Interview With Biographer Andrew Lownie
Advice from an Expert on How to Write a Biography
Jun 25, 2008
Suite 101 interviews Andrew Lownie, biographer and founder of The Biography Club, about his work as a biographer.
Suite101: How do you choose your biography subject?
I have written two biographies. I chose both John Buchan and Guy Burgess, though very different characters, for the same reasons – commercial subjects, fascinating lives , availability of some papers and no life of them for over thirty years. In both cases I felt they were complex characters misjudged by history but the narrative arc of each was very different – Buchan had a reasonably long life and it’s about his rise from a modest childhood to international success while Burgess’s story is how someone from a privileged background frittered his opportunities away and betrayed his contemporaries.
Suite101: Is there a biography or memoir you wish you had written?
There are several I still wish to write but am keeping the details to myself.
Suite 101: Once you have chosen a subject how do you begin your research?
One needs to produce the skeleton of the life so one starts with the secondary sources, such as books, and then primary ones such as newspaper articles, diaries, letters and interviews to try and tell the story chronologically. Each year and subject area – in Buchan’s case each of his hundred books - is given a file on my computer and also a file into which one can throw material one has collected.
I then write a first draft to see where more research or emphasis is required and check against the major sources that I haven’t missed anything. Biographies take on a life of their own so one begins to have a feel for what is important but it’s crucial to keep remembering the importance of narrative pace, giving historical context, characterization, setting the scene. The reader needs to have a sense of time, place and personality as in any book whether fiction or non-fiction.
Suite 101: What environment do you like to write in and are you a night time or day time writer?
I have a full time job and young family so have to sneak time when I can which means late nights and the odd day at archives but I much prefer immersing myself in a book full-time and with no distractions.
Suite 101: As a biographer have you ever considered writing an autobiography or memoir?
I have and realized other people’s lives are much more interesting than my own but my own experiences do shape my interpretation of other people’s lives.
Suite 101: How long does it take you to write a biography? Which takes longer - research or writing?
Research should always take longer. The Buchan took three years of research but I wrote it in six months and the Burgess has stretched over twenty years.
Suite 101: Whose life would you most like to write about and whose life would you definitely not want to tackle?
I write biographies to try and understand someone who interests me and choose subjects where one can play with the sympathies of the reader. I would never choose a subject where there were few records .
Suite 101: What one piece of advice would you give to anyone about to embark upon writing a biography?
Research thoroughly but don’t feel you have to put everything in. Less is sometimes more.
Andrew Lownie is the founder of The Biography Club, a club of around one hundred and fifty biographers, publishers, literary agents, journalists and film producers.
Andrew Lownie is also the author of John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier (published by David R. Godine ISBN 1567922368) and is currently writing the biography of the spy Guy Burgess.
Suite 101 also spoke to Andrew Lownie about his successful work as a literary agent.
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