JustWriteBooks: Nonfiction Writing & Publishing Help

In my last post, I gave three reasons you must know your reader and audience. But how do you put that knowledge into practice? How do you create the readers equivalent of eye contact with you—“I contact,” if you will—that sense of author-to-reader intimate conversation?

Today, we bring you the final P in this three-part series, which we hope will give you both the last step in choosing, creating, and crafting great stories for your nonfiction book and also the motivation to put what you’ve learned to work. Remember, the stories you use to support, illustrate, and demonstrate your ideas in action are what make you and your writing particularly meaningful and memorable to your audience.

Yesterday, we introduced the five Ps of story preparation—five critical pieces to help you come up with stories that will make you and your material memorable—and I detailed the first two, purpose and passion. Today, let’s go on to the next two, essential for creating a connection with your audience that lasts long beyond the moment they read your words.

Not long ago, I pinpointed the five Ps of story preparation—five critical pieces to help you come up with stories that will make you and your material memorable. They are purpose, passion, perspective, personalization, and pruning. In this first installment of The 5 Ps of Story Prep, we review the first two.

The Ghost, to the ex-British Prime Minister’s wife: “Didn’t you ever want to be a proper politician?”

Ruth: “Didn’t you ever want to be a proper writer?”

The Ghost: “Ouch.”

How many times did my mother ask me when I was going to start “really” writing books? Too many to count, my friend, too many to count.

Recently, it dawned on me that for most self-help or educational books, the most effective and moving stories/examples fall into three categories. Think about these three as you develop story ideas for your own book.