Bio of my Deceased Brother

nickyswriting · Jun 14, 2005

Hi all,

Recently my brother was killed in Iraq. He was a brave, compassionate, unique man. He was a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and more. Everyone he met always remembered him, and he would help anyone.

Anyway, I am thinking of writing a biography of his life, which is filled with hardship, trauma, and triumph.

I have only written e-books, articles, essays, and business materials. How would I go about this? I know interviewing family and friends would help, but I'm just not sure of any of this.

Any advice or resources for me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

awatkins · Jun 14, 2005

Nicky, I'm so very sorry to hear about your brother. My thoughts are with all of you. :Hug2:

~ Anne

nickyswriting · Jun 14, 2005

Oh, thank you, Anne! That's very sweet.

awatkins · Jun 14, 2005

Nicky, if you don't mind, what branch of the military was he in?

nickyswriting · Jun 14, 2005

I don't mind at all.

He spent 4 years in the Army, and then about 6 in the National Guard. Why do you ask?

awatkins · Jun 14, 2005

Just wondering.

My brother was a hard core Jarhead--a Marine all the way! He passed away last November (multiple health problems due to exposure to Agent Orange).

Good luck with your book! I'm sure it will be a wonderful way to honor your brother.

Best,

Anne

nickyswriting · Jun 14, 2005

My condolences for your loss as well. :Hug2:

Thanks, I may need that good luck!

aka eraser · Jun 14, 2005

I want to pass along my condolences too. (To you as well Anne.)

I wish I had some advice but I'm from the simple "just tell the story" school of writing. Good luck with it.

Chesher Cat · Jun 14, 2005

nickyswriting said:
Hi all,

Recently my brother was killed in Iraq. He was a brave, compassionate, unique man. He was a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and more. Everyone he met always remembered him, and he would help anyone.

Anyway, I am thinking of writing a biography of his life, which is filled with hardship, trauma, and triumph.

I have only written e-books, articles, essays, and business materials. How would I go about this? I know interviewing family and friends would help, but I'm just not sure of any of this.

Any advice or resources for me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Sympathy all around on this thread. Really sorry to hear about your losses.

Nicky, you need to do some thinking on what type of book you want to write. A biography or perhaps a tribute, something for his kids to hold as they grow up? Since your grief is probably pretty fresh right now you might try just writing down your own thoughts and memories as they come to you and have conversations with family and friends and note the stories that they tell you. Once you have some of that down you'll be surprised to find that the book (and maybe even your brother) will start telling you how it wants to be written.

Best of luck with the project - I'm sure it will be a beautiful tribute.

TashaGoddard · Jun 15, 2005

My condolences on your loss (and to Anne too).

I'm afraid I don't really have any advice for writing this kind of book, but Chesher Cat's suggestions sound very useful.

Good luck with it and I hope you manage to create a lovely book to remember your brother with and to celebrate his life and courage.

nickyswriting · Jun 15, 2005

Thanks so much to everyone for their condolences, as well as some great advice! I was thinking the same thing about talking to family and friends and seeing where I could go from there. I guess I just needed someone to say the same thing. I dunno.

Thank you all so much! It's very appreciated!

mdmkay · Jun 15, 2005

I wanted to add my condolences. As for the book, taking notes and getting interviews while things are still fresh in your families minds is a good thing. However, as far as the writing goes you may want to wait until your heart has some time to heal a bit before actually writing the book. It is a grand idea but you will need a little distance before writing it so it doesn't turn into some grandiose story of adulation and not a story of heart warming real human being (does that make sense to you). At this time all you want to remember is the really great stuff but to make it really a tribute you have to make him human as well who at times was scared, lonely, and even made a few mistakes. I'm not dissing your brother what-so-ever, its the ability to overcome those human fraility to become the man he was that makes him amazing.

nickyswriting · Jun 15, 2005

Thanks, mdmkay. Your advice makes perfect sense. He was a great, brave man, yet he was also stubborn and a procrastinator. I will be adding the good and the bad. He had some trauma in his life, but overcame it all with the help of my dad and mom who adopted him. (He's technically my nephew). It's going to be a long story with tributes, sadness, triumphs, successes, and more.

