Workshops

Life Stories: Researching & Writing Biographies

By David Morgan, WIW Intern

Accuracy is the most important word to remember when writing a biography—proper research is fundamental. The Tuesday, March 28, Workshop "Life Stories: Researching & Writing Biographies" addressed this issue. Ken Ackerman, Jamie McGrath Morris and Aimee Hess, all published biographers, served as panelists for a night filled with insight about writing true-to-life biographies.

All biographers begin with a curiosity regarding a particular figure, an inquisitiveness that compels them to dig deeper into a person's life and communicate it to an audience. "Biography is a very flexible tool and what gives it its power...is a fascination with the people you're writing about," said Ackerman, WIW board member and author of three books, including Boss Tweed, a 2005 Notable Book by New York Times. "It is important to find...[a] voice for the person and an epiphany moment, something that drives your understanding." An "epiphany moment," said Ackerman, can come from anything that sparks intrigue, the muse used to begin your biography. For example, an assassinator's bullet kick-started Ackerman's research for Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield. These moments begin the process of research, a process that has dramatically improved.

In the past, biographical research was confined to library indexes and archives. Today, technology uncovers more information to bolster a book's substance. "Digitization allows you to pick up the [smallest] of research that is really valuable" in constructing a good biography, says McGrath Morris, author of one of the Washington Post's Best Nonfiction Books of 2004, The Rose Man of Sing Sing. Research tools including ProQuest and Archive Grid contain sources like gossip columns and ship arrivals or departures that are not traditionally found in indexes. And even more information is retrievable than you may think. "Don't presume that what shows up on a library screen is all that's available" said Morris. Most libraries contain just a fragment of ProQuest's database and more can be requested, "[libraries] love responding to patron demands." Soon to come is the digitization of smaller, more obscure newspapers, which will be a goldmine for biographers seeking rare facts about their characters.

Morris offered these suggestions:

1. Build an obituary file for minor characters. Obituaries can offer interesting remarks on how your character was regarded after his or her death and anecdotal information that adds spice to your work and the life of your character.

2. Spend time with items that will enrich your tale. Pay attention to photos, prints and other things related to the era, as they can provide background material for your book.

3). Don't undermine your leads. "Never assume that a lead will not pan out," says Morris. You never know what story threads may become an intricate part of your text.

4. Learn what you don't know by what you do. Narrow your research by creating an outline of known facts. Outlining will tell you what missing information needs to be provided.

5. Take notes on your notes. After accumulating large amounts of data, it's near impossible to remember all you have. Biographers often suffer from forgetting important facts or researching things you may have already looked at before. Keep a file of what you have to avoid falling into this research pitfall.

Writing a biography can be quite a daunting task but, as the night's panelists demonstrated, with good research, it is a fulfilling one.

Sign up for the next Workshop online.