Writing a Profile
1. The intention of the profile is not only to see the subject in the world, but to see the world through the eyes of the subject.
2. The most important challenge in writing the profile is the opening – finding the right place to begin bringing a person to life. Be specific and detailed, and try to root the subject into a time and place. Use lively and engaging language.
3. Early on in the profile, you need to introduce an overview of who the person is. It’s part of orienting the reader to the larger story.
4. Just as in fiction, dialogue is a key to making characters come alive.
5. While it’s essential to do research and background information, find a way to blend that research in so it’s not conspicuous, or comes at a time when the reader is learning information they want to know.
6. In a good profile, you’re after truth of character – the subject’s point of view.
7. Use scenes to make the profile vivid. Create these scenes using all the techniques you would in a short story.
8. Once you have hooked the reader into the narrative, fill them in on the controversies, the subject’s world-views, politics, religion, steamy stories, etc.
9. Decide on your relationship as narrator to the subject. Are you just a fly-on- the-wall describing the subject? Involved observer? Active participant?
10. End your profile with a flourish, an on-going sense of the subject’s life.
P.S. Don’t write your profile to be loved. Tell the truth. No subject is entirely good or evil, nor is the writer. Find the essence of your subject.
Guidelines: (100 points)
Interview someone you feel has an interesting life, or a great story to tell. If you write about someone deceased, interview someone close to them to find out more and write an honest portrayal, not a eulogy.
Write a 2-3 page profile on that person that incorporates narrative, descriptive, and investigative writing.
The person in profile essay is Michael Zink
- What would you do differently If you had a chance?
- Why didn’t you finish high school?
- What was your childhood like?
- If you could change anything about your life, what would you change?
- Why did you choose to work in a factory?
- What are you most proud of?
- What made you the person you’re today?
- If you could go back to school, would you?
- What would your family and friends say about you?
- What was it like to be 1 of 10 siblings?
