When writing an autobiography or any book in general one of the most important things that must be done is keeping the readers interested. You must write things that will interest the reader, not just the things that interest you, to have a successful book. Throughout this year of English I have read many autobiographies, all of which were different in their own unique way. Sadly most of these autobiographies were not very successful in keeping “me”, the reader interested. Some were definitely worse at this than others. An example of an autobiography that kept me interested mostly throughout the whole book was Sergei Kourdakov’s autobiography The Persecutor. Because a lot of autobiographies I have read so far did not do a very great job at keeping the readers interested, how much better would these autobiographies be if the authors simply asked themselves the question “so what?” On this note how important really are the words, “so what” in an autobiography?
Like I mentioned above, the most important thing when writing a successful autobiography is keeping the readers interested. Most of the time when authors write autobiographies they usually write about things that interested them from their life, instead of writing about things that would interest the reader from the author’s life. The way to prevent this common mistake when writing an autobiography is by asking the simple “so what,” throughout the writing of the book. This question would enable the writer to think like the reader, or understand how the reader would feel while reading the autobiography.
In my opinion an autobiography would be much better if the author asked the question, “so what.” By keeping in mind the perspective of the reader by asking this question, an author would be able to write about details that actually interest the reader, instead of just interesting the author. The question “so what,” also helps the author grasp what is relevant, or not relevant for the narrative; also this question most likely will help the author write a more clear cut, organized, and entertaining autobiography, while still being relevant to the readers.
To answer the final question: how important are the words “so what?” In an autobiography? These two words are very important in an autobiography. This relates to the point above; to write a good autobiography the author must keep in mind if the writing is actually interesting or relevant to the reader.
In conclusion, writing an autobiography is a complex task, if I was ever to go through with it the thing I would keep in mind is the perspective of the readers, through the question, “so what?” Keeping the interest of the reader is one of the most important things when writing any kind of book, and this goes much with autobiographies. The question, “so what?” It itself is very Important when writing an autobiography and should not be neglected, or forgotten, if you were to write a successful autobiography.
The Dreamer 