Question: I’m a published author of a non-fiction narrative style book. I’ve just started my next book, which is a how-to, and I’m feeling stuck in how to go about the process. I’m realizing it’s a completely different process that doing a narrative. Sitting down and writing from chapter one isn’t working for me this time. I’d appreciate some tips to get the creative juices flowing.
Answer: The great news is that with a how-to format you don’t have to write an in any particular order. YOu can do it in chunks of time as little as 5 minutes and in whatever order the ideas come to you. If what you’re writing about is a system, it may feel natural for you to walk through the system in your head and write it in a logical progression. If it’s not a step-by-step system, you have a lot of freedom.
The first step either way is to create your table of contents so you know the most important points you are teaching. Those are your chapter heads. The most important points you will teach in each chapter are your sub-heads. So let’s say you have 12-15 things you write down as main points you want to teach. You’ll probably find that some of those are really duplicates or are sub-heads under something else. You’ll be left with 10-12 main points as chapters. Some chapters will be longer than others depending on how much content there is on that topic. If it’s an important point, it’s a chapter. It’s not all about page count.
Some people like to put each of those sub-heads in a binder they carry so they can write as they think of something they want to say. Some do index cards, some people do individual Word docs. Do what works for you. Having each sub-head separate allows you to easily move the content if you realize it goes in a different place. That will get you started.
For example, the first time I did it this way I was able to write 154 pages in about 12 hours of actual writing over a 1 week period. If you are an expert on your topic you can write a 300 word page in about 5 minutes. Especial if you’re just writing one little piece, rather than sitting down to write a whole chapter or a whole book. I use this process for everything I’ve created in the last 9 years. It’s easy!
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