Growing up with him I remember times when he was scared, sad, happy, getting into trouble. I remember a lot that others in my family do not even know about. It will not just be a tribute, it will be a bio of a man's life, coming of age and alll of that, too.

See, now I'm already getting started! = ) Thank you all for your help!

Thank you for your advice!!

AdamMac · Jun 20, 2005

Nicky. My condolences. It's awkward to talk about the mechanics of publishing at a time like this, for fear of sounding crass, but ...

Who do you plan to write the book for? Is it mainly for family and friends? Personal therapy? They're all valid reasons to write a book.

But I think your book could contain a very important message that should, and would, reach a wider audience. I'm not implying any specific message. That's up to you. You potentially have very powerful subject material. It may be uncomfortable to think about agents and rights, etc., now but I would suggest you do just that. If well-done, I think you can sell this book with a synopsis and three sample chapters. This is a very important topic and at precisely the most important time. You may be able to negotiate the amount of time you want to write it after selling it.

Have you thought about interviewing his army buddies, commanders, high school friends to create a memorable work of narrative non-fiction? Narrative non-fiction, a term that seems to immediately spark interest among agents, includes books such as The Perfect Storm, Black Hawk Down or Seabiscuit.

My advice may be completely invalid, depending on what you want to do with the book and, most importantly, the story itself. At first glance, I think you have several serious options though.

Adam

nickyswriting · Jun 20, 2005

Adam Mac said:
Nicky. My condolences. It's awkward to talk about the mechanics of publishing at a time like this, for fear of sounding crass, but ...

Who do you plan to write the book for? Is it mainly for family and friends? Personal therapy? They're all valid reasons to write a book.

But I think your book could contain a very important message that should, and would, reach a wider audience. I'm not implying any specific message. That's up to you. You potentially have very powerful subject material. It may be uncomfortable to think about agents and rights, etc., now but I would suggest you do just that. If well-done, I think you can sell this book with a synopsis and three sample chapters. This is a very important topic and at precisely the most important time. You may be able to negotiate the amount of time you want to write it after selling it.

Have you thought about interviewing his army buddies, commanders, high school friends to create a memorable work of narrative non-fiction? Narrative non-fiction, a term that seems to immediately spark interest among agents, includes books such as The Perfect Storm, Black Hawk Down or Seabiscuit.

My advice may be completely invalid, depending on what you want to do with the book and, most importantly, the story itself. At first glance, I think you have several serious options though.

Adam

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your advice. Don't fear sounding crass...this is why I'm asking for advice. I will be interviewing his army buds if they allow me to. They all think very highly of him. I will be interviewing my mom and dad who raised him since he was 9, my sisters and anyone else I feel could contribute memories that I don't know about or remember. He was 5 years older than I.

I plan to write the book for the reasons you mentioned, but I also feel that it would be a great insight into not only a great soldier, but an amazing human as well.

I've been trying to write an auto for about 5 yrs. now with no success. So, I think maybe writing about my brother and best friend will help me get through my fears of facing my own personal past and I'll be able to write that...finally.

I was wondering if I should just write the whole thing, then find an agent or publisher, or if I should just write a synopsis, then find an agent or publisher. What do you think is my best option? I'm not too familiar with this area of publishing, I've only self-published ebooks.

Thanks for all your help!

(Sorry for my misspellings and such, I am really tired and lazy right now) =)

AdamMac · Jun 20, 2005

Nicky,

I sold a book on the war on terrorism last year based on three partial chapters, a query letter and a half-page of biographical information. That was through an agent though. The publisher gave me a year to write it. I ended up turning it down, however, as the money wasn't enough to live on for a year and take the several required international trips. The book was intended as narrative non-fiction and would have taken a great deal more research.

Some people on this board have a lot more experience than me in so maybe somebody else will jump in here. But I would suggest you go the same route. Prepare a few chapters, a scintillating query letter, then look for an agent.

If you message me your e-mail address, I can send you the whole package that I used to get an agent. I just moved and my home computer is packed still with all my furniture so it may take me some days to send it though. I sent it to six agents and four of them accepted it within 24 hours. My e-mail address is [email protected]

Adam

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