My autobiography - how is it?

Well... I guess my initial reaction would be to say that you're a little young to be writing your autobiography - though I take your point about 'why now.' I think you need to have led a varied and interesting life, had a few scrapes, had your heart broken a few times, been through the mill a bit (sorry for that cliche!) and so on in order for your life story to create interest. Of course, there are young guys like Wayne Rooney and David Beckham who've had their life stories either published or commissioned - but then, they're huge sporting heroes for a lot of people, and they've reached their positions by overcoming odds and not having what we might call the 'best' start. They've overcome struggles, albeit not massive ones. But there's a human interest story there. I've read through your post and I can see that there are elements that might go to make a good story later - though it doesn't sound, and I don't mean this nastily, as if it's all been a battle against huge, seemingly insurmountable odds. You had a difficult time at school, yeah - but so do huge numbers of people. And at least you went to a good school. What I'm trying to say is - you had opportunities. I can't speak for everyone, but to my mind a good life story is one where the subject has achieved things against the odds. Dickens, say, to mention an obvious one. I don't know, though. Nowadays, people seem to have different attitudes to that kind of thing. Jade Goody's life story seems to be doing well and what's she done? Been on Big Brother? Well, wow indeed! I hope you achieve your dreams. I hope you do make it in your chosen profession. I hope you're not doing it, though, just to become a 'celebrity' - there are much easier ways of doing that nowadays. If you want to be celebrated, I hope you can do it for being something more than simply 'famous'. Do it through having achieved something - something worthwhile. Something that people will want to remember you for. Instead of writing an 'autobiography' now, why not just keep a daily journal. The information will all be there. Put everything into it. Make it interesting. To improve your writing? Only two suggestions. Read lots - all the time - everything you can get your hands on - never stop reading. Be critical with it, too - figure out what works and why. Apply what you've learned. And write - every day, even if it's rubbish. Don't write with the thought that someone else will be reading it, 'cos that'll inhibit you and make you worry about it. Write for YOU. Interesting life stories - factual and fictional - you might like to look at: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; The Life and Work of Harold Pinter (MIchael Billington); Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood - Mary McCarthy; Writing Home - Alan Bennett; Down All The Days - Christy Brown. Oh, loads and loads. Experiment. Don't read all the same stuff. Range around a bit. And good luck.

You may not be a writer, but you certainly take the cake as far as confidence that you'll one day be a 'celebrity'. Why not be a good celebrity and do some community work helping the less-advantaged, why don't you, instead of winding up another clone of Chantelle, the most pointless and useless 'celebrity' ever? Forget the autobiography and try developing some character, first.

Yeah, Archergirl. You put it more succinctly than I did! The other thing of course, Annicka, is that if ever you do become an extremely famous 'celebrity', you won't need to write your autobiography. It'll be ghost-written from interviews. Which you seem to have foreseen, anyway - you've written it in the third person. Most autos, in my experience, are first-person. Already, you seem to be at a distance from yourself with your writing. Just a thought.

OK I asked for feedback on my writing, not critisism towards the mere fact that I want to be an actress. Why do you all need to judge someone so rapidly just because of the fact that they want to perform in front of a large-scale audience (which does stem in my case from an obsession with stardom and the glamour associated with it, yes, but I am admitting this, and at least I have a goal in mind rather than simply appearing on Big Brother)? I am not stupid, I love writing, I love the theatre, I love performing. I have a passion. But I have had an interesting and uncanny life that I have always wanted to write in a book. And I believe that as a well-known individual, it will be much easier to get my work published.

I like this style.

Okay, great. Go for it. I didn't think I was criticising the fact that you want to be an actor. It's great, as far as I'm concerned. I admire your determination - which is, you'll notice, why I wished you luck. I wasn't judging you, either. Just answering your questions. You asked for feedback. You asked what people thought of your writing. You asked if anyone thought your life sounded mediocre. Don't ask those sorts of questions if you don't want honesty - not in a forum like this. Unfortunately, life ain't always about being told how marvellous one is - as you'll find out when you're an actor. You need to have a tough ego for the bad notices that every performer gets. I know.... I've trodden the boards myself in stand-up comedy. If the common view on what you felt was your finest performance is 'average at best', how are you going to cope with it?

