Writing a non-fiction book is a huge undertaking whether you are writing a memoir, a self-help or expository text. Unlike fiction, you do not get to make things up. What you write has to be factually accurate. That is what makes it nonfiction. Unless, of course, you are writing a narrative memoir. While you are aiming for factual accuracy, you can only write your own truth. Depending on what genre you are focusing, you have to determine the non-fiction voice in which you will write your book. The most important element in finding your non-fiction voice is who you …
Category: Writing Process
Choosing Your Target Audience: A Must In The Writing Process
What is a Target Audience? And why do you need one? If you have decided to write a non-fiction book, you have expertise in a subject of broad interest or you have lived through a compelling experience and have come out the other side having learned something of great importance to share with the hopes of improving your reader’s lives. Who do you want to reach with your book? That is your Target Audience. As a non-fiction and memoir coach and editor, I have been blessed to work with some amazing people who became even more amazing writers. Some authors …
Welcome Non-Fiction Writers to Cynde’s Blog!!
Writing a non-fiction book? Let’s talk! Welcome to my non-fiction blog! I am a writing coach and editor for non-fiction authors. I have been helping non-fiction writers follow their dreams for three decades and believe me I have seen the gamut of topics! My blog postings will answer the most common questions that I have encountered in my many years of coaching and editing. My posts will cover all types of non-fiction: business, medical, law, finance, self-help, memoir, spiritual, political, academic, health, and anything else that comes down the pike. As you read my blog, if you are struggling with …
Write Great Scenes to Build Great Stories – Quick Writing Tips
Action, Conflict, Scenes! Scenes and summary are building blocks of stories–both fiction and memoir. A scene is a piece of story action, rendered continuously moment-by-moment, without summary, but with action and, often, dialogue. A scene can be acted out on stage. She wants, he wants: Characters work in conflict. If they both want to go to the same party and they go, sorry, no conflict, no scene. In contrast, let’s say Joe and Suzy are on their third date and Joe wants to take Suzy to Dave’s party. Dave is Joe’s best friend. But Suzy absolutely doesn’t want to go to Dave’s party–Joe just pointed …
Story—The Journey from Darkness toward Light, from the Existential Scream to the Universal Sigh
Here’s the thing, being human isn’t easy. We are human and we are animal—savage and tender, mindful and thoughtless, loving and cruel, base and divine—and then toss our heart and spirit into the mix and try telling our story. Wait, shhhh, hear that existential scream? Yup, understanding the complexities of human nature is an ongoing challenge. If you have any desire to try, and if you are a writer, painter, musician, actor, creative seeker of any stripe, you are a storyteller and you are on the journey toward transformation and this is a gift. When it comes to story, transformation …
The Care and Feeding of a Writer Committed to Staying Alive and Reasonably Sane and Happy!
I’ve spoken recently with several writers who are overwhelmed by their struggle to write intensely personal and emotional stories. One has been hit by waves of emotion and fear because he finds himself feeling as if he’s reliving decades-old betrayal perpetrated by those closest to him. The writing has begun to feel like a prison keeping him locked in with ghosts of childhood trauma. Another is so frightened by the possibility of exposure, he has transported his story across time and space and culture—jumping 200 years and 1,000 miles to write about a world that is almost completely foreign to …