Can a memoir be written in third person

Third person bio generator
First-person autobiography example
Is a memoir written in past tense

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In the world of submitting to literary magazines, a short third-person biography is required. What if like me, you’re starting out with few, if any, qualifications to your authorly name? What if, like me, you’re unsure of how to promote yourself? Let me help.

Alyssa Bushell is a flash fiction addict and mystery novelist from Southern Ontario. She has spent hours trawling the internet for tips on and examples of author bios. Her own short bio appears in such literary publications as Ellipsis Zine, Leon Literary Review, and Reckon Review. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her near water with her nose in a book, a coffee in hand, and some sort of pastry nearby. Connect with her @WritesAly

The above is an example of a 75-word biography that, while admittedly tongue-in-cheek, accomplishes the two fundamental goals:

It tells you who I am.
It tells you why you’ll be interested in what I have to say.

That is precisely the point of your author bio. Give your readers a sense of who you are, lend credibility to your writing, and arouse interest in your work.

I’ve curated a few su

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Writing an Autobiography in Third Person

Writing an autobiography is an intimate endeavor that invites individuals to reflect on their lives, experiences, and personal growth. Traditionally, autobiographies are narrated in the first person, allowing the author to directly share their thoughts and feelings with the reader. However, there exists an alternative approach that adds a layer of detachment and objectivity to the narrative: writing an autobiography in the third person. This essay will explore the nuances, advantages, and challenges of adopting a third-person perspective in autobiographical writing.

Understanding Third-Person Perspective

In literature, perspective refers to the point of view from which a narrative is presented. The three primary perspectives are first person, second person, and third person.

First person perspective involves narrating the story using pronouns such as “I,” “me,” and “my,” providing a direct window into the narrator’s thoughts and experiences. Second person perspective addresses the reader as &#

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The Querent

What was there to do with a newsletter besides the updating of readers on new publications and classes? This question has been on my mind for several years, going back to when Substack approached me about the possibility of writing a paid newsletter four years ago. I didn’t do it at the time as I didn’t want to begin without an idea—didn’t want to write one of those blogs that eventually petered out because the work was unpaid. I have an older TinyLetter newsletter—I have always liked the idea of letters—and I kept that going for a few years, and it even helped generated my first essay collection. But I eventually abandoned it, as many folks did, mostly as I kept writing what were effectively essays for no pay.

But for much of the last year I have been thinking about memoir and autofiction, specifically through the lense of Patricia Lockwood’s Nobody Is Talking About This and J. M. Coetzee’s Scenes From Provincial Life, thoughts born from the Shipman classes I taught in 2023. I had been interested in the idea of a third person memoir ever since meeting Salman R