Dona Munker: Writing a Biography

November 20, 2012 2:11 PM EST

Lovely work, Lucy!

- Beverly Gray

October 12, 2011 7:50 AM EDT

"Don’t let the subject try to take control of your project, even if this means you’ll get extra help."

Amen, and that includes the children of the subject. I was once intrigued by the prospect of writing about a famous architect and his strong-minded wife, both deceased. Their personal and business papers were in an archive and open to researchers. When I approached their son, whom I already knew, and sounded him out to see if he would co-operate, he assured me that he would--provided I gave him a share in the advance and the royalties! I explained politely that it didn't work that way and went on look for another subject.

- Dona

October 12, 2011 10:06 AM EDT

It is not just a legal obligation to tell someone that you are taping a call but an ethical one as well. I will check but I think in California you have to get prior permission to tape a call, not just inform someone.

- Nevin

October 12, 2011 10:35 AM EDT

Important issue. Anything else? What's the situation in New York, Chicago, London, etc.?

- Dona Munker

October 12, 2011 10:59 AM EDT

You should always inform an interview subject that you are recording them, but on the ethical question, I have a different opinion. You are recording the call in order to quote or check a comment they made, save both your own and their time, and avoid the distraction of taking notes. It will also avoid the issue of people claiming you misquoted or misinterpreted what they said. Having the evidence protects both you and them.

- Les

October 12, 2011 11:01 AM EDT

You asked for links on how to know how to record a phone interview. This is handy:
Can We Tape? A Practical Gide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C. (Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press
http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states.html

You may find helpful tips here:
http://www.patmcnees.com/work6.htm#bookmark9

Pat McNees
Writers and Editors
www.writersandeditors.com
www.patmcnees.com

- Pat McNees

October 12, 2011 12:22 PM EDT

Very helpful. Thanks to both of you.

- Dona Munker

October 19, 2011 12:50 AM EDT

Most consummate... Very insightful.

Haven't read the Ron Howard book (but it's on my list!), however, I found the Corman one to be one of most enthralling of film maker biographies.

- St. Keith

April 09, 2012 10:32 AM EDT

I don't tape; I type. During many years as a staff newspaper writer, I cradled the phone on my neck and typed as the source spoke. Now, mindful of the stress this puts on the neck, I use a lightweight Panasonic headphone (be sure your landline phone has the requisite outlet). Whenever I think a "query" call may result in an instant interview, I wear the headphone. Otherwise, I just take rapid handwritten notes -- another skill I picked up as a journalist. People tend to speak freely when you don't have to raise the specter of taping.

- Cathy Curtis

July 30, 2011 9:16 PM EDT

I agree, and not just about the master's advice: Writers are told so often that they "must" write every day that many people come to feel that if they don't, they aren't "real" writers.

For me, writing evidence-based narrative, which requires constantly going back and forth between my research and the computer screen, is so mentally fatiguing that I'm more productive if I don't write every day. I know biographers who do, but the important thing is whether you're getting done all the "chopping wood, carrying water" that you need to do.

I'd love to hear from other people on this important question. What's your writing routine? Do you work best if you write every day, or have you found that some other way works better for you?

- Dona Munker

August 02, 2011 9:19 PM EDT

I wish I could get organized enough to HAVE a writing routine! I plan well, but some days some things take forever. Other days things move right along. There are so many aspects to a biography, compared to a work of fiction, that it is sometimes hard for me to concentrate on what must be done first.

- Sybilla Cook

August 03, 2011 7:44 AM EDT

I know what you mean. Not only do they take forever, they always take longer than I think they should. Not to mention, I have a strong tendency to do what I enjoy instead what I "should" do. What do other people do to prioritize?

- Dona

August 03, 2011 8:41 AM EDT

Sybilla makes a great point - it's hard to keep hold of all the strands in a big nonfiction work (I'm not a biographer, but I write/edit nonfiction).

One thing that helped me with a big project was to buy a monthly at-a-glance planner that let me look at an entire month on a double-page spread. I then filled in tasks - first the writing schedule, keyed to the deadline. Then the tasks that had to be done to support that schedule (researching certain topics,interviewing certain people), and when those things would need to be done to be ready for certain chapters to be drafted. I worked in pencil so I could erase it. And I used colors, so "research" was in green, "writing" was in red, and so on. I even X'ed out time off. I could see where tasks overlapped; where things got too overlapped and would need to be spread out more over time, etc.

I'm sure this could be done in an Excel file or some digital form; I just felt more comfortable with hard copy. There might be ways to adapt this to biography - anyway, hope it helps.

- Toni Sciarra Poynter

August 03, 2011 10:48 AM EDT

In terms of prioritizing tasks, during one hot summer in the Midwest, the garden got away from my wife. She despaired of all the weeding that needed to be done. I took a piece of twine about ten feet long, and put a stake on either end. Keeping one end staked in the middle of the garden, I told her to move the string like a clock hand and only weed the equivalent of ten minutes on a clock face every day. In less than a week, by spending a little time each day, the garden was perfect again.

I think when we look at a creative project in its entirety, the job seems overwhelming. Where to begin? What would make a difference? Just move the string every day— work on some segment. As my Mexican-American wife Guadalupe says, "Poco a poco— little by little" it will get done.

- Charles J. Shields

August 04, 2011 7:59 AM EDT

I am writing fiction so there is less research. I find that If I can sit down to write as soon as the morning chores are dealt with I tend to do well. If other things intrude it can be hard to start. I keep a notepad of things to research next to me. When I am having a hard time writing, I do some research. That can get the juices flowing.

- Nevin M

August 04, 2011 8:41 AM EDT

Fiction or nonfiction, if I start doing something else in the morning before I get to the computer, I tend to keep on doing it, because inertia takes over.

Staying mindful helps. I will dig out and post a list of things to do I once devised for preventing something called "homeostasis," of which I have a lot. :)

- Dona

August 09, 2011 4:04 AM EDT

These comments are so helpful! I've been beating myself up all week because I can't seem to get back to writing the biography I'm working on after going great guns all last week. I've been seeing this as some sort of personal failing.

Knowing that others have the same problem is such a relief! And that it's okay to turn to some other aspect of the project--like compiling a list of agents/editors to send a query to, which is what I plan to do today.

So thanks, all!

- Joan Kane Nichols

August 09, 2011 7:05 AM EDT

I don't think "not getting back to it after I was doing so well all last week" (or yesterday, or last month) is necessarily a problem. It may be just a necessary recovery period.

A lot of the work of writing is done by and in the unconscious mind. But nonfiction writers tend to think it's all "rational"--you just pull out your research and start tooting along. Writing any narrative is always hard, demanding work, and in my experience, when I go "great guns" for a day or a week, I'll almost certainly not write as well for at least a day or two after that. To be honest, sometimes I'll spend a day or two doing things that have nothing to do with the book (like writing a blog post!). That's why Charles Shields' advice strikes me as so wise.

Sometimes there is a problem that needs addressing--maybe one of time management, or maybe the writer is trying to avoid something in the story (or the research) itself. But those problems usually form a pattern you can identify and start to deal with--they don't show up as a normal "Now I need some recovery time" week.

- Dona