How to Write an Autobiography: 8 Steps, Template & Examples (2026)

An autobiography is the story of your own life, written by you. Here’s how to write one step by step, with a chapter template, questions to get you going, short examples, and a way to do it by talking if you’d rather not type.

Quick answer

To write an autobiography: decide who it’s for and how long it should be, map your life into chapters, pick the thread that ties them together, gather photos and dates, outline using a chapter template, then write (or talk) one scene at a time, revise for truth and voice, and finish it. The hardest part is the first draft, and the easiest way through it is to answer questions out loud and work from what you said.

Prefer to watch? Here is the 6-minute video version, with the same 8 steps and the chapter template.

About this guide

I’m Arthur Cho, founder of Memoirji, a free tool that interviews people about their lives and writes up what they say. More than 250 people have finished a memoir with it, and the same thing happens almost every time: people who say they “can’t write” tell a great story the moment they’re answering a question instead of facing a blank page. This guide is built around that. If you’re writing an autobiography for school, there’s a section for you near the end.

What is an autobiography?

An autobiography is a true account of your own life, written by you, usually in the first person and roughly in order from your earliest years to now. The word comes from Greek: auto (self), bio (life), graphy (writing). Self, life, writing.

It’s easy to mix up with two neighbors:

	Who writes it	What it covers
Autobiography	You	Your whole life, roughly in order
Memoir	You	One theme or period of your life
Biography	Someone else	Another person’s life

If you only want to write about one part of your life, a career, an illness, the place you grew up, you’re writing a memoir, and our guide to what a memoir is explains the difference in more detail.

The four types of autobiography

There’s no official list, but when people talk about types of autobiography they usually mean four forms:

1. Full-life autobiography. Your life from the beginning, in order. The classic form.
2. Memoir. One theme or period, told in depth.
3. Autobiographical essay. A short account of yourself, often for school, a scholarship, or a job application.
4. Autobiographical novel. Your real life, told as fiction, with names and events changed.

This guide covers the first one, with notes for the essay.

How to write an autobiography in 8 steps

1. Decide who it’s for and how long

A school assignment, a record of your life for whoever wants to read it someday, and a book you hope to publish are three different projects. Decide now, because it sets the length and the tone. A personal record can be 10,000 to 40,000 words; a school essay is usually under 1,500.

2. Map your life into chapters

Get a sheet of paper and list the places you’ve lived, the people who mattered, the jobs you’ve had, and the turning points: moves, marriages, losses, decisions. Group them into eight to twelve chapters. You’re not writing yet, just seeing the shape.

3. Find the thread

Even a whole-life story needs something running through it, or it reads like a list of dates. Ask yourself what your life kept coming back to: work, faith, a place, a person, starting over. That thread decides which stories make the cut.

4. Gather material

Pull out photos, letters, report cards, old calendars, anything with dates and names. Talk to people who were there; they’ll remember details you’ve lost. You don’t need everything, just enough to anchor your memories.

5. Outline with a chapter template

Use the template below. For each chapter, list two or three specific scenes you can still see clearly. Scenes, not summaries.

6. Write (or talk) the first draft, one scene at a time

Don’t start at birth; your earliest memories are usually the haziest. Start with a scene that has a strong feeling attached, and write it the way you’d tell it to a friend. If the blank page stops you, answer the chapter’s questions out loud and type up what you said. Speech has no blinking cursor.

7. Revise for truth and voice

Read it out loud. Cut anything that doesn’t sound like you. Check names and dates. Keep the specific details (the smell of the kitchen, what someone actually said) and trim the general summary.

8. Finish it

Decide what “done” means: a printed copy, a PDF, a file you keep. A finished autobiography that exists beats a perfect one that never does.

How to start an autobiography (with example first lines)

The opening is where most people freeze, so here are five ways in, with example lines written for this guide:

• Start in a moment: “The night the river came up to our porch, my father carried me out on his shoulders.”
• Start with a place: “Everyone on Kessler Street knew each other’s business, and most of us knew mine.”
• Start with a surprising fact: “I didn’t learn to read until I was eleven.”
• Start with a question you’re still answering: “I’ve spent sixty years trying to understand why my mother left Ohio.”
• Start with now, then go back: “I’m writing this at the same kitchen table where I did my homework in 1962.”

Autobiography template, chapter by chapter

Copy this outline and answer two or three questions under each chapter. That’s a first draft.

1. Where I come from: Who were your parents and grandparents? Where were they from? What did they do for a living?
2. The house I grew up in: What did it look like? Who lived there? What’s the first thing you remember?
3. School years: Who was your best friend? Which teacher do you still think about? What got you in trouble?
4. Leaving home: When did you first live on your own? What was it like?
5. Work: What was your first job? Your best job? What are you proud of?
6. Love and partnership: How did you meet the people who mattered most? What did they teach you?
7. The turning point: What decision changed the direction of your life?
8. The hard years: What was the most difficult time, and how did you get through it?
9. What I know now: What would you tell your younger self? What do you want on the record?

For a short school autobiography, use five parts instead: a hook, a brief introduction, two or three key experiences, what they taught you, and where you’re headed.

