Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
About the Author xxi
Chapter 1 What's the Big Idea? 1
Where lurk subjects? 3
Find subjects in passions 4
Find subjects in conversations 5
Find subjects in observations 8
Find subjects in reading 9
Find subjects Web cruising 11
Find subjects in reflection 12
What's the question? 14
Where lies the conflict? 16
Is the subject timely or timeless? 17
Curiosity fuels the narrative quest 18
Chapter 2 What's the Form? 23
Internal narratives 25
Personal essay 26
Blogging 28
Memoir 30
External narratives 32
Internal and external narratives 35
Short essay? Kindle Single? Full-Fledged book? 40
Multimedia options 44
Visuals 46
Audio 49
Interactive features 50
Chapter 3 What's the Content? 53
What do you know? 55
What do you need to know? 56
Stats & facts content 58
Background content 59
Content from other perspectives 60
Action content 61
Where do you find content? 63
People as resources: To whom do you talk? 63
How do you find experts and participants? 64
What do you ask in an interview? 65
Observation: What do you see? Hear? Smell? 67
Online Resources 73
Search engines and databases: Google and beyond 73
Traditional media 74
Social media 75
Crowdsourcing 77
Brick & mortar institutions 78
Let the information come to you 80
Chapter 4 What's the Focus?
How do you find focus? 84
What question launched the project? 84
What's the conflict? 85
What's the most important thing you learned? 86
What do you want readers to know when they finish the book, the essay, the story? 87
What would make a good title and subtitle? 88
Where do you find focus? 91
Finding focus in characters 91
Finding focus in images 94
Finding focus in language 95
Finding focus in time 96
When do you find focus? 98
Research reveals focus 98
Writing reveals focus 101
Is this the right focus? 102
Chapter 5 What's the Structure?
How do you find the structure? 107
Know thy notes and thoughts 107
What's the mystery? 108
What is the target medium? 112
What is the balance of scene vs. summary? 11
What are the key scenes and reflections? 120
What are some structure options? 123
Straight chronology 124
Flashback chronology 125
Reverse chronology 126
Framed structure 127
Circular structure 128
Braided structure 129
Parallel construction 130
Collage 131
The Quest 132
Structures inspired by topics and theme 132
Chapter 6 What Are the Components? 135
What's the opening? 136
Begin with a scene 138
Anecdotal starts 139
Descriptive leads 141
Background beginnings 143
Open with commentary 144
What point of view will guide the story? 146
Omniscient point of view 147
Third person point of view 149
First person point of view 151
Second person point of view 153
Who are the characters? 155
Description 156
Anecdotes 158
Speech 159
Possessions 160
What is the setting? 163
Dialogue or direct quotes? 166
What is the ending? 168
End by telling 169
End by showing 171
End with a quote 172
End with ambiguity 174
End with surprise 175
Chapter 7 Pulling It All Together 177
What we talk about when we talk about a first draft 179
To outline or not to outline? 179
Hurdling the terror of the blank page 181
Draft for meaning 182
Draft for story flow 184
Draft for voice 186
Draft for tense 189
What we talk about when we talk about revising 191
Is the meaning clear? 192
Is the structure solid? 193
What to expand and what to compress? 197
What screams for more? 197
What to condense? 198
Too much explanation? 198
What material might work in a sidebar? 202
What words should go? 203
What needs polishing? 205
Enhancing description 205
The power of metaphor 206
Sentence length 206
References 209
Index 221
