How to Write Someone Else’s Story: A Complete Guide

Practical Steps for How to Write Someone Else’s Story

Writing someone else’s story isn’t just about recording facts. It’s about capturing their voice, experiences, and truth in a way that feels authentic to them while engaging readers. 

Here are the practical techniques I’ve learned to help you tell someone else’s story effectively.

Understanding Your Subject and Establishing Trust

Trust isn’t optional when writing someone else’s story. After watching my first biography subject shut down halfway through the interview, I learned the lesson the hard way when I asked about family relationships too directly. So now I always start with the informal sit-down—with no tape recorder, no notes—just a mere discussion of the project boundaries and subject’s fears.

People tell meaningful stories when they know the process. Before publication, I clarify how I’ll use their information, who may read it, and their review rights. This transparency, one of the key biography writing tips, has consistently resulted in more in-depth conversations. One memoir client shared childhood experiences she’d never spoken about publicly until we established ground rules.

Before conducting formal interviews, I read enough to show interest without overstepping boundaries. Following memoir writing best practices, I review public social media, previous interviews or publications, and conversations with approved mutual connections, which provide valuable context. Rather than lists of questions, I prepare areas of discussion that allow the conversation to flow naturally. The best content comes from the most unlikely recollections that surface when someone feels heard.

Research and Information Gathering

When mastering how to write someone else’s story, thorough research becomes your foundation. I always tape-record with permission and ask questions about feelings rather than facts. Primary sources, such as letters and photos, fill in the gaps of the past. For a musician’s memoir, old concert posters triggered stories that he never discussed with us in conversation.

I organize information chronologically and identify turning points for narrative structure as it grows. This ghostwriting guide principle helps me when writing a personal narrative for someone else.

Fact-checking is important. People often condense or rearrange memories. While writing a family history, I learned that my subject had merged his memories from several childhood homes into one. Verification from records returned the correct timeline while not detracting from the emotional reality of their life.

Crafting a Compelling Narrative

Finding the proper structure makes someone’s life story sing. I rarely stick with chronological order. For an entrepreneur’s memoir, organizing around business principles rather than timeline created a more impactful narrative. Look for turning points that change your subject’s direction to build narrative tension.

Raw interview transcripts need shaping to hold readers’ interest. Using storytelling techniques for biographies, I look for key scenes that reveal character, then flesh them out with sensory details. When writing about a chef, recreating the sights and smells of his grandmother’s kitchen proved to work better than simply stating its influence on him.

Voice authenticity requires immersion. I study interview recordings for unique phrases and speech patterns. A client used sailing metaphors at every turn in our conversation, and adding them to his memoir made it genuinely his, not mine. The goal isn’t perfect imitation but capturing essence while maintaining readability.

Writing the First Draft

Staring at a blank page can be incredibly daunting when writing someone else’s story. I never start at the beginning. Instead, I write the scenes I feel most confident about first, regardless of their place in the narrative (it could be the ending). This helps me build momentum and establish a voice before tackling the trickier sections of the memoir.

Not everything quoted should be included. I select ones that reveal character or advance the story in ways narration cannot. For a recent memoir, I used my subject’s exact words about her cancer diagnosis because her phrasing carried emotional weight that no paraphrase could match.

When I am stuck, I turn back to the interview recordings. Hearing my subjects’ voices reconnects me with their perspectives. While writing, I document their distinctive phrases and perspectives to ensure authenticity without mimicking their exact speaking style, which rarely works well on the page.

Revisions and Feedback

The real magic happens during revision. Understanding how to write someone else’s story includes knowing when to step back from your draft and return with fresh eyes. This helps me spot voice inconsistencies and narrative problems I couldn’t see while writing.

Feedback transforms good drafts into great ones. I share early versions with a small circle of people who understand the project goals. For a medical memoir, I added writers and health professionals to the feedback circle and gained perspectives that were otherwise impossible for me to see.

When sharing drafts with your subject, prepare them by explaining that changes are normal. Most focus on factual corrections rather than style, which works perfectly. One client insisted on rewriting sections herself, but I gently refocused her on identifying content concerns while preserving our established voice.

Final polishing means scrutinizing every word choice and reading sections aloud to catch awkward phrasing. I’ve rarely regretted cutting content but often wished I’d been more concise.

Final Thoughts: Honoring the Subject’s Story

Writing someone else’s story requires building trust, conducting thorough research, organizing a compelling narrative, and revising carefully. Tools like Meminto can help you collect and preserve meaningful memories with structure and purpose throughout this process. When someone entrusts you with their life story, you are responsible for accurately representing their experiences.

Are you ready to help someone preserve their experiences? Do it with empathy and patience. You can write powerful stories only when you understand events from your subject’s perspective.