Tag: nonfiction
A Writer’s Avalanche
“I even read aloud the part of the novel I had rewritten, which is about as low as a writer can get and much more dangerous for him than glacier skiing unroped before the full winter snowfall has set over the crevices.
When they said, ‘It’s great, Ernest. Truly, it’s great. You cannot know the thing it has,” I wagged my tail in pleasure and plunged into the fiesta concept of life to see if I could not bring some attractive stick back, instead of thinking, ‘If these bastards like it what is wrong with it?’ That was what I would think if I had been functioning as a professional although, if I had been functioning as a professional, I would never have read it to them.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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Nine Things You Need to Know Before You Write Your Non-Fiction Book
[found on the creativepenn.com; by JOANNA PENN on JUNE 5, 2012]
“I started with writing non-fiction and it really did change my life. I’m actually working on rewriting my first book at the moment and I also devour non-fiction books so it definitely remains important to me. In this guest post Nina Amir, author of ‘How to Blog a Book’ poses some provoking questions that anyone embarking on writing a non-fiction book should ask themselves.
Inspiration hits. The light bulb goes on. You’ve got a passion, and you pursue it. You see a need, and you fill it. There’s a question, and you answer it. You have a purpose, and you fulfill it.
These are all great reasons to begin writing a nonfiction book. And most writers, when struck by a good idea and the desire to write, simply begin writing. However, an even better reason exists to take a bit of time before you beginning writing to evaluate your idea—at least if you want your book to be successful.
Evaluate? I can hear you groaning. No one wants to evaluate anything, especially that book idea you are so psyched about.
If you simply want to write the book of your heart and you don’t care how many copies you sell, great. Go for it.
If you want to write a successful book, meaning one that sells to lots of readers or to a traditional publisher and to lots of readers, however, it behooves you to take the time to consider if your idea is a good one by industry standards.
To do this, I suggest you discover nine things about your book idea. Once you have this information, you’ll know if your book has a chance of success.
1. What Your Book Will be About and Why Would Someone Would Want to Read (Buy) It
You’d be amazed at how many writers cannot tell you in 50 words or less, or in 30 seconds or less, what their book is about. They also may not be able to list the benefits their book will provide to readers. Before beginning to write your nonfiction book, hone your topic and its angle. Figure out why someone would want to read your book rather than someone else’s book on the same topic. Write a pitch or elevator speech, a short statement that describes the essence of your book, and follow it with some bulleted points—the added value readers will take away from its pages. Think of this exercise like writing back cover copy. What might you say or write about your book that would make someone carry it to the register?
2. Who Wants to Read Your Book
Make sure you know your average reader—that one person you are writing for—as well as the size of your book’s market. Who wants to read your book, and where do you find them? How many of these people exist in the world? Are there enough of them to justify writing your book? This market research tells you if anyone is out there to read (buy) your book and helps you know for whom who you are writing.
3. Whether Your Book Will be Unique and Necessary
Make sure the book you plan on adding to the mix is not only unique compared to the other books in your niche or category but also necessary before you add one more title to the staggering number of books in print. Take a good hard look at what other authors have already written and published. Is what you want to write different—different enough to make someone purchase your book rather than an established title or a book by an established author? And is there a need for another book on the subject? If no books have been written on the subject, why? Is there a need for even one book on the topic?
4. If You Have Enough Content to Fill a Book
Sometimes writers think they have enough material for a book when really they only have enough for an article, or a couple of articles. Or they think they know what content they are going to include in the book, but when they finish the first draft, they discover they produced a manuscript that is scattered, rambling, misses the point, or leaves out essential information. Avoid these problems by mapping out your content first. Actually do a mind mapping exercise, which entails brainstorming while creating a large diagram of all your possible content and then organizing all these ideas into a table of contents or an outline. When you are done with this process you’ll know if you have enough content to fill a book, and you’ll know what content you plan to include in the pages of that book.
5. How You Would Describe Your Book’s Content
Bring your book to life with a short synopsis for each chapter. This accomplishes two things. First, when you couple this chapter-by-chapter synopsis with your table of contents, your pitch and list of benefits, you will have the best writing guide possible. Second, when you have finished the synopsis of all your chapters, and you have completed the previous four steps, you will suddenly have a clear picture of your book and feel ready to write your book. Why? Because it will seem real to you. If you can see it and it seems real, if your idea stood up to all the prior steps, it’s likely a viable book.
6. How You Will Ensure You and Your Book Succeed
Whether you self-publish or land a traditional publishing deal, you will need to promote your book. And promotion does not begin after the book lands in your hands as a finished product. It begins the moment that light bulb goes off in your head. Spend some time considering all the options you have to build awareness for yourself and your book as you begin the writing process as well as after you launch the book.
7. Why You Are the Best Person to Write This Book
Most nonfiction books are written by experts. Decide if you are the expert on your topic, how you will become the expert, or if you might need to bring in other experts (maybe a co-author, contributors or experts to interview). Also, does writing this book fulfill a sense of mission for you? If so, you might want to consider how to get that message across in the book and in your promotional efforts. Plus, in this step, it’s important to ask yourself if you have what’s called an “author’s platform.” Do you have a fan base or a large, loyal following of people who know you in relationship to the topic about which you plan to write? If not, you need to consider how you will begin building that built-in readership for your book.
8. If This is the Only Book You Will Write on This Topic
The more books you write, the more books you sell. That’s why it’s a good idea to spend a moment brainstorming other “spin-off” books on your topic. This is especially important if you want to create a business around your book or attract a traditional publisher. As an expert author, if you have more books, you can create more products and services to sell to readers. And publishers like to take on multiple-book authors.
