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Nonfiction Writing Techniques – How to Make Your Articles or Chapters More Interesting

Janet was walking along and saw the edge of the cliff.  Then her right foot slipped!  She didn’t regain her balance, and she slipped over the edge  She began to slide down the slope. She grabbed a branch and was hanging on for dear life.

How does that relate to your article or chapter?  It may not relate at all.  But if it did, you would surely have everyone’s attention. Let’s talk about four nonfiction writing techniques. 

Narrative Items

First, you can use narrative items.  Tell a story.  The story can still be a true story, so you would still be writing non-fiction.  You can also invent a story.  In that case, you would be adding some fiction in with your non-fiction writing.  At any rate, you can use storytelling or narrative techniques. 

You can do that in the form of an illustration.  After all, who doesn’t love a good story? 

Another thing you can do is use the story arc to develop your material.  You would have to do a little more research on what the story arc is, but it’s something you can do.  Basically, you have a beginning, middle, and end.  You have a problem, then a conflict, then escalating problems, and then solving the conflict.  You can set up non-fiction writing in a similar manner. 

Another place you can use that technique is in the introduction.  You can use narratives in the introduction just like I did with the fictional story of Janet and the cliff.  Or you can use a personal or historical story as you go about doing that. 

A couple of other techniques that aren’t necessarily narrative in the introduction is asking a question or questions.  You may be trying to solve a problem anyway, so you may want to restate that problem in the form of a question.

Another technique you can use in the introduction is interesting, unique, or funny thoughts at the beginning of your writing

So use narrative techniques.

Details, Details, Details

Also, use details.  Sometimes, you need to have some details just to help with the clarity of your writing. You can also add sensory details.  Talk about the smell, or sound, or the sounds in the setting.  Use those sensory details.  Sometimes, those sensory details relate to emotions.  If you are involved in sales, many people tell you that people buy from emotions as well as from want.  So use sensory details.  Add emotional triggers where that’s appropriate to do so.

This is the second technique.

Keep it Simple

Third, use simplicity.  Abraham Lincoln said if you have the choice between a simple word and a complex word, and the simple word will convey the proper idea, use the simple word.  That was good advice coming from our 16th president.  Use short or clear words where you can.

Use short paragraphs.  One of the ways to use shorter paragraphs may be contrary to what you were once taught in school.  In the old way of writing books, you may have had 2-3 long paragraphs per page.  One of those paragraphs may have included five items within that paragraph.  And that is a proper way of doing that.  You would have a topic sentence, then you would enumerate the 5 items, and you may have a clincher sentence at the end.

The more modern way of doing that is to make that 5 paragraphs and have the topic sentence in the first paragraph with the first point, and the second item would be the second paragraph, third- third paragraph, fourth- fourth paragraph, and fifth – fifth paragraph.  Or, you may have six paragraphs, with the topic sentence being a paragraph on its own, introducing that topic.  You may even make it seven paragraphs, having a “clincher” paragraph/sentence at the end.

You’ll notice in a lot of online writing, a lot of blogs, and a lot of areas where you observe writing techniques, you’ll notice in modern-day copywriting, there is a lot of “white space,” or there is a line between the paragraphs, which gives more white space.  That is if you have black letters on white paper, which is how it’s usually done. 

So, use simplicity.  Use short paragraphs and short, clear words, and white space where possible.

Variety is the Spice of Life

The last technique is to use variety.  You can use variety in sentence lengths.  I know I said to use short sentences, but don’t use only short sentences.  If you do that, they will be like little bullets one right after the other.  So you want some variety in sentence length.  Many of them will be shorter because you made a conscious effort to do that, but some should be longer so you have variety. 

Also, use variety in the sentence types. You have simple sentences, you have compound sentences, and even compound-complex sentences.  You may want to use several short sentences, but for variety, you should throw in compound, and compound-complex sentences.  Use variety in sentence length and types.

Another thing you can do is use variety in points of view.  If you are using stories, either fiction or nonfiction, to illustrate your points, you can tell them from the first-person point of view.  You may have been talking about something that was a personal experience.  In that case, you would say, “I did this. I did that.”

Another story may relate to someone else and you may speak about that in the third person.  Sometimes, you can tell a story about someone else, and you can tell it as though you are that character.  You should make clear to your reader that you are not that character, but you can tell it in first-person.

If you’re writing conversationally, many of your sentences will be the second-person point of view where you’re addressing the reader as “you.”  Or you could do a third-person point of view.

Think of each story as a scene in a movie.  You just don’t want to change the point of view within the scene or illustration.  The first story may be from the first-person point of view, and the next may be a third-person point of view.  Just don’t mix the two within the same illustration.

