biographers
They document lives
Biographers are writers who chronicle the lives of other people.
A biographer researches their subject's history, personality, and significance, then shapes that material into narrative: Presidential biographers often spend decades with their subjects.
The best biographers balance factual accuracy with compelling storytelling.
Creators of written works
- memoiristsWriters of personal histories
- historiansScholars of the past
- journalistsNews gatherers and writers
- ghostwritersHired anonymous authors
essayists · chroniclers · scholars · researchers · Plutarch · interviewers · archivists · editors
Stored historical documents
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- documentsFormal written records
- journalsPeriodicals or personal logs
diaries · letters · sources · evidence · footnotes · references · manuscripts · correspondence
Exists or resides
- legacyWhat's passed down
- anecdotesBrief amusing accounts
- profileSide-facing outline
- portrayalDepiction of someone
depiction · characterization · intimacy · psychology · motivations · secrets · scandals · relationships
Written personal recollection
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- authorizedGiven official permission
- unauthorizedNot officially permitted
- definitiveSettling a question finally
Recounting events aloud
- arcCurved line segment
- structureArrangement of interconnected parts
- themeCentral recurring concept
- expositionSystematic explanatory presentation
perspective · voice · tone · pacing · prose · narrator · interpretation · framing
authors
Creators of written works
- memoiristsWriters of personal histories
- historiansScholars of the past
- journalistsNews gatherers and writers
ghostwriters · essayists · chroniclers · scholars · researchers · Plutarch · interviewers · archivists · editors · publishers
archives
Stored historical documents
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- documentsFormal written records
journals · diaries · letters · sources · evidence · footnotes · references · manuscripts · correspondence · primary sources
lives
Exists or resides
portrayal · depiction · characterization · intimacy · psychology · motivations · secrets · scandals · relationships · achievements
memoir
Written personal recollection
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- authorizedGiven official permission
- unauthorizedNot officially permitted
definitive · critical · popular · scholarly · psychobiography
storytelling
Recounting events aloud
exposition · perspective · voice · tone · pacing · prose · narrator · interpretation · framing · dramatization
- Writing Worldvoice, novelists, style, poets, tone
- creativesartist, artists, painter, painters, illustrators
- scholarsscholar, professors, professor, researcher, researchers
- Greek writersHomer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
- Historical Sourceschroniclers, annalists, historiographers, medieval scribes, hagiographies
- historianshistorian, historians, chronicler, chroniclers, annalist
biographersnovelists
Writers of long-form fiction
fiction writers · fantasists · fabulists · mythmakers · storytellers