 Starting with Caged Bird , Angelou made a deliberate attempt while writing all her autobiographies , including Song , to challenge the usual structure of the autobiography by critiquing , changing , and expanding the genre . Her use of fiction @-@ writing techniques such as dialogue , characterization , and thematic development has often led reviewers to categorize her books as autobiographical fiction . Angelou stated in a 1989 interview that she was the only " serious " writer to choose the genre to express herself . As critic Susan Gilbert stated , Angelou was reporting not one person 's story , but the collective 's . Scholar Selwyn R. Cudjoe agreed , and viewed Angelou as representative of the convention in African @-@ American autobiography as a public gesture that spoke for an entire group of people . Angelou 's editor Robert Loomis was able to dare her into writing Caged Bird by challenging her to write an autobiography that could be considered " high art " , which she continued throughout her series , including her final autobiography . 
