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Dr. Maricon C.

Viduya
K to 12 Training June 1-3, 2017
 A profile is not a biography or autobiography.
 500 to 2000 words
 Published in magazines and newspapers
 It is a biography sketch, providing details of the
person’s character, an overview of the person’s life
story, and highlights of the person’s achievements
and accomplishments.
 The profile answers the question “Who is this
person?”
 A profile is not a book-length biography, which is
an in-depth description of the life and times of
another person.
 The profile is not a book-length autobiography,
which involves writing about one’s own life.
 The profile is usually only a few pages and
published in magazines or newspapers as an
essay.
The writer can profile a stranger or someone
he/she knows well.
The writer can also profile someone ordinary,
such as a teacher, or priest, or police officer,
or someone extraordinary
 Sometimes the profile is about the good guy.
 The writer profiles a person who wants to achieve or
accomplish something worthy.
 Perhaps the amateur athlete dreams about winning a gold
medal at the Olympics, or the starving artist desires to
achieve fame and fortune.
 The writer aspires to write the next bestseller.
 Some profiles are about “the villain.”
 In the September 24th, 2012 edition of the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell writes a
profile about child molesters called “In Plain View: How Childe Molesters Get
Away with It”
 In the essay, Gladwell narrates two stories about pedophiles, to illustrate how the
sexual predator uses “trust” to create the opportunity to abuse a child.
 The writer will include details about the person’s private life, psyche, and public
world.
 The inner world deals with the person’s thoughts, feelings, opinions,
views of other people.
 In writing about the outer world, the writer identifies some of the
important setbacks and obstacles, as well as the significant accomplishments and
achievements.
 If the writer knows the person, the writer will rely
on memory and observation and personal
experience to write the profile.
 If the writer doesn’t know the person, the writer will
conduct research, interview the person and his/her
friends, family, and work-associates, visit various
places where the person works, lives, socializes,
observe the person in their daily life (at work and at
play), reading books, articles, and other material on
the person.
 Unfortunately, people perform many roles, such as
husband, breadwinner, parent, and so the writer
will not be able to write a complete profile.
 No matter how much research the writer completes,
the writer will never know the person completely,
because people have darks sides they don’t share
and personalities traits that aren’t always revealed.
 A good profile includes telling details, dialogue, and
storytelling.
 The writer will also use scene, summary, and personal
reflection.
 A good profile is also interesting, profiles someone new,
encourages the reader to think more about the person.
 A good profile informs, educates, and entertains readers.
 Some profiles have a serious tone, and other have a
humorous tone.
 The good profile of a public person answer several questions,
including:
1. Why is the writer profiling the person?
2. What is unique about the person?
3. What is significant about the person?
4. What are the person’s achievements or accomplishments?
5. What obstacles or setbacks did the person have to overcome?
6. Why is the person in the news or public consciousness?
7. Does the writer likes the person? Dislike the person? Why?
1. Cradle-to-Current Profile
It is a profile about the person’s entire life, up to
the present. The writer invests a great deal of time in
researching, writing, and fact checking.
2. Niche Profile
It is a profile that is 1,000 words or less, and can be written
in a short period of time.
The writer composes a profile about someone in the news.
This type of profile includes relevant background information.
For instance, if the writer is crafting a profile about a
person who won a Pulitzer for Literature, the writer would include
education and previously published works.
But biography details about place of birth and early
education would not be relevant.
Instead the writer focuses on “telling details.”
3. Paragraph Profile
This type of profile is brief, providing essential details
about accomplishments or achievements, and the person’s
significance to the story.
It is a paragraph or two, and part of a larger story.
 Begin by searching the Internet to find out what
else has been written about the person.
 Start by completing a Google search.
 By reading what other writers have written, you can
obtain a general sense of the person, such as their
level of education, work accomplishments, interests,
tastes, reason for being in the news.
 Interview the person you are profiling and other
people who know the person, such as friends and
family.
 As well, interview subject matter experts.
 For instance, to get related information about being
a stunt pilot, writer Annie Dillard collected quotes
from a pilot who as a crop duster
Some suggested questions to be asked during an interview with the
subject
 What are the events or moments that shaped your life?
 What are your biggest accomplishments and achievements?
 What are you afraid of?
 What is your biggest regret?
 What setbacks or obstacles have you faced?
 What motivates you?
 What are your fears and worries?
 What do you value?
 Observe the person at work or in their natural habitat
 For instance, before Anne Dillard wrote, “Stunt Pilot,” a
profile about a stunt pilot. She watched the, Dave Rahm, the
pilot fly his plane.
