Genre. Although Julia Alvarez's "Daughter of Invention" appears to be a factual autobiography, it is essentially fiction because the plot focuses on a fictional character that Alvarez developed based mostly on herself. Thus, "Daughter of Invention" is a work of fantasy or science fiction. Factual auto biographies are not uncommon among writers who have not completed high school. However, they must provide evidence of having read the source material (in this case, a biography or history of someone named Julia) and must avoid presenting information in the voice of the subject. They must also avoid presenting information that cannot be verified by secondary sources. For example, one cannot make statements like "X first sold over Y million copies" without providing documentation for such claims. Factual auto biographies are often used by authors as a way of showing how much research they have done on their subjects. However, these books tend to be very dry and boring since the author usually has nothing interesting to say about themselves. Alvarez began writing "Daughter of Invention" in 1999 while she was attending Columbia University. The book is composed of alternating chapters titled "The Child Julia," "The Young Julia," "The Marriage Julia," and so on. Each chapter focuses on one of Julia's friends from childhood until she becomes a young woman.