In Summary

These are some nonfiction writing techniques that can make your chapters or articles more interesting.
1. Use narrative items.
2. Use details.
3. Use simplicity.
4. Use variety. 

For more writing tips, head to Randy’s Blogs. On the top of the page, you’ll find a heading labeled “writing”. There is a lot of helpful information there. This article relates to the idea of steps to writing success.

To get even more help and advice, check out my book, ” How to Write a Book in 28 Days Without Stressing Yourself to Death”. Just go to Amazon.com, type in the full title in the search bar, and you’ll be able to purchase either an eBook or a print book. ( Note, the book is officially launching in November, 2021. I encourage you to participate in the launch. There will be some perks during the launch.)

I hope this has been helpful for you. Happy writing!

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Writing Non-Fiction Books: Steps to Success

There are three simple steps to success for non-fiction authors. Here, I will explain how to lay out a book plan and get started writing a great book. Writing non-fiction books is one of the best ways to start as an author.

Step One: The Big Idea

Come up with a big idea.  Figure out what the reader’s main desire is.  Figure out what the reader wants to accomplish. Another way of looking at that is what is the main problem he or she wants to overcome?

What Problem Are You Solving?

Figure out the problem you’re going to solve.  You may have already done that trying to figure out the big idea. If you haven’t now is the time.  Look at a specific problem that the reader would like to have solved.  Also, think about what are his/her past obstacles in this area.  They obviously haven’t overcome those or they’d have no need to read the book you’re planning on writing. So, figure out the big problem that you’re going to solve.

List the Steps

List steps taking the reader from where they are now to where they want to be. How do you get started?  That’s often the main question for someone trying to solve a problem.  Just where do you start?  Analyze that situation and help them answer that question. Another thing is to figure out is what obstacles will have to be overcome to get the reader from where they are now to where they want to be. 

Once you have those general ideas for your steps, then figure out what is the first baby step to take.  List that first.  Then think about other steps that will lead them to the best chance for success in that area.  Then, list the steps in the best order.  It may be chronological, or some other way.  Whatever is the best order.  Try to come up with at least 8 steps.  You have the general idea of how to get to the solution, just keep breaking that big idea down into smaller steps.

In Summary

You can come up with a concept for your book…that’s the big picture.
You can identify the problem that the writer wants solved.
You can break the journey into progressive steps.
You can lay out a plan for your book!

If you are an author or aspiring author, and you want to learn how to make this process even easier, go to Amazon and search for my newest book, “How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less Without Stressing Yourself to Death” by Randy Carney. If you are reading this before October 15, 2021, you may want to wait until launch week on October 15, where you can get a discount for a limited time.

You can get more writing tips by clicking here.

Thank you for reading.  I wish you much success in your writing adventures!

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Writing Nonfiction eBooks

writing nonfiction ebooks

Writing nonfiction eBooks can be a great way to get your writing career off the ground. It’s often easier and quicker than going the traditional route.

There are four main steps processes involved. The first is coming up with a general idea. Next is coming up with a more specific plan. After that, is the execution of the plan. Finally is the publishing step, and you have your end result.

The Big Idea

Having a general idea is all well and good.  But an important aspect is finding out what, exactly, your readers are interested in.  They want to know things related to what you are interested in.  You’ll need to do a survey.  Ask people what problems they have and need to be solved and what they are interested in.  Then the trick is to discover what you want to write about, what you know about, and what they want to read about.  Find the overlap, and you’ll have your idea.  You can write your eBook on what you want to write about and also help people with what they want to read about. 

The Plan

Now you move on to the plan You came up with the overall theme, or “big idea”, for your book. What is your book about, in a nutshell?  You need to be able to state that in a paragraph or even one sentence. 

Next, it’s time to come up with 10-21 working chapter titles.  A few more than that is ok.  Sometimes, if you start getting too many chapters, you can combine ideas.

Then you want to come up with chapter plans.  This is very important.  Come up with points for each chapter.  Here’s a secret:  It’s much easier to write an answer to questions.  After coming up with 9-15 points for your chapter, turn those into questions.  Then, for each question, give yourself little hints as to what you’re going to write as an answer to those questions.  Lay that out for the whole book.

The Execution

Write daily.  Figure out how many minutes a day you can write.  Make it at least 30 minutes, up to 75 minutes a day.  If you can write 75 minutes a day, you can complete a rough draft of a 20 chapter 200 page book in about 20 days.  The key is to write daily.  Another key is to write a fast rough draft.  Power through and get your rough draft done quickly.  Just write, and do the editing later.  Some people do prefer to edit daily, which is fine, but it will take longer each day if you do it that way.  Just make sure you write every day and complete your daily goals.  Doing it this way, you’ll be able to complete a rough draft fairly quickly and move on to editing.

