There is something about the biography, right? Our fascination with our own life is probably quite understandable. But we are also curious about the lives of others. More than curious, the biography is one of the most important categories in the publishing world and consumes endless hours of cable and television broadcasts. From A&E to the History Channel, we can’t seem to get enough bios. And, with the new technological tools available to us, personal and family history biographies are becoming more and more popular.

Our curiosity about the lives of others is not something that People magazine, cable television, and the paparazzi recently invented. Plutarch, writing about 100 years after Christ, wrote about 50 personal history biographies, comparing the lives of famous Greek and Roman identities. Plutarch Parallel lives it is still considered one of the greatest feats of biographical writing of all time; and in addition to being studied in ancient history courses, it is still sold by the thousands in general bookstores.

Although Plutarch wrote mainly about the rich and famous of the ancient world, he knew that the measure of a life was not the size of the deeds and achievements, but the moral value of that life. And the value of that life would likely be revealed by the personal details:

“It is not stories that I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice; in fact, a little thing like a phrase or a joke often makes a greater revelation of a character than the battles where thousands die. ” Plutarch Life of Alexander / Life of Julius Caesar

So, congratulations on taking the first step in creating your own personal history biography and joining a tradition that dates back thousands of years. The good news is that the preservation of his life story has come a long way since Plutarch and the scroll. The main options these days include written memoirs, audio memoirs, and video memoirs.

Write your memories

You can start writing your memoirs right away with a pen and notebook. It helps to map out some themes: a chronological approach (eg “grandparents”, “parents”, “growing up”, “school”, etc.) is often (but not always) better than a theme-based approach (eg , “family”, “friends”, “challenges”, etc. Ask your friends and family for suggestions on topics or stories, children in particular often have favorite stories that they want to preserve for their own children.

Some people start with a printed memory book that sets out questions and provides spaces for an answer. The challenge for a potential writer is to start with something. Because the writing is self-directed, procrastination is the biggest danger when creating a personal story biography in words. Writing can benefit you and is a great way to gather your thoughts on complex topics (as Samuel Johnson said, “I don’t know what I’m thinking until I write it”). But you must also find motivation in the eager eyes of your future readers. You are doing it more for them than for yourself.

Once written, it is a good idea to have a handwritten memo typed. (You can hire a typist for as little as $ 1.00 per page.) And, once typed, you can think about publishing your bio on your own. (“Blurb” and “Lulu” are two reputable online book publishers that allow you to load your material from a computer and print books for as little as $ 10.00 for a 5 “x8” softcover book, with one color cover.) Once published, be sure to keep your handwritten copy; her descendants will value her too, believe me.

Advantages of written reports: simple, immediate and timeless; the minimum of equipment, the maximum of information; can be printed.

Disadvantages of written reports: delay; handwriting can be difficult to read; it can be on stilts; not all subjects are sufficiently literate.

Record your life story by voice

Some people audio-record their personal history biographies. More often, however, life stories are compiled by a family member, friend, or even professional over several sessions using well-thought-out questions. The old method was to use dictaphones with those mini cassettes, or an old cassette player that one of the children used to play music back in the day. Now you can buy digital voice recorders for the same job. These recordings are often transcribed and, with a little editing, can be turned into written memoirs (see above).

The appeal of recording a voice over a written memory is that it captures something “alive” about the person: their voice, their accent, their laugh. When listening, it can feel like you are in the same room. Having listened to an audio recording, you get to know the person in a way that a written memory does not allow. The appeal for the topic may be that it is less work to answer audio questions than it is to spend time composing written memoirs.

But the audio recordings themselves have several problems. First, they are opaque. You cannot flip through an audio recording to find the part you like. As a result, they tend to stay stored in a drawer or an old shoe box. Second, the machines that play most of the old audio recordings are disappearing or simply stop working. So for these reasons, audiotapes may not be the best place for your personal history bio.

However, life stories recorded on tape can be edited and converted to CD with very good results. First, you need to digitize the audio on the tape (basically, you have to run a cable from the recorder’s headphone jack to your computer, then open your audio editing software to record it to your computer’s hard drive). Then you should listen to all the audio, and in your audio editing software, you can divide it into separate segments. The idea is to form clues for each of the stories separately. Then you bring all of those tracks to iTunes and create a set of audio CDs that can be played in the car or swiped for loading onto iPods (and all the other modern gadgets that so dazzle the younger generation). You can even schedule iTunes so that regardless of the computer you load the audio tracks on, the track names appear in the person’s playlist.

Advantages of audio memories: Personality reveals; easier for the subject; can be converted into tracks for iTunes.

Disadvantages of audio memories: It requires some experience to upload to a computer for editing; audio is often “locked” on legacy recording devices.

Video memories

The newest trend in personal history biography is video memoirs. It’s only been in recent years that technology has reached a point that makes video bio practical and affordable. And it is the most attractive form of biography of all the options.

Video memories are the closest thing we have to immortality. On video, you can capture stories as well as the personality of the subject. You can bring photos and music and all kinds of material to show life in all its facets. We’ve all seen “A&E” biographies; well, you can create them for yourself or for a loved one.

You will need a video camera and a lavalier microphone and a tripod is a good idea. Plus, you need a computer and simple (and free) video editing software to put everything in order. There are many websites that provide advice on how to combine all of that. There is certainly a steeper learning curve for video bio. You need to know something about video and video editing, which older people can learn, but it tends to be almost instinctive for younger generations! Once mastered, video memory is the true home of the biography of personal history.

Once made, the video memories can be embedded on a family website or blog or posted to a video hosting service like YouTube and viewed across the country and around the world. Families looking to pique the interest of their younger members find video bio a more accessible way to expose children to a personal history biography and introduce them to family history, remembering grandparents once have passed away.

Video memoirs are one area where professional help can make a big difference if you are unwilling to take on the project yourself.

Advantages of a video memory: Personality captures; the closest thing to immortality; it can be published on the web and appreciated by families around the world.

Disadvantages of a video memory: Technically the most challenging of all the bio options; professional help costs money.

Whichever option you choose, know that a personal history biography project will be one of the most important tasks you will take on. And, depending on the option you choose, you will achieve the wardrobe we have to immortality. Many of the lives in Plutarco we only really know from their biographies. With a little planning and a little determination, any of us can be the Plutarch of our families.