When you decide to embark on a highly personal writing project in which the main focus is yourself, it can be a challenge to decide which format works best to express your individual journey. Both memoirs and autobiographies detail the life of the person writing them, but there are many elements—both obvious and subtle—that differentiate these forms. Below you’ll find a deep dive into each genre, as well as tips to help the writing process for whichever one you choose.

Autobiography
An autobiography typically covers the author’s entire life up to the point of writing. This includes childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and so on, and covers every aspect of these phases—both personal and professional (and public, if it applies). These stages of life are largely written in chronological order, with few, if any, instances of jumping around to different points in time.

The focus of an autobiography is largely factual, with the main aim being fairly objective in relaying the events that happened. Outside happenings are brought in only to provide historical context to better frame the author’s story. As a result, the writing style of an autobiography typically leans toward a more formal feel. The audience will want to know everything about what you did and why, explained in a factual but interesting way.

So what are some things to keep in mind in order to craft a well-plotted, engaging autobiography? Before you ever put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard), it might help to make an outline of important events that you want to include. This timeline will act as a guiding light as you move your way through your narrative years.

Seeing the moments connected like that can also help you transition between them to create a smooth sense of flow from one time period to the next. Be sure to highlight the major events that you definitely want included in your autobiography. Not all years will have something significant happen, and that’s OK. The key is to identify which moments were pivotal (with the benefit of hindsight, of course!) and take your time developing those.

You’ll also want to detail how those important events helped shape you as a person. This kind of character development should tie into the overall theme of your autobiography. What kind of message do you want to send through your book? What do you want your readers to walk away thinking or feeling? Is your story one of hope, resilience, inspiration? Or is it just a comedic escape, full of hilarious mishaps and a quirky family? Whatever it is, be sure the main message comes through.

Don’t forget about all of those supporting characters in your life. No person is an island, after all—the people around you have helped make you who you are, for better or for worse, and should make a meaningful appearance in the story of your life.

Memoir
A memoir tends to focus on a few carefully selected moments from the author’s life. It can take a much more creative approach than an autobiography, which means it can jump around to different points in time (similar to flashbacks and flash-forwards). While a memoir does include plenty of factual events and details, the main point of it is to convey memories and emotions from a highly personal perspective. That means the author is less concerned with factually recording what happened at point A and point B, and more concerned with how the journey between those two points made them feel and changed them as a person.

A memoir homes in on a particular focal point of an author’s life, which means the focal point can fall just about anywhere. Childhood, adulthood, awkward teen years—whatever period of your life you want to focus on is just fine for a memoir. There’s no expectation that you’ll cover everything. Instead, a few well-chosen moments are mined for emotional truth and authenticity to convey a larger theme to the audience.

There are a few things to keep in mind to craft an impactful, emotionally resonant memoir. First things first: figure out what event or events you want to focus on and why. What meaning do they have to you, and what meaning can you impart to your readers by sharing? Prepare yourself to be honest, even if it gets difficult. This applies to recording events as they actually happened, of course (although readers tend to be more forgiving of minor factual errors than they would be in, say, an autobiography), but also in terms of emotions. Your audience will intuitively know if you’re glossing over something or trying to offer trite lessons in place of authentic experiences.

Take the time to reflect on what happened, how it changed you as a person, and what it has meant to you moving forward. And while your personal, one-of-a-kind ordeal is uniquely about you, make sure you’re also offering something relatable to your readers. Just as with an autobiography, there needs to be some sort of overarching theme supporting your writing. While others may not have gone through exactly what you did, you can write about it in such a way that they can draw something from it that applies to them and their own lives.

Andrea Moran lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two kids. She’s a professional copywriter and editor who loves all things books. Find her on LinkedIn.