Non fiction writers, you gotta think about knowledge flow—the order of the idea build
get it right for your reader, not yourself, by the last draft
I’m all for throwing spaghetti at the wall, or p#king it out, as some of us say behind closed doors.
Heck, yeh:
Write the bits, short bursts of prose, in whatever way they come. Bullets, lists, whiteboard, big markers, sketch books, Notes app.
Don’t think about order, length, word choice, or where they’ll go.
Scurry the words down when you hear the nagging story, great sentence, or name for something.
BUT,
be able to find the pieces again (you need an organization system of some kind, even if it’s 1,2,3, or a,b,c.
use the platforms. I recommend loads in Foundation by name. I suggest docx templates, simple tables, two column sheets,
get content into programs and revise while you do it (you’ll get to draft 2 quickly if you revise as you enter, type or transcribe (HINT!)
BUT… then you should think about the order that big chunks of information need to be learned by your reader.
My clients and masterminders always “ah-ha” here. You can’t expect your reader to know what your “signature concept”, something you devised over a dozen years of coaching, means to you, or means to them. Slow your roll.
They aren’t there yet. Your books job is to get there open minded, open hearted and personally curious about what the back of the book description promises.
You mustn’t leave “knowledge flow” to too late in the process. This is the role of the Introduction (even if you call it something else)…to answer this question:
What does my reader need to know, in what order, so that they can get their understanding where I need it by Chapter 1?
And, it might take more time than you think to incrementally develop the rationale for something it took you years to figure out. Your IP is verified in your mind by your experience but they have only had the time it took to purchase and open your book to try to figure out what you mean.
What base knowledge does your reader need, in what order, to make them aware that they need what your book is bringing them?
Building books that serve is my passion and my profession. If you want to see your book go from a stack of notes to chapters and outline in the next few weeks, I’ve got you.
