Choosing the Subject for Writing a Biography - video

Author and biographer, Brian Jay Jones, is known for writing biographies about off-center geniuses, who he calls "mad dreamers". He has thoroughly enjoyed his biography projects and advises other aspiring biographers to find a subject that you know you can live with for many years, as this person will become an intimate part of your life. Once you've completed your first project and are planning the next biography, be sure to "stay on your shelf". Stretching too far outside of your comfort zone may lead to subpar work.

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  • I can believe how hard it must be to choose a subject. Well done and I've never seen a picture of Abraham Lincoln without a beard.

  • Awesome...Do you help those who are trying to write a memoir?

  • My interests inclined more towards Memoirs. I have writing my personal experiences as a graduate student in Science in Ottawa, Canada; Glasgow, Scotland in the sixties. Reason for migrating to Ottawa, Canada in 1972, having survived the war. My personal narration of my views of plowing through the many road blocks as: a mother, wife, woman in science and mmore...