 She writes:”Rahm did everything his plane could do:
tailspins, four-point rolls, flat spins, figure eights, snap rolls,
and hammerheads.” (You can read this profile in Creative
Nonfiction: A Guide to Form, Content, and Style with
Readings by Eileen Pollack)
If the person is deceased, you can
sometimes uncover their inner world of
the person by reading their diaries,
journals, letters, Facebook profiles and
other social media.
 Immerse yourself in the experience. Before writing the
sketch about Dave Rahm, the stunt pilot, Dillard immersed
herself in the experience of flying by taking a seat in the
plane and flying as Rahm’s passenger.
 She writes: “Later I flew with Dave Rahm; he took me
up…We flew from a bumpy grass airstrip near the
house…We were over the clouds at five hundred feet and
inside them too…”
If the person is a well-known public figure,
you can read a biography about the person.
If the person has written their own
autobiography, make sure you read it.
How do you know when to stop
researching? You must continue to research
until you have sufficient “telling details” to
write a profile that’s compelling.
Your goal is to create a revealing, interesting,
and entertaining profile.
 Many of the best profiles are written as narratives
 The writer crafts true story involving a central
character.
 For instance, Charles Simic, In “Dinner at Uncle
Boris,” profiles his uncle, writing a story about a
dinner conversation.
 Annie Dillard, in “The Stunt Pilot,” profiles a pilot
flying a stunt plane.
Structure
 Structure the profile using the narrative arc. It
includes:
Inciting incident
Conflict, such as setbacks or obstacles
Turning point and climax
Resolution or end of the story
Developing Character
 To reveal character, use the fictional methods of characterization. These include:
Dialogue. Use interviews or immersion to capture interesting quotes of the
person you are profiling. Use these quotes in your profile.
Description of Appearance. Observe the person you are writing about.
Make note of their physical appearance, including hair style, clothing, gestures,
hygiene, and so forth. Use concrete, particular, significant details to describe the
person.
Dramatic action. Show what the person does, their actions and reactions, in
the narrative.
 Point of View
Use both the first person POV(“I”) and third person (“he/she”).
For instance, in the profile “The Stunt Pilot,” Dillard uses third-
person POV to write the narrative of the pilot flying in the sky,
performing his daredevil stunts, and to provide narrative summary.
She begins: “Dave Rahm lived in Bellingham, Washington, north
of Seattle…Dave Rahm was a stunt pilot.”
She shifts to first person POV (“I”) to share personal reflections
about the stunt pilot.
 Vivid Descriptions
To reconstruct setting and events and people,
use sensory details, writing descriptions of what
you see, hear, smell, taste, touch.
Don’t include every detail. Instead use “telling
details.” These are concrete, significant, particular
details, which reveal deeper meaning than their
descriptions.
 Facts not Fiction
Don’t fabricate dialogue or events. This is writing fiction. As
well, complete fact-checking.
 Writing Style
Follow the advice of experts found in style or writing guide
books
 Revision
The first draft is never your best work. Always revise the draft,
completing a macro-edit (structure, tone, elements of fiction, POV) and
micro-edit (grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, sentence
patterns).
 Select a person to profile, and then begin with an interesting
question you want to answer. If you are going to profile someone
you know, mine your memory, observe the person in real life, and
write about some significant event.
(In Dillard’s profile, she answers “what it is like to be a stunt
pilot?”)
If the person is unknown, collect your material by researching
the person.
 Before interviewing, have a list of open-ended questions you
want to ask. These require the person being interviewed to respond
with more than just “yes” or “no.”
 After doing the research, decide on an approach. How are you
going to begin? With a scene? With a quotation? With a question?
Before writing, outline your story. making a list of all the important
points you want to write about.
 Always focus on what is significant or compelling. What is
surprising? What is important? Any secrets? Oddities? Peculiarities?
Contributions to society? What is their legacy?
 Show and tell your reader. You tell the reader by explaining and
summarizing. You show the reader by writing in scenes. For any
significant event, write a scene.
 Include dialogue. A good profile includes dialogue, revealing some personality
trait.
 Include telling details. A good profile includes vivid description, revealing some
personality trait.
 Don’t create one-dimensional portraits or profiles. Every person has a dark
side. Every person has attributes you don’t admire. Share these telling details with
the reader.
 Your subject is living an epic. In other words, the profile fits into a larger story
about life. Consider the larger story as you write.
 Every story has a theme, a universal truth, shared meaning. For instance,
Steve Jobs was one of the great inventors and innovators. He was a visionary who
reshaped communication, use of leisure time, and everyday life with digital
technologies.
 Source:
 Dave Hood
 https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/writing-creative-nonfiction-the-
profilebiography-sketch/

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