You are the best editor for your book because you are the most familiar with what you want to say.  It does have some drawbacks when it comes to proofreading.  When you are proofreading your own work, your mind knows what you want to say, so sometimes it will put in a word when it’s not actually there.   So, edit your book after doing the first rough draft.  If you have the money and the inclination, you can hire a professional editor to help.

Publishing – The End Result

After the idea, plan, and execution, we come to the final step, which is publishing.  If you are writing an eBook, I recommend self-publishing.  If you’re doing both an eBook and a print book, then you have other ways you can go.  If you do that, you can go 4 different routes. 

First is traditional publishing.  You’ll need to compose a good query letter and book proposal.  You would then send those off to prospective agents.  Then the agent would find a publisher for your book.

The second route is self-publishing.  Especially with eBooks, you can come up with a PDF file that you can sell from your website.

The third route is using Kindle Direct Publishing.  I have no connection with them, other than the experience of having worked with them in the past.  They will allow you to publish a print book around the same time that you publish your eBook.

Another possible route is a hybrid publisher.  It has some of the best aspects of traditional and self-publishing.  They will offer you additional services, which you would have to pay for.  They may offer editing services, marketing services, or cover design.

You have the idea, you have the plan, and you have written the book.  Now get it published.  Since we’re talking about a non-fiction eBook, I recommend either self-publishing via a PDF file on your website, or through Kindle Direct Publishing.  You would then have it listed on Amazon.com

I hope this has been helpful.  If you’d like more information, please visit Randy’s Blogs.  If you would like a more in-depth explanation, go to Amazon.com and look for my newest book, “How to Write a Book in 28 Days Without Stressing Yourself to Death” by Randy Carney.

Have a wonderful day!

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Writing Nonfiction PDF Books – A Great Way to Start

writing nonfiction ebooks

Here is another post on writing. Specifically, about writing nonfiction PDF books. They are a great way to get started! Even if you’ve never written a book before, you can do this. If you have a computer and the capability of saving your files as PDF files, you’re ready to go.

Do you have a real book?

Several years ago, many people did not consider eBooks, or PDF books, to be real books. Then Amazon developed this thing called “Kindle.”

Not long after that, eBooks increased in popularity and credibility. Actually, in some years, Amazon sells more digital books than print books. I don’t know the current statistics on that, but I remember a few years ago that the number of digital books (eBooks) exceeded the number of print books that were sold during that year through Amazon.

They Practically Became Equals

What that meant was, that eBooks increased in popularity and credibility. In effect, they became “equals” to print books. A print book was a real book, and an eBook was a real book too.

Give People What They WAnt

When people want a book, they want what they prefer. I actually like holding a book in my hands and being able to rifle through the pages. I have also bought many eBooks, and I really like those too. So, some people will want a print book, some will want an e book, and some will want both.

I Highly recommend you do both

Now, even though I’m talking here about using a PDF file to get started with your book, I really think that you should have the goal to do both. Because once you have your eBook written and set up, and you’ve learned how to format it yourself, you just have so much of what is needed to send the file off for a print on demand (POD) print book. So I think that you should have the goal of doing both.

The distribution won’t be as wide, but it is a place to start

The way to get started is to simply to produce a PDF book. Of course, if you have it set up only as a PDF book, your distribution will not be as wide as it would if it was available via Kindle, Mobi, or an ePub format, but you will still have a book and it will be a real book. It will be a book that you can sell right from your own website. Some of you reading this may already have your own websites. If you do, then you are good to go, and you can get started with your own PDF book

8-1/2 by 11 produces a real book

PDF stands for portable document format. It’s something that’s often used to send things through email, because the file is not as large as it is in other formats. It’s also easier to use. You can produce an eight and-a-half by eleven real book. That’s just the easiest way to do it. Use your preferred word processing platform, Microsoft Word, for example. You can then set it up as an eight and-a-half by eleven, and come up with your own cover page. Then, learn about other pages you need, copyright pages and such, by looking at other books. Be sure to add them.

be consistent with size and formatting

Then you can just produce an eight and-a-half by eleven real book. You need to be consistent with the size of the words in different parts of your book. You can make the title whatever size you want it to be; of course it will be larger than the chapter titles, headings, and subheadings. Then figure out what size you want and just be consistent. Use the same type of formatting and style for the chapter titles, and do the same for each type of heading every time. If you use subheadings, again, be consistent with the formatting and style.

