Thursday, April 9, 2015

I am writing my Autobiography and I would like a suggested phrase or hook line that will make the start of my paper less dull. Could you please help me with a sentence and a creative title for my autobiography? I was born on November 9th, at the American British Cowdray Hospital in Mexico City. I came into this world on the same day as my great-grandfather and was named Guillermo Alberto. I am the fourth-generation to carry the name on my father’s side of the family. My nickname is Billy, but as I have gotten older, I prefer to be called Guillermo because I am proud of the tradition, history and family connections it carries

Writing your autobiography is a courageous undertaking! I understand that you would like some ideas about a title and a hook that will grab your reader's attention. I'll start with ideas for a creative title.
Titles are extremely important: it's the first thing the customer sees. How about Tall, Dark, and Gruesome by Christopher Lee? The title is a play on the "tall, dark, and handsome" trope. Now, "gruesome" is apt: Christopher Lee shot to fame by playing Dracula and Saruman (from the Lord of the Rings movies). With this title, Lee used a familiar trope to highlight what he was famous for.
Ideally, titles should solve a problem or answer a question. Try to use words that are guaranteed to arouse curiosity: sensational, miraculous, powerful, secret, ultimate, and inspirational are a few that come to mind. Most importantly, there is promise in a good title: it explains how your readers will benefit from the content they hold before them.
So, ask yourself: what are you known for? How would your friends and family describe your core principles? What will the themes of your autobiography be? Will it have a serious or humorous tone? Deciding on a central theme is crucial to coming up with an apt title for your book.
Sometimes, authors of autobiographies want to poke fun at themselves. Consider Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. However, from what I can see, your autobiography is more on the serious side. In your paragraph, you state that you prefer to be called Guillermo because you are proud of the tradition, history, and family connections behind the name. It looks like "tradition, history, and family connections" constitute the central themes of your autobiography. Here are two suggestions for a title, just to get started. They may or may not suit your tastes. What I'm doing here is to provide examples for the advice I gave above.
1) The Tale of Two Albertos, a play on Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. This takes into consideration that your nickname is Billy, but your full name has historical significance. You can take it a step further with The Tale of Two Albertos: The Untold Secrets Of My Heritage.
2) The Making Of A Man: The Ultimate Guide To The Real Alberto. This one is interesting. It causes a reader to wonder: Who is this Alberto, and why is he significant?
Now, on to some hooks for your book. The first sentence is extremely important, as you and I know. Here are some that you may find interesting:
'L'homme est né libre, et par-tout il est dans les fers' or "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du Contrat Social, 1762.
"Air-conditioned, odorless, illuminated by buzzing fluorescent tubes, the American supermarket doesn't present itself as having very much to do with nature." Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
"At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk." John Hersey, Hiroshima.
Two more suggestions about a hook:
1) Begin your story in the middle of an action. This could be a dialogue from the past/present or a flashback. Just make sure that the flashback or dialogue ties in to the significance of your name: Guillermo Alberto.
Here's an example from Let It Go: A True Story Of Tragedy and Forgivenessby Chris Williams. Williams begins his book with an introduction. In this introduction, he is talking to Tyler and Emily, a young couple, about the accident that killed his pregnant wife and two of his four children. For its part, the introduction centers on the aftermath of the accident. In Chapter One, it pivots to a flashback, to the time before the accident. This non-linear narrative creates tension and arouses the curiosity of readers.
Even though your autobiography is a school assignment, you can still take advantage of this method of story-telling.
2) Begin your story with a dilemma. Perhaps, it is a moral dilemma or a conflict between two parties. Whatever it is, your first line should create tension and arouse your reader's curiosity. What you're trying to do is to get your reader to wonder how this dilemma is connected to you.
Hope this helps. Good luck on your writing journey!
https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-moral-dilemmas-that-make-characters-stories-better

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