Edit for Maximum Impact (5 Ps of Story Prep, Pt. 3)
Posted on 07 June 2010 by Victoria St. George
Last week, we revealed four of the five Ps of non-fiction story preparation, first purpose and passion, and then perspective and personalization. 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.
5. Do Some Serious Pruning
Once you’ve written your first draft of a story, you must prune it down to its essence: that means edit, edit, and then edit some more. Every detail must contribute to your main point in some way, setting the scene, evoking emotion, and enhancing the experience that conveys your message.
Good stories should be only long enough to deliver your message, not a word more. And they should leave readers with some kind of impulse: to try something you’ve recommended … to learn more about something you’ve revealed … to read more of your book.
After you’ve edited the story to your satisfaction, show it to other people and ask for opinions. Did they get the message? What feelings did the story generate? How could you make it better?
In Conclusion: A Classic Story
Now, certainly the best way to round out this brief tutorial about writing great stories is with … a story, of course, one about the power of moving people with your message and not just dazzling them with your wordplay.
After the Roman orator Cicero addressed audiences, they walked away and said, “How well he speaks!”
But when the Greek orator Demosthenes spoke, listeners rose up and said, “Let us march.”
When your stories have purpose, passion, perspective, and personalization, and you have pruned them carefully so that they will move your readers emotionally as well as intellectually, your message will have a lasting impact.
Let us write!
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You might also like to read:
- Write to the Point: Crafting Great Stories (5 Ps of Story Prep, Pt. 1)
- Write Like a Rock Star (5 Ps of Story Prep, Pt. 2)
- Write Non-fiction Stories That Move Readers to Action
- Writing Memoir and the Art of Storytelling
- Non-fiction Book Proposals: What Agents & Editors Really Want
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