So, the title of the book, chapter titles, headings and subheadings: Be sure you’re consistent with what you are doing so that they all look like.

next steps

Once you get all that done, and you’re satisfied with the book, what’s next? You may have hired an editor to look at your book and go over it for you. Maybe you had a writing group look it over, give you all the input that you need, and you’re satisfied, and you think you have a book.

Get your cover page on there. You can hire someone to produce a good cover for you, but you also can do some yourself. If this is your very first book, and you’re experimenting, you might want to produce your own cover.

get a way to accept payment

Now, you can sell it from your own website. Get a shopping cart of some type or go to PayPal where you can accept payments, and then sell your eBook. It is a real book, especially nowadays. So that’s one way of getting started in the self-publishing world.

basis for print books

Once you have all that done, go back to your word processing file, go over to Kindle or some platform like Lulu.com or48 hour books, (I don’t get any kickback for mentioning those names) read their instructions, and you will have what you need to have a print book produced also. Then you will have an e book, and a print book, and you definitely would have a real book then.

If you did it through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), you certainly would have that book available on Amazon where people could find it. Some people say, “That’s another mark of having a real book, when it is on Amazon.”

So, here’s a nonfiction writing tip: writing nonfiction PDF books are a great way to start, especially if it’s a first book for you.

If you’ve watching this on YouTube, or in the link above, I encourage you to subscribe to my channel. There, you’ll be able to get more tips like these. Here on the blog post, you can go to the top of the page and click on the word “writing”, and you will find many many more tips.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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Writing Nonfiction Articles – A Good Addition to Writing Your Books

When talking about writing nonfiction articles, we want to talk about where you can have these articles placed, the length of the articles, the research required, the structure, and the best places to put your articles.

Jill, heard the phone rang. She ran and answered it. She heard from an editor of a magazine that she had been hoping to write for. Then she woke up.

Wouldn’t it be good if you were to have a magazine editor call you and offer you an opportunity to write an article? Not only to write one article, but to write many short nonfiction articles, on any topics that you are passionate about, as many articles as you wish, with no chance of rejection! Well, that would be an even greater dream for Jill, and for us.

Where Can I Publish My Articles?

Let’s talk about where we can put articles. It can be in magazines, on websites, and they can some sections of newspapers.

How Long Should I Make My Articles?

What about the length of your articles? If you do some research on this, you will find one site says anywhere from 800 to 1000 words, while another site says 500 to 1500 words, and another one says 300 to 1000 plus So let’s just take the outside parameters of that and say 300 to 2000 words.

Considerations for Research

We also need to think about the research that’s involved. What kind of information do you need, and then how much information do you need? That will depend on how many words you’re shooting for. Where is the best possible place to get it?
Well, think about what you’ve ever read on this topic. Think about what you’ve ever thought about this topic – you have your own research. Think about what you have written. Then turn to outside sources.

Now, the internet has provided us a wonderful thing in being able to do a search on many different topics. So you can go do some online research. But whenever you do this, need to be a little more careful maybe then in the past on checking some of the sources for online articles or information. You may find three different places that say about the same thing, and you discover that they got all their information from the same place. So just be careful in checking out where you get your information when you’re verifying it.

Then you can talk to interesting people. If you know somebody who is an expert in the field or somebody that has experience in the area, you can interview them. Now you can even do that from a distance. You could do it over the phone or Skype or Zoom or some other online platform. Of course you could meet with them in person too.

Next, you’ll want to add some interest factors. These could be interesting facts that are related to your topic; maybe not directly related to what you’re writing about but you can throw in an interesting fact or two. You can start throw in some humorous items, that are related to your topic in general. Also, as I mentioned in the last post, you could add some stories that would illustrate your point.

So, we talked about where, and the length, and the research. Then you want to structure your article. It would have a beginning, a middle and an end.

The beginning you want to try to hook your reader, tell them why they need to read your article, and state the main point your article. In the middle, you will have more paragraphs that give more detail. Then at the end you tie it all together.

Where is the best place to put your articles? I mentioned magazines at the beginning. Those are still good, maybe harder, may not be as good as it used to be. Also newspaper. You could pitch an article to newspapers. Or, you could place them on a website. Probably the best website would be your own website, where you would have your own website and your own articles.

By placing these articles on your own website, you will be building a platform. Then when you get ready to write your book, you can pitch the idea to an agent who would contact a traditional publisher for you. One of the things they will be interested in is your platform. Do you have a platform and a following? One of the best places to build that is on your own website or own blog.

