How to Write Non-Fiction: Who are you? Personal stories, originality, and the importance of voice
“Writers end up writing about their obsessions. Things that haunt them; things they can’t forget; stories they carry in their bodies waiting to be released.”
—Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
Readers expect to know something about you when they read a non-fiction book. In fact, they may only pick it up if you can demonstrate that you’re the right person to learn from.
You don’t have to be the expert on a particular topic, just one or two steps ahead of your target market. In fact, it can be better if you’re closer to the reader’s experience because then you remember what it was like in their shoes.
I wrote my first non-fiction book, Career Change, when I was still stuck in my day job, and I updated it once I’d changed my life in the way I’d written about.
I wrote my midlife memoir, Pilgrimage, when I still wrestled with the questions tackled in the book, and I’m glad I wrote it when I did, since the emotions that were raw back then are now softened by time.
Why are you the right person for this book?
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories.”
—Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Lots of people write about the same topics — but your experiences make your book original.
It’s your take on the subject.
Trust yourself and lean into what makes you you.
Brainstorm aspects of your life that might be interesting to other people.
What’s unique about your background that will help you stand out?
What part of your story will help illustrate the topic you want to talk about?
The more you share your personal story and aspects of your life, the more people will resonate with you and your book.
If people begin to know you, like you, and trust you, they will be more likely to listen to you and buy your books and products. Of course, you have to define your boundaries, but personal stories are critical — both in the book itself and also in your marketing.
As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Emotion comes from story and connection, not from listing facts or prescriptive how-to information.
“There are already so many books on this topic”
A lot of non-fiction authors let this objection stop them from writing.
Every gem of wisdom has been said before.
Every story has been written before.
All human experience has already been catalogued in countless books.
These beliefs can paralyse us, especially in the early days of writing, when we don’t know how to deal with the chronic self-doubt that is a completely normal part of the creative process.
But your thoughts and ideas have not been written, and your story has not been told.
You are the original aspect of creativity, and what you bring to the world will be different to what others bring, even on the same topic.
Originality is just a twist on what has already gone before
“Art is theft.”
—Pablo Picasso, quoted in Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
I read a lot of books on writing before I ever wrote a book and I still read hundreds of books per year on all different topics. Some I actively read for research, but many others form a psychological milieu that inevitably influences my thinking and writing.
When I originally started writing this book, I brainstormed my table of contents and then bought a load of books on writing non-fiction to look for what I might have missed. This kind of intense reading and deconstruction can help you understand the structure of successful books. You can then use what you’ve learned to put your own spin on the topic.
This is not plagiarism, which is directly copying people’s work.
It also doesn’t mean you should take another author’s structure and directly reproduce it, changing names and places but keeping the same ideas.
It’s more about modelling and understanding what works with specific books, noticing what keeps you interested as a reader and then using those lessons in your work.
Whatever you want to write, you need to be aware of the expectations of readers and what has gone before in order to take your book into the realm of something new.
Embrace what has already been written and read widely in the genres you enjoy and want to write in. Elements from those books will resonate in your writing naturally, and you can take them further using your ideas, your personal stories, and your author voice.
Don’t obsess over perceived imitation or clichés in a first draft. Just get the words down and, as you self-edit, go through and fix it up.
“The older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
Finding your voice as a non-fiction author
I hope you can hear my voice as you read this book. If you’ve listened to my podcast or watched my YouTube videos or heard me speak, then you should be able to tell that this is really me.
I’m not putting on a specific tone to write this book. I’m just using my natural form of expression.
My words. My voice.
But my writing didn’t start out this way.
I used to work as a business consultant, implementing Accounts Payable software into large and small companies across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. I wrote process documentation and technical specifications, as well as training material for the system. Not the most creative work, and all deliberately written with no personality and no voice. It took me years of blogging and sharing online before I relaxed and could write as I speak.
People connect with people, and they want some indication of your journey and who you are, even in a prescriptive how-to book. You can write with authority, but still be authentic.
In an age of increasing automation and generative AI, your voice is the only thing that will stand out.
If you come from an academic background or have spent years writing dry business documents, you may find writing in a more natural voice difficult.
That’s okay. Just write the first draft and edit it later.
When I co-wrote The Healthy Writer with Dr Euan Lawson, he wrote his initial chapters in the same tone as his medical journal articles. They cited medical studies with no personal opinion or experience.
Once I explained we were writing a self-help book for a general audience of writers, Euan started using dictation to write his first drafts, weaving personal stories and opinions around the medical evidence, which brought the book alive. We also removed any technical jargon and made it as easy to read as possible.
Read through the non-fiction books in your niche that resonate with you. What kind of voice does the author have? Write down a list of adjectives describing it. Next, write a list of adjectives describing the voice you want to cultivate as a writer. Post that list somewhere in your writing space where you can look at it while you are drafting.
Questions:
• Brainstorm aspects of your life that might be more interesting to other people than they are to you.
• What’s interesting about your background that will help you stand out?
• What part of your story will help you illustrate the topic you want to talk about?
• How will you set boundaries for privacy but also share authentically?
• What are some of the top books in your genre, or top authors, that you can look at modelling?
• What can you learn from them and expand on to include in your own book?
• What kind of voice do you want to cultivate as an author? Describe it in a list of adjectives.
Resources:
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within — Natalie Goldberg
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life — Anne Lamott
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative —Austin Kleon
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear — Elizabeth Gilbert
