Writing assignment: 500 words on this topic, “Which is most important in writing dialogue from memory: accuracy, succinctness, or liveliness? Why?”
Writing an autobiography takes time, skill, and of course a lot of writing. But when you take the time and put in the effort, they can be great. When you don’t, they read like a cereal box. So, what makes an autobiography so good? Well, it depends on if they write it with accuracy, succinctness, or liveliness. These three make or break how an autobiography reads. Most of the time, what makes an autobiography so great is the stories that they hold.
I believe that the most important thing when writing from memory is accuracy. I believe accuracy is the most important because you need to get places, dates, and of course, dialogue correct. In Kourdakov’s book The Persecutor, it would be a completely different book if he didn’t get the details accurate. The events, places, and what happened were directly tied to the story itself. Without accuracy, he would have made the book a work of fiction. It would have been an unreliable account of what actually happened. The book would have been a self curated, biased account that served his perspective of events. However, the other two are also important.
The next important thing when writing an autobiography is succinctness. Writing accuracy is important, but in larger subjects such as conversations that can’t be fact checked, succinctness is the next best thing a writer can use. When writing with succinctness, it helps get the idea across. The writing style will let the reader know what is happening and why. Succinctness is a good way to get the most out of writing without becoming inaccurate. However, succinctness isn’t as great as accuracy. As I have stated before, it leaves holes in the story and may create an unfavorable look on the autobiography. Some historical aspects of autobiographies are very important, so having a combination of the two will lead to a good story with not too many missing pieces.
Finally, the third most important is liveliness. Without liveliness your book might seem dull, boring, or just an uninteresting book to read. In Jim Lehrer’s book, A Bus of My Own, he uses liveliness to spice up all of his stories. Even if he stretched the truth a little, it was a great way to make them interesting. A great example of this is when Lehrer tells the story of the time he peed his pants playing pinball. The story is funny, embarrassing, and makes the story feel more lively. Whoever is reading the book will feel more connected to him because of it. Stories like this make autobiographies more lively, which is very helpful.
When writing an autobiography it can become a time consuming process. It takes time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. But eventually, you will figure out a style that works best for you, whether it be accuracy, succinctness, or liveliness. Eventually, you will find what works best for you. It might be a little bit of everything.
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