Autobiography question

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shrimp

shrimp

Senior Member
#1
Aug 28, 2011
1,188
39
48
#1
I have been chewing on writing my autobiography for a while and there is only one issue keeping me from doing so.
Childhood sex abuse and other traumas. Should they be included? How can I write about it in a way that doesn't make people want to vomit while still not taking away from the horribleness too much?
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#2
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
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#2
Ummmm... There is no way to write about in a way that won't make people want to barf. Nor is there a way to disguise the horribleness of it. Write about it as it happened, what you felt then, how you feel now. How you dealt with it then, versus how you're dealing with it now. Tell about how you got through it. Tell how it changed you into who you are today. Auto-biographies are written to be informative, not necessarily "pretty"..


shrimp said:
I have been chewing on writing my autobiography for a while and there is only one issue keeping me from doing so.
Childhood sex abuse and other traumas. Should they be included? How can I write about it in a way that doesn't make people want to vomit while still not taking away from the horribleness too much?
Click to expand...
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#3
#3
shrimp said:
I have been chewing on writing my autobiography for a while and there is only one issue keeping me from doing so.
Childhood sex abuse and other traumas. Should they be included? How can I write about it in a way that doesn't make people want to vomit while still not taking away from the horribleness too much?
Click to expand...
Look into writing a memoir instead. You don't have to tell absolutely everything. You just tell what you want and how you remember it. (Versus requiring every single detail of exactly how it happened.)

And heads up, no matter which way you choose to do this. The first thing you'll want to learn is how to write it. The how-to teaches you what to include and how without the need to expose the reader into the visuals completely. (Suggesting the visuals works just as deeply without traumatizing others, if you learn how to do that.)
 
shrimp

shrimp

Senior Member
#4
Aug 28, 2011
1,188
39
48
#4
I'm not sure that a memoir is for me. I have a LOT to tell and I don't to focus on just one part of my life. I really want to show how God was there guiding me through it all amd I have some pretty cool experiences too. It isn't a tragedy even though tragic things happened.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#5
#5
shrimp said:
I have been chewing on writing my autobiography for a while and there is only one issue keeping me from doing so.
Childhood sex abuse and other traumas. Should they be included? How can I write about it in a way that doesn't make people want to vomit while still not taking away from the horribleness too much?
Click to expand...
Don't write about the act. Write about how it affected you and how you have been overcoming it. Also, it only has to be included if you are comfortable with it. Just because you're writing an autobiography doesn't mean you have to include every detail.
 
JosephsDreams

JosephsDreams

Senior Member
#6
Dec 31, 2015
4,313
467
83
#6
You have to ask yourself why you are writing your biography. If the answer points to you including that info, then by all means do so.
 
shrimp

shrimp

Senior Member
#9
Aug 28, 2011
1,188
39
48
#9
Thanks everyone for the help. I will get started on it then.
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

Banned
#10
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#10
One of the requirements we made of each person in our program was to write an autobiography. Frankly, usually only voyeurs care much about the actual "details." The important thing tor clinical evaluation (and this is how you will need to learn to look at it for it to really do you much good) is "how" you express yourself in relation to things in your past.
 
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