Nonfiction Ink

The structure of a book is like a roadmap that guides the reader to the destination.  If a book’s structure meanders, a reader may become lost – they may fail to understand the importance of the information presented, and in the end, the impact of the story is diminished.

The key to a strong structure is creating a logical flow.  How does the writer do that?

• You must have a thorough understanding of your subject and the purpose of your book.
• You must know your reader – what the reader already knows, what he needs to know, and the order in which he needs to know it to achieve the goal of the book.

Let’s look at how author Lisa Sabin-Wilson structured the topics for her book “WordPress For Dummies”:

Part I: Introducing WordPress
Chapter 1: What WordPress Can Do for You
Chapter 2: Blogging Basics
Part II: Using the WordPress Hosted Service
Chapter 3: Getting Started with WordPress.com
Chapter 4: Writing and Managing Your Blog
Chapter 5: Enhancing Your Blog with Themes, Widgets, and Upgrades
Part III: Self-Hosting with WordPress.org
Chapter 6: Setting Up Blogging Base Camp
Chapter 7: Understanding the WordPress.org Administration Panel
Chapter 8: Establishing Your Blog Routine
Chapter 9: Typing Up Templates
Chapter 10: Making the Most of WordPress Plugins
Chapter 11: Designing Your Blog
Part IV: Going Multi-User with WordPress
Chapter 12: Implementing WordPress
Chapter 13: Managing Your WordPress
Chapter 14: Maintaining WordPress
Part V: Flexing and Extending WordPress
Chapter 15: Migrating Your Blog to WordPress
Chapter 16: Beyond Blogging: WordPress as a Content Management System
Part VI: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 17: Ten Great — and Free — WordPress Themes
Chapter 18: Ten Great WordPress Plugins

The information is organized and presented in a logical order.  The reader learns each step needed to achieve the goal.  The author presents an introduction and basic overview of the application, and then proceeds with installation, set-up, management, and maintenance.  What if she had started with maintenance, then jumped to set-up, and completely skipped the information on installation?  She would have had more than a few confused readers.

Regardless of your nonfiction genre, it is important to ensure your content is structured correctly and your readers are not thrown off-course.

1.     Write down the purpose of your book.  Understanding the purpose of your book will keep you focused on leading the reader to the goal.

2.     Write a list of what your reader already knows.  This will help you determine the scope of your book.  (If you are writing a book on Bookkeeping for Small Businesses, you may assume your readers already have an understanding of basic math and that you don’t need to cover the topic of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

3.     Create a list of everything the reader will know after he has read your book.

4.     Now you can arrange the topics of the list (of everything the reader will learn from your book) in the order that will best facilitate the learning process that leads to achieving the goal.

You’ve just created a logical flow!

Related posts:

1. Make The Writing Process More Efficient And Effective: Create A Detailed Chapter-By-Chapter Outline
2. Five Ways To Create An Engaging Writing Style
3. The Five Step Process For Writing A Nonfiction Book
4. 12 Techniques For Beginning Your Nonfiction Book (Part 1)
5. Writing For Your Readers

Tags: logical flow, organizing your book

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