I appreciated all your feedback related to my writing, I asked for it, I got it. What I didn't like was archergirls attitude towards my goals, not my writing, of which you agreed with. For all we know she could not even have read my excerpt yet enjoyed criticising me.

Hello This is well written enough but it just doesn't grab my attention. I like autobiography and any biography to be warm and engaging with real characters that jump to life. Your father for example, we know what he did for a living and that he was the 'richest daddy' when you were at school but why would this be of interest to anyone even if you were famous? Try describing your earliest memories of your father, the smell in his bar, his ways and rituals and pick out the quirkiest things that make your childhood different from others. Same with your brother - so he got caught up in the vortex of hard drugs. I've mixed hard drugs in with my cornflakes for breakfast then used K Cider instead of milk and even that in itself lacks a shock factor. Write about how you felt when he broke a promise to you that really meant a lot to you, or how he sold something you'd bought him for Christmas. Or whatever, you get the idea! It's only a suggestion... jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

Oh, I read it, alright. My first comments still stand. Alan is right about the 3rd person: you are already detached from yourself, like you are a prop on your own stage. I'd suggest some good psychodynamic therapy and a little more 'experience' in life before you start thinking your life makes a good story. Why don't you wait to make sure you *do* get famous, first? No offence. Jude, as always, you are a candidate for beatification.

A little harsh I think Archergirl. Try to be a bit more encouraging, there's a love. Dreamer, I think Jude's advice here is cracking... to make your characters more rounded. I read your piece, and it's not bad at all, not by a long chalk. The only criticism that I have really, is that it seems to cram too much into a short space. Try taking your early years, and get 3,000 words out of that alone. That way you will have time to, as Jude says, round the characters.

Sorry, I know, I sound very harsh, I should have focused on the writing and not the ... how shall we say... intimations of a pre-emptive autobiography of a famous person. I'll do better should another one come along. It was a strange and alien landscape to be thrown into. Annicka, yes, apologies, the others have some very sound advice for you as far as your writing is concerned.

It's more like the blurb on the back of an autobiography than the autobiography itself. By which I mean it's far too brief. Everything is skirted over and generalised. We don't know the name of the school, or what exactly these 'important exams' were, or what and who she was rebelling against. We get a general idea of the kind of prissy misses who manned the school and made it hellish, but no actual examples of what they did or said. We know nothing about what the father did (an entrepeneur could be anything, really) or how the brother got involved in drugs. We don't even know their names or background. I mean, you should really have at least a chapter on your family background in an autobiography, before you even get to school. People will want to know what you did as a kid. So get about 3 or 4 thousand words written about that. Then spend another whole chapter in the school, reporting the incidences that happened there, the crucial points which shaped the decisions you made. I gotta say, going by events thus far, it does seem to be a fairly typical childhood. Lots of people's siblings get involved in drugs and nigh on everyone finds themselves surrounded by 'fake' people at school, since most kids tend to go through stages of trying on different identities. Would you rather be a proper actor, or a celebrity? ~ I'll Show You Tyrants * Fuselit * The Prowl Log * Woe's Woe

"[I] want to perform in front of a large-scale audience, which does stem in my case from an obsession with stardom and the glamour associated with it" Three guesses, Jack. Hence the rush through the early life; the aim is to get to the meat of the story.

I've written an autobiography. Not of my life in general, but of a half year experience. So no, I don't think you're too young to write an autobiography, however most people prefer reading a story with conflict, love, power, in it. And so far your life doesn't seem extrodinary (mediocre as you say) however, I do enjoy your writing. It is a bit distant at times but it is well told. However I doubt you should really continue with this unless you feel a passion for it, not just because you think someone will publish it when you become a 'celebrity'. (I also suggest 1st person, cause quite frankly, your 3rd person writing is incredibly impersonal, no offence)

I think someone writing an autobiography about wanting to be a celebrity is a good idea for a book. A fictional book, that is. It's probably been done before but, given the changing nature of celebrity, there's lots of really interesting ideas to look at the moment. I reckon Mark Haddon would be able to carry it off well.