Why I Write Biographies
I am often asked why I write biographies for children. Since my favorite books are biographies, the answer is simple—because I like to read them. Every life has a story and nothing pleases me more than to curl up with book about someone I want to know more about. My favorite biographies are historical. I want to know about the times the person lived in and the choices they made in their lives.
I became fascinated with George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, after visiting the George Eastman House, in Rochester, New York. The grounds were gorgeous, the house was filled with beautiful furnishing, and an organ any church would be proud to own. From the docent I learned that George Eastman invented the word Kodak and it became his companies’ trademark. Then I went upstairs and viewed a display of Brownie cameras. The display mentioned a big camera give away that George Eastman sponsored. I remembered my grandmother telling me she had been given a Brownie camera, from her local camera shop, when she was twelve years old. I was hooked.
Fifty percent of the success of a biography depends on WHO you write about. The other fifty percent is having enough interesting material to make books appealing to young readers. It didn’t take me long to realized I had made a good choice. The archives at the George Eastman House and University of Rochester were filled material.
I spent six months gathering my research and compiling it in to lengthy typed notes (my script.) I cited my source on each page of my notes. Then I came up with my story in a sentence to keep me on tract while writing my manuscript. Two of Eastman’s quotes helped me create it.
George Eastman was determined to make is company, Eastman Kodak, “the largest manufacture of photographic material in the world” and he didn’t “believe in men getting ready to die “before using any of their money for helpful purposes.”
My next step was to organize my notes by chapters following a chronological time frame and develop a short outline. Then, I picked my hook chapter and began writing. I took me five months of research and three months of writing to complete my manuscript.
