Where is the setting? Where is the story taking place, what is my knowledge of the place? Do I need more knowledge of the place?
Who is my main character? Where is he/she from? What do they look like, what are their likes and dislikes? Does this person have a lover, what is their orientation, what music does he/she like? All of these little elements when thought out in advance will add spice as well as believability to your character.
Do you know someone you could interview from this corner of the world. For example, if your character is Russian, do you know someone from the same area of Russia who would be willing to give you a snapshot of life from his/her perspective?
Conflict: What is the main conflict of the story? If it is a person with cancer, do you know someone who has undergone this situation who would be willing to give you access to his thoughts and emotions? Do research into historical figures who have had similar situations to the character that you are writing about and find out how that person dealt with the issue.
What symbols are you going to use? What other authors have written about the same subject matter you are utilizing? What symbols have they used in their work to describe the situation? What is the historical significance behind the symbol?
For example, has it ever been a part of the lore of another culture? How can you play off of that association in your own text and add in small references to the symbols historical context? That historical association can add an element of universalism to the text which will transcend cultures.
What is your Point of View? Why have you chosen to write in the tense, and point of view you have? Is it because it comes naturally given the subject matter? Develop your thoughts as to why and how this is going to benefit your audience.
What is the theme? Where are your ideas about the theme of the book coming from? Is this something that is coming from other works like yours? What worked for them? And specifically, when people think of your work what is the key takeaway message you want them to have?
Hopefully now you feel comfortable to get started with planning the content of your fiction book. Remember that any of this can be modified along the way and until the book is published all of this is merely a work in progress.
While writing fiction allows the mind to wander and to imagine, writing nonfiction creates an entire other set of objectives. The goal of the writer is either to provide information, relive an experience, or report information much in the way that a journalist would.
The first step of writing any nonfiction book is to determine the purpose of the book. What is it in fact that you are trying to do, if you are writing a book about Elizabeth I, your objective would be to report all of the events exactly as they happened.
If you are in fact writing something like a true crime book, you would be recalling the experience as it happened as well, from the memory of the person telling the story. As mentioned previously this is one of those areas where grey area can become an issue.
Can you change the names of the people involved in a true crime incident and still have it as a nonfiction book? The answer here is absolutely, the beginning of the book must simply contain a statement which mentions that the names have been changed to protect the innocent. So now here are the elements which must be considered to plan an amazing nonfiction book.
Outlining. Since you started your book production you have been planning an outline. Now it is time to take those chapters that you have and put flesh on the bones. At the beginning of the outline look at your chapter titles. Underneath each one of these chapter headings place at least 5 items which are going to be included in the chapter. These items in the outline should be a mix of historical facts, items you wish to cover and small pieces of information from the story which will add to the credibility and interest level of the manuscript.
Looking deeper into this that should mean that the historical facts are what actually happened and the sequence of time is accurate when reporting facts. The pieces you want to cover should be smaller elements of the story which will add to the character development of the characters. And finally the last interesting facts should be pieces of information about the main subject, or odd facts to draw your reader in.
Research is the most important step in the Non Fiction writing process. As you are beginning to plan your outline and add detail into the outline, there is nothing more important than to conduct the most thorough research possible into your subject. Research all the books which you can find on the subject, cross check books to see if the authors have the same opinions. If it is a current topic check all of the local newspapers which might have reported on the subject. Check to see if the newspaper’s report any key witnesses with contact information you might be able to contact for an inside perspective into the matter.
Doing a personal interview with a person who might have been involved in the case will add credibility as well as give you an amazing insight into the psychology of the case. By having a first person insight into the case you will be able to vicariously relive all of the experiences of the situation.
You will be able to see all of the little details that the interviewee recalls including the sights, smells, feelings and appearances. This is by far the second best thing other than experiencing the event yourself.
Cross reference your files and your information. Make certain that at the end of the day the information that you have compiled is the most factual, detailed, and accurate. Try to avoid he said she said information from conflicting sources.
Character development, just like in a fiction book it is important to develop the characters with as much details as possible in a nonfiction book. In the same way that the characters can enchant and inspire in the fiction books, in non-fiction attention to detail is key to portray the accuracy of the situation.
Little items should be looked into such as if the protagonist had a lisp, the way the character wore his/her hair and dressed. Do not tell the story in generalities but get into the deepest details of the person and try to tell the story as if you were going to write an essay on the non-fiction character’s soul. All of those little details are again the window into the past so that the reader is able to envision themselves there and be a part of the conversation.
Dialogue development is mission critical as well for creating an accurate nonfiction manuscript. As many nonfiction narrative books have proven over the years, accurate dialogue can make or break the success of a book. By trying to recreate what was actually said in the past you will give insight into the story and also buy the credibility of the readers as they see the way things actually happened.
One thing that has been the challenge of history has been for the historians to accurately record conversations which were held along the sides of battle lines across the sand of time. When reporting a nonfiction event it is these moments which must be carefully recorded and dictated in the manuscript for posterity.
There are a few other elements we should consider here with nonfiction as well and reporting. What are the good elements of reporting, we must harken to our press hats. They are the famous Who, What, When, Why, and How, longingly known as the 4w’s and the H. These are also the chronic elements that for an accurate story must be told;
Who: This specifically outlines who was involved in a particular situation, their history, background, defining characteristics and every possible statistic. The people involved in the story must be considered in complete detail when researching and then when planning their development. One key point would be to make certain that you have covered all of the details of character development.