9. How You Want to Publish Your Book
At this point, if you decided your book is marketable and has a chance of succeeding, you can begin writing your book—with one caveat. You need to know what publishing route you plan to take. If you plan on self-publishing, you can go ahead and write the whole book. If you plan on approaching traditional publishers, you only need to write 25-30 pages, or about two chapters, but you also need to write a book proposal, which includes all the information you just compiled. You then will submit the proposal to agents and publishers
Armed with this information, and assuming you discovered your idea is a viable one, you’re ready to take action on your inspiration. Turn your idea into a successful book.”
[found on http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/06/05/write-a-non-fiction-book]
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River Boat Writer
“The process of writing a novel is like taking a journey by boat. You have to continually set yourself on course. If you get distracted or allow yourself to drift, you will never make it to the destination. It’s not like highly defined train tracks or a highway; this is a path that you are creating discovering. The journey is your narrative. Keep to it and there will be a tale told.”
― Walter Mosley, This Year You Write Your Novel
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Big Game Writer
“Writing is like hunting. There are brutally cold afternoons with nothing in sight, only the wind and your breaking heart. Then the moment when you bag something big. The entire process is beyond intoxicating.”
― Kate Braverman
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Writing Tips From Max Lucado, Best-Selling Author
By Audra Krell
“It was his first time attending a writing conference. He is a best-selling author who has written more than 50 books and has sold 65 million copies of his work. Yet it was also his first time speaking at a conference. Although he was on unfamiliar territory, New York Times best-selling Christian author Max Lucado spoke of the tools writers have, at the Writing for the Soul conference in Denver in February 2010. Below, find his best tips on subject, discipline and clarity for writers.
* * * * *
MAX SAYS: BE PASSIONATE
• Your subject must be so worthwhile that it keeps you riveted to your chair.• Because of your passion, you write without ceasing until it’s finished.
• Strong topics and subjects cause writing to happen from the soul.
• Desire to work your writing through, so the reader doesn’t have to.
MAX SAYS: STEADY IS AS STEADY DOES
• Make a date night with your notebook. If you sit long enough, you’ll find something to write about.• With disciplined writing time, you’ll grow to appreciate your work.
• Good words are worth the work.
• The only thing better than writing is when your words connect with the reader.
MAX SAYS: ON A CLEAR DAY
• Get your book down to one sentence. Every paragraph must pay homage to that sentence, or it doesn’t get to play.• Every word must earn its place on the page.
• Write concise but not shallow.
• Revise for as long as you can.
Good writing will go where we never can, and reroutes the trajectory of life. It seeps into the farthest corners of the world and the depths of a reader’s soul. Readers let authors into their private moments by inviting the author to speak through their story. Although it’s a challenging invitation, it’s valuable and authors should accept. Clear thinking will deliver your words to their destination. Most places are far away, and require a long, long chair ride. Do not begrudge the hard work of getting it there, this generation needs the best books you can write.
For his final point, Max reminds the writer to let every part of the process work. “Sentences are like just caught fish. Spunky today, stinky tomorrow.” Let editing do its job. That way, you will put forth good, passionate writing, which will reach readers where they live.”
-by Audra Krell
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Guts, Not Talent…Necessarily.
Artist Perfection
“The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with.”
– William Faulkner
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Finishing A Book…
“Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.”
– Truman Capote
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Writing Non-Fiction…HOW?
[found on niemanstoryboard.org]
“FINDING THE STORY
- Every story has its surface-level meaning. Let’s say the surface story for “Titanic” is that a huge ocean liner goes down. But what is the theme of the movie? What is the real meaning of the story? Theme, at least in my view, is the underlying meaning of the story.
- Stories can have several thematic strings, and especially powerful ones are layered in that way. As a writer, I think you want to figure out what is the most important one, the one that you want to spend the most time on.
- When doing narrative, you have to sharpen your focus and figure out what your story is really about. Think about one set piece, performance, play or wedding – something that takes place within a set amount of time. There are also natural journeys like a road trip, or internal journeys, like addiction or abuse.
- If you’re the narrator, we need to see you and to understand who you are.
- When you’re trying to get readers to care, to get readers in on that, they have to see some of what you have seen. Try to figure out what it is that the reader really needs to know.
- If you decide to write about deeply personal things, you have to go all the way. If there’s painful stuff you’re holding back, it won’t work. If you’re not ready to go there, that’s fine; maybe let the story sit for a while.
NUTS AND BOLTS
- You want to engage the reader immediately – start in the middle of things.
- As you add to the number of characters in your story, the more complicated it becomes, because the reader has to keep track of more people.
- Once your language is powerful, your next step is to take it and pare it down, read it aloud and see when the sentences go on. When you find that, you either break up the sentence or get rid of adjectives and adverbs.
- Be simple and clear; don’t let the beauty take over – which is not to say you shouldn’t have any beautiful writing. You want some beautiful sentences, but you don’t want to overdo it.
- The more you focus your narrative on scenes, the stronger your narrative will become.
- Really good narrative writers talk about limiting the number of flashbacks. Tom French diagrams flashbacks with loops and tries not to have more than one or two.
- Metaphors are really hard to carry out. My advice would be to use them very sparingly. You can use so many layers of metaphors that you get confused. A story can be compelling without any overt metaphors.
- One really useful thing to do after you write your first draft is to see what happens after you remove the first paragraph or two. Often times it’s the second paragraph that’s the real beginning.
- Watch out for trying to explain too much.
- You don’t have to put a bow at the end or always have a totally clean resolution. Is there a way for you to evoke an idea without necessarily saying it or explaining it? Is there an image or scene that can convey a feeling or idea to close the piece?”
Editing Addict, LLC 