My 27 Tips to Better Nonfiction Writing: Write Better, Faster

By Britt Malka

What Do You Struggle With, Writing-Wise?

Are you the one, who wants to write a book, but don't know when you're ready to start?

 

Or do you write, frequently, but it still takes you ages to finish a book?

 

You'll find help among my 27 tips for nonfiction writers. Those are tips I discovered over my writing career, and they all made my writing-life easier in some way.

 

Curious about the content of this book? Scroll up and check the Look Inside feature, or take a chance and hit the buy-button, and start to improve your nonfiction writing skills today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Britt Malka
• Release date: May 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201943691

Book preview

Knowing When Enough Is Enough

Chapter 2

Problem: A common objection that I get from writers is that they don't feel like they know enough about a topic to be able to write a book.

The easy answer is that's why writers do research.

But once you start researching, how do you know when you know enough to write something about your topic?

What I've Learned: Years ago, I read a great interview with famous nonfiction writer, David McCullough.

He's considered a historian, but he was an English major. He says in the interview that he wasn't an expert on any of his books' topics before he began research.

I think it's important to note that he goes to great lengths to research his in-depth books.

They are sometimes quite broad biographies. He goes to sites where those people lived, reads every letter that they wrote, etc. His research can last years. Of course, he has the time and money to do extensive research. Nevertheless, he raised a fantastic point about the research process:

There's an awful temptation to just keep on researching. There comes a point where you just have to stop, and start writing. When I began, I thought that the way one should work was to do all the research and then write the book. In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know.

It's easy to get caught up in the research. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you haven't yet read enough to be considered enough of an expert to write a book. It's easy to use that as justification to stay in the safe, research part of the process.

The stumbling block for a lot of new writers of nonfiction is that they think they don't have anything to add to the discussion. After all, if you're able to research something and learn it, why can't your readers just do the same?

What's the point of you writing a book rehashing the information?

But that's true for any nonfiction author. McCullough isn't telling people anything that they couldn't find on their own from reading letters between John and Abigail Adams, for example.

Except that he's giving us the most interesting information in a compelling story format. He's telling us what's important. He's telling us what's interesting. It's all based on what he found important and interesting during his research.

That's the role of a nonfiction writer. We're giving readers the important information, the interesting information. We're saving them the trouble of doing the research, and we're giving them the information they need in an entertaining way.

After lots of trial and error, I've found that it's better to start writing before I consider the research complete.

During research, I find little treasures. I discover things I didn't know. I discover things that would help others. In the past, I would usually make a note and move on to more research. The problem? I sometimes forget what made that bit of research a treasure. My notes don't always make it clear how important that information was, and I might not be able to recover my initial excitement.

I like to work where I have one goal for each block of time. I like to separate research and writing. But I've discovered that it only takes a short break in between blocks of time to refocus. I don't have to devote an entire day to research OR writing.

It's important because that initial excitement helps me write better books. I'm better able to convey that excitement to my readers, which is important.

In a lot of cases, it's also the time when I'm best able to paraphrase and put what I've discovered into my own words based on why I thought it was so interesting to find. Later, once the excitement has worn off, that can be more difficult.

Action steps: When you find something interesting or eye-opening while researching, take a quick break to process your discovery. Then take a block of time to write about it. It doesn't have to be anything complex or novel- length. Just explain your discovery the way you would to a friend.

You'll have a snippet of your draft ready to insert, and it's likely to be more significant and/or emotional. You won't even have the pressure of thinking it has to be perfect because you're in pre-draft mode.

As an unexpected bonus, you'll quickly find out what you need to know surrounding that fact. Writing about what you've discovered will help set you on the path of where to go next in your research, so it's easier to get back to the research to find something specific that you'd like to know based on what you've written. So take another break, and then do a time block for research until you find something important or interesting again.

But the biggest benefit is the most important: You get rid of that pesky, procrastination-inducing decision. There's not a weighted question where you mentally debate whether or not to begin the writing process. You've already started! You just gradually end up writing more than researching until the point where you stop having bits of research that you need to know for the book.

Like Being a Heroine in a Romance Novel

Chapter 3

Choosing book topics is like being a heroine in a romance novel... No, really!

Don't read romance novels? Then think about the last chick flick you watched.

The