In 1814, after an interrupted business apprenticeship, Döring enrolled in the University of Jena.
He studied theology and philosophy, and soon became active as a writer, falling under the influence of Goethe.
He became a member of the 'Society for General Mineralogy' (Gesellschaft für die gesamte Mineralogie) in Jena.
After that, he worked primarily as a translator from English of such authors as James Fenimore Cooper, William Shakespeare, Walter Scott, and Laurence Sterne.
His biographies were mainly based on the first-hand accounts by the persons he was writing about, as well as on other mostly reliable evidence.