How to Tell Your Life Story

Telling Your Life Story Effectively

1. Do your research. To tell your life story effectively, start by doing your research so you can get the details of the story right. You may interview family members, friends, and other people who were present during certain periods of your life. You can also visit your old childhood home or your former schools as part of your research. Take notes as you do research so you can refer to them when you write your life story.^[1]

   1. You should also do research at your local library and online. You may look at articles and books to help you with your research.

2. Create a timeline of your life. You may start with your birth and work your way up to the present, noting important events or moments as you go. You may draw a straight line on a piece of paper and fill in the timeline that way. Or you may create a graph on a computer to create the timeline.^[2]

   1. Try to be detailed when you write the timeline. Note each age of your life as well as significant events or moments that happened during that time. For example, you may write, 'Age 4, Mom and Dad divorced, I was obsessed with Mickey Mouse and watched a lot of television on our living room floor.'

3. Look for themes in your life story. Another way to make your life story feel meaningful and impactful for a reader is to identify key themes in your life story. You may notice that a specific theme keeps appearing over and over again in key moments in your life. Or you may realize that you worked your way to a certain theme as you got older or aged. You can use the theme to help organize and structure your life story, giving it a deeper meaning.^[3]

   1. For example, you may have the theme 'perseverance' in your life story. You may then write about key events or moments in your life that reflect the theme of perseverance.
   2. Or you may realize that it took you several years to embrace the theme of 'hard work.' You may then chart how you learned to embrace this theme through different moments in your life.

4. Plot out your life story. To give your life story structure, create a plot outline. Having a plot outline can help you stay organized as you write your life story and make your life story engaging for a reader.

   1. You can create a plot outline based on a more traditional plot structure, with exposition, an inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
   2. You can also use the snowflake method to create a plot outline, with a one sentence summary, a one paragraph summary, character synopses, and a spreadsheet of scenes.
   EXPERT TIP

   Dan Klein

   Storytelling Teacher

   Dan Klein is an improvisation expert and coach who teaches at the Stanford University Department of Theater and Performance Studies as well as at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Dan has been teaching improvisation, creativity, and storytelling to students and organizations around the world for over 20 years. Dan received his BA from Stanford University in 1991.

   Dan Klein
   Storytelling Teacher

   How did you change through the story? Dan Klein, an improv and storytelling teacher, says: "The essential elements of a story include a character that the audience cares about, and something happening in the story that changes the relationships between the characters. It's also really nice if the story ties up at the end by reincorporating something from the beginning."

5. Polish the draft. Once you have a draft of your life story, in whatever form it takes, you should polish and edit it until it is at its best. You may show your written life story to others for feedback, such as friends, family, or colleagues. You can also read your life story draft out loud to hear how it sounds on the page.

   1. If you created a performance based life story, you may perform a rough version for friends, family or colleagues and ask them for feedback. You should revise your draft and improve it until you feel it is ready to share with the larger world.