Changing Points Of View in Autobiographies

Using a Daring Writing Style to Write an Interweaved Autobiography

© Dulcinea Norton-Smith

Aug 9, 2008

Many writers get writer's block or become bored part way through their book. This is true of all genres, even autobiographies. After seven chapters of rattling on about your own life it can begin to seem pointless or self obsessed. Changing the point of view from which the autobiography is written can help to avoid this slump.

One Mid Story Change

Perhaps the simplest way to do this, especially for writers wanting to stay true to the traditional autobiography style, is to have one temporary change mid story.

The writer should wait until a point in the autobiography where another person plays a large part then, starting a new chapter, switch to that person's point of view. Alternatively they could choose someone who was on the edge of the writer's life at a specific time.

Possible situations and people to choose;

• The bride on the run up to the male writer's wedding
• The grandmother on the birth of the writer's first child (a good point for the grandmother to tell her side of the story possibly already told in chapter 1 of the birth of the writer)
• The school counsellor during the divorce of the writer's parents
• The writer's brother or sister during an estrangement

Several Changes Throughout

If a daring writer looking for a different approach tries the mid story point of view change and enjoys it they could try to have regular changes throughout the book. Picking up from the above suggestions the book of a female autobiographer could read like this:

1. The writer's birth as told by their mother.
2. Switch to the writer's point of view for their early school years perhaps with a short paragraph from their mother's point of view on their first day of school and one story by their primary school teacher.
3. The teenage years as told by the school counsellor, the best friend and the writer.
4. The meeting of the husband to be as told by the writer.
5. The engagement and run up as told by the husband to be.
6. The wedding day as told by the writer's father.
7. The birth of the first child as told by the writer and the grandmother
8. The death of a grandparent as told by the writer and the grandparent's son/ daughter

And so on!

Pros of Changing Point Of Views

The main pro of changing points of view is that it makes for a far more interesting story. It reminds the writer and reader that their lives aren't lived in isolation. It also serves as a good way to highlight the 'circle of life' – that people's lives are linked to and sometimes dramatically similar to their parents and grandparents before them.

Cons of Changing Points of View

The most obvious con is that in writing this way the writer can begin to weave a confusing story and appear like they are just trying to be too clever and wacky. Something which turns many readers and critics off instantly. The other main con is that it is not the typical autobiography format. The point of an autobiography is that it is a factual story of the writer's life. Writing from other people's point of view risks turning an autobiography into a semi-fictional book. How to tackle this? Well the obvious way is to actually interview the people concerned so as to get an accurate and truthful story.

The Unchangeable Con

The con which the writer can do nothing about is that there will be many autobiography purists out there who dislike a book in this style being labelled an autobiography. If a writer really takes to this style, however, then they should not let this put them off. They just need to be prepared to sell sell sell in order to get a literary agent or publisher then let the marketing department do the rest.

Family Affair

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