Questions to ask yourself

If a chapter is blank, these questions surface the stories:

• Childhood: What did a normal Saturday look like? What were you afraid of? What did your family argue about?
• Young adulthood: What did you want to be? Who did you look up to? What risk did you take?
• Middle years: What were you building? What did you sacrifice for it? What surprised you?
• Later life: What changed your mind about something big? What are you still curious about? What do you want people to know about you?

For more, our 52 life-story questions are organized by stage.

Autobiography examples

Some well-known autobiographies, each worth reading to see how others handled a whole life:

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), written with Alex Haley.
• The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (1903).
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, written between 1771 and 1790 and published after his death.
• The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi (1927 to 1929).
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969), the first of her seven autobiographies.
• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (1994).

And here’s a short example passage, written for this guide (not from a real person), to show what a chapter opening can look like:

My first car cost three hundred dollars and had no reverse gear. For two years I parked only where I could pull straight out, which meant I knew every corner lot and every patient neighbor in Dayton. My father said it would teach me to plan ahead. He was right, though not the way he meant. I learned that most problems have a way around them if you’re willing to drive the long way.

Notice the pattern: a specific detail (no reverse gear), a scene (the corner lots), and reflection (what it taught him). That’s the whole recipe.

How long should an autobiography be?

• School autobiography: usually 500 to 1,500 words.
• A personal record of your life: 10,000 to 40,000 words, which is about 40 to 150 printed pages.
• A published autobiography: typically 60,000 words or more.

Length isn’t the goal. A finished 20,000 words beats an unfinished 100,000.

What not to put in an autobiography

• Anything invented. It’s nonfiction. Reconstruct dialogue if you need to, but don’t make up events.
• Score-settling. Readers notice, and it ages badly.
• Other people’s private details that they wouldn’t want shared, especially while they’re alive.
• Every date. A timeline isn’t a story. Keep the moments that still carry feeling.

How to write an autobiography if you hate writing

The blank page is why most autobiographies never get written, not a lack of stories. So skip it:

• Record yourself. Answer one question from the template per day on your phone, then type up (or transcribe) what you said.
• Use a voice-first tool. Memoirji asks you the questions and writes your answers up as chapters, for free. It runs in your browser, on WhatsApp, or on LINE, so there’s nothing to install, and you can answer by voice in 10 languages. Here’s how a memoir comes together in about 15 minutes.
• Compare your options. Our guide to free autobiography apps lists the exact limits of each free plan, and if you’re wondering whether ChatGPT can do it for you, we tested that in can ChatGPT write my autobiography?

If you’d rather write about one part of your life in depth, see how to write a memoir.

Frequently asked questions

How do I start an autobiography about myself?

Don’t start with the day you were born. Start with one vivid moment you can still see clearly, a scene with a place, a person, and something happening, then explain where you came from once the reader is hooked. If you’re stuck, answer one question out loud, like “What is the earliest thing you remember?”, and write down what you said.

What is the format of an autobiography?

Most autobiographies are written in the first person and follow your life roughly in order, divided into chapters by stage or place: where you come from, childhood, school, work, love, the hard years, and what you know now. Each chapter mixes specific scenes with reflection on what they meant.

How long should an autobiography be?

It depends on who it’s for. A school autobiography is usually 500 to 1,500 words. A personal record of your life can be 10,000 to 40,000 words. Published autobiographies typically run 60,000 words or more. Finished matters more than long.

What’s the difference between an autobiography and a memoir?

An autobiography covers your whole life, usually in order. A memoir focuses on one theme or period, like a career, an illness, or a place, and goes deeper on what it meant. Both are true, first-person stories.

What are the four types of autobiography?

There’s no official list, but people usually mean four forms: the full-life autobiography, the memoir (one theme or period), the autobiographical essay (short, often for school or applications), and the autobiographical novel (real life told as fiction).

Can I write an autobiography if I’m not famous?

Yes. Famous people’s autobiographies get published, but anyone can write one. The value is in the specific, honest details of an ordinary life, which is exactly what disappears when nobody writes it down.

Can I write an autobiography by talking instead of typing?

Yes. Record yourself answering one question at a time and work from the transcript, or use a tool like Memoirji, which interviews you in your browser, on WhatsApp, or on LINE and turns your spoken answers into written chapters for free.

What should not be included in an autobiography?

Invented events, scores you want to settle, other people’s private details they wouldn’t want shared, and every date in your calendar. Keep what is true and what still carries feeling; cut what is only a record of time passing.

How do you write a short autobiography for school?

Open with a hook (a moment or a striking fact about you), introduce yourself in two or three sentences, then write three short sections about key experiences, and end with what those experiences taught you and where you’re headed. Keep it to the word count your teacher gives.

Is there a free autobiography template?

Yes, there’s a chapter-by-chapter template in this guide, with questions under each chapter. If you’d rather not write at all, Memoirji works like a spoken template: it asks the questions and writes up your answers, free.

Start your autobiography today

Pick one chapter from the template and answer one question. Or go to memoirji.com, press Start, and answer out loud: in your browser, on WhatsApp, or on LINE.

Nothing to download. No password. No credit card.