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Topic Authoring for Nonfiction Books
I have a habit of diving into things.
Sometimes it’s from impatience or excitement, but usually it’s something I can laugh at later — like the time I just couldn’t wait for help and lugged a bookshelf up two flights of stairs by myself. (Hey, my books needed more room!) But while working on a novel during my MA, just diving into a bigger writing project wasn’t going to cut it.
Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, there tends to be two stereotypes of longform writers:
- The Planners chart everything out ahead and know exactly what is going to happen and when in their manuscript.
- The Pantsers probably have a general idea of what will be in the manuscript and where it should go, but they try to let it unfold naturally as they write. They “fly by the seat of their pants.”
Obviously, most writers fall somewhere in between the two — which is probably for the best. As someone who leans more toward the Pantsers end of the spectrum, I worry that if I plan out too much, I could overlook an opportunity or stifle some creative aspect. But when I got halfway through my novel and realized I wasn’t 100% sure how I was going to get from there to the ending, I knew I needed a better way to plan ahead.