kristaphillips Avily left a great comment on yesterday’s post regarding non-fiction and her perceived ability to write it.
She has a very similar concern as mine, how can I write enough on one topic to make a whole book?
So many times I read a non-fiction book it feels like there is a bunch of filler. Like the jest of the book, the message, could be summed up in a few paragraphs. I have a hard time reading them myself because I feel like I’m just reading the same thing said over and over and over and over and over again and it gets old.
I’m probably the only parent out there that has never read a ‘how to parent’ book from start to finish. I never even read a book on pregnancy with my first baby. I’m a ‘learn from experience’ kind of girl. And I’m an observer.
So I was the most surprised when I was laying in bed one night and this book idea popped into my head. My first thought was, how in the world would I write a whole book on that?
But then my next thought was about all the different topics underneath the main topic. My logical brain started categorizing the different sections that the book would have to be made into. Chapter ideas started flowing through my head.
I’m still nervous about filling a chapter without making it boring and droning on and on. But I also think that with my particular book, I can mix fiction with non-fiction. Because in the end, fiction is telling a story to make a point. Well, at least MY fiction is. It has a theme. It is a story that uses one story to portray it.
So I’m trying to look at non-fiction as the opposite. It still has a theme, but you are telling the theme and illustrating using stories throughout as your showing. Some of the best devotionals I’ve read have stories intertwined with them, so why can’t we do the same with non-fiction?
As part of my research before I delve into this project any more, I’m going to read a few *gulp* non-fiction books.
Anyone have any recommendations?
Also, anything you LIKE about non-fiction?
Any pet peeves you have in non-fiction books?
