The Biographer's Craft/Practical Advice on Gathering, Writing, Shaping and Polishing Biographical Material

by Milton Lomask

Tells how to select a subject, handle research and develop a style, describes different approaches to biography, and shows how to submit a manuscript

Genres: Writing

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Raised in Maquoketa, Iowa, Milton Nachman Lomask earned a BA in journalism at the University of Iowa. After working in a succession of newspaper jobs in Texas, St. Louis, New York City and Chicago, he earned an MA degree at Northwestern University in 1941. Lomask served in the United States Army's Chemical Warfare Service during World War II, after which he worked in advertising and publicity before quitting in 1950 to work full-time as a writer.

Reviews

[AFMasten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a few things I didn't know.
Joined BIO.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short book is helpful in small ways. Lomask has a decent popular style, although he's overly enamored of the one-sentence paragraph and the rhetorical question. Occasionally he gives questionable advice, such as when he suggests filling out a subject's early life with guesses concealed in the subjunctive (99). Lomask is best at incorporating the advice of other biographers; in fact, the reader is often left with the impression that he could have done better by reading Leon Edel and Catherine Drinker Bowen in the first place.

[Esther Bradley-detally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have evolved into a very busy creative writing . I have also moved so many times, I can't keep track. With each move, books get whittled down. Alas, Alack; i wish i could keep them all.

Last July I moved into a great place, "the Maid's Room," which has been remodeled and various creative people are scattered throughout. I put this book in the "to go" box, and I had been tenacious in lugging it around. I thought, "I'm never going to teach Biography," and off it went to my wonderful Yoga Divine Teacher Rachel. She held the books for several months.

Last year I taught someone who came up to me after the 6 week workshop was finished and told me of her interest in biography. I trot home and look into my postage stamp of a room and think, not here, oh dear. A few weeks ago, i went to yoga, asked for the books, and there it was.

Excellent book; i think my brain and perceptions caught up to it. M point is that some books have to sit and wait on their benches, and when the time comes, the book is invaluable. It's very good, and I have learned a lot; so kudos to Milton Lomask wherever he hangs out, and I hope he is still hanging out. That's the story Morning Glory: one small greenish book with yellowed pages, and my client is writing a very good biography.

[Patrick]

Prep for my next career...