time and I somehow got myself into a poets survivor challenge against other really great poets. I know silly me!

I am still researching but what I have found is most published writers have post educations to which I lack and have no desire to seek. The closest writer I have found that some what mirrors my ability and style is Louis L'Amour. Hehehe he is not the greatest writer by any means and his writing is poor and incomplete per say critiques but he has a way of submitting a message that people can relate to and he uses his past relations for inspiration.

I have been influenced by I. Asimov, A. Clark, L. Nivens, and of course L'Amour just to name a few, but most of all by the words planted by Christ himself.

When I was in high school I took a class on creative writing and was introduced to plagiarism which horrified me and I shut down wanting no part in that world. Dang cheaters copying comic book stories and earning high favors for it. Hehehe I earned a B for mine but that was it I quit trying. So in this though I learned how not to fear plagiarism for if I write of Gods glory then it would be the most awesome thing to have rewritten or repeated. Now I am really goofy huh?

The last questions you left me with were the easiest and I could have answered faster than a heartbeat. I go with story 1 which would be my wifes fault. I would have covered my own duff by researching the product thoroughly and completely so not to have the finger pointed at me hehehe of course she would accuse me first for faulty equipment.

So I'm stuck with silly slim who's trying to write like hubba bubba bubble gum for endurance and BIG BUBBLES!