One of the reasons for having your own site or blog, building a platform of course. But think about it: You are in complete control of your writing; you own all of that content. You get to write on topics of your choice. You have no boss to answer to except yourself, you set your own hours, you can take off whenever you want, and you can write from anywhere.

I hope that you will consider writing nonfiction articles.I hope this has been helpful to you. If it has, and you’re reading this on my blog, and if you’d like more tips like these, then just go to the top of the page and click on the word “writing”, and you will find many articles about writing there. You can find the blog at www.randysblogs.com Please also check out my YouTube channel and subscribe for more great content.

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How to Write Nonfiction | Turn Your Knowledge into Words

How to write nonfiction – Turn your knowledge into words that can be shared in books and articles. Your life has given you a lot of experiences. From those experiences, you have gained knowledge. That knowledge can help people, and that’s what you want your book to do. But how do you go about putting that knowledge into words?

Writing From Mountains to Molehills

Several years ago, I wrote a book called From Mountains to Molehills: Overcoming and Celebrating Your Differences in Marriage.

The process of writing this book was easier than it was for some of the others That was because I already had some chapters written from a previous book that was divided into six parts.

I later decided to revise the original book, but then I decided instead to write a series of six books. Each new book corresponded to one of the parts in the original book. So, I had several chapters that related to that content that was about “Overcoming.” I think there were probably about 40 or 50 pages that came from those chapters. To come up with the new book, I thought more about the topic. How could I expand it from about five chapters to anywhere from 12 to 20 chapters? The final product ended up being 14 chapters after I got it all put together.

Then I thought more about what I had covered in the chapters that were in the “overcoming” part of the original book. As I thought about that, I looked for the gaps. What else did I need to talk about on that topic? Then I did research.

Part of that research involved putting out a survey, and surveying other books that related to this topic. Then I went back and filled in the gaps, and outlined those other chapters. Having completed that research, I was able to finish the book.

After that, I was able to go in and put in some of my own personal touches. I added some personal stories out of our own lives. Then, as I recall, I made up some fictional stories in that particular book and put those in at the beginnings of the new chapters. They were stories of Ralph and Elizabeth. Of course, Ralph and Elizabeth were not people that I really knew, rather they were composites of people who were experiencing the things that I was talking about.

Brainstorm What You Know

First of all, brainstorm what you already know. Just get a piece of paper, and start writing down ideas on that piece of paper. Set a timer for 15 minutes and write as quickly as you can. After the timer goes off, set it again if the ideas are still flowing. Keep doing this until things slow down and you run out of ideas. At this point, things will not necessarily be in order. After that, one of the ways that you can handle that brainstorming and reorganizing would be to put little symbols beside the topics. For instance, sometimes I put a little box beside sentences or phrases that are similar. Next, I find another group of similar phrases or sentences, and I put a circle beside those to differentiate between them and those with the boxes. You can think of other symbols for that purpose. I remember using a triangle one time when I did that. I also remember using a 5-pointed star, and an asterisk. I was able to group those ideas together. So you use a process like that to brainstorm what you already know.

Look for the Gaps

Then, you try to find the gaps. Ask yourself, “Will this cover the topic? Will this give my audience the help that they really need?” Once you answer those questions, you can do further research.

Research for Info to Fill the Gaps

When you find the areas where the information is lacking, it’s time to research your topic. With that added information, you can come up with chapters to fill in the gaps.

Get the Rough Draft Done

The next step is the most important: Get the rough draft down, just get a draft down. In most cases, that will help.

Some people are really good at writing and editing the same day. If you do that, then you just need to have a word count for each day. Others do really well by just rough drafting each day until they’ve got the whole book done. Sometimes those people use a timer, and write those sections until the timer goes off. They have a time goal for the day instead of a word-count goal. Then they go back and do the editing and refining. Either way though, get the rough draft down.

In some of the coaching that I do, I help people with writing rough drafts of books. I have two different methods of fast writing that can be used. I also have two different methods of how they can “talk” their content out. They can utilize their phone, even do a live video like my “Walking with Randy” videos. They have an outline, and speak the book. There are two different methods for doing that, but going into more detail goes beyond the scope of this blog post.

So, you brainstorm, fill in the gaps, research, and get the rough draft down. After that, you make it even more interesting.

Add Your Personal Touches and Stories

Go in and add your own personal touches and stories. Now the stories don’t all have to be yours, they can be stories of other people (with their permission to tell their stories). But, tell your stories where you can. That adds the personal touch. You can also make up stories that are actually composites of people you know. That’s what I did in the case of Ralph and Elizabeth.

You have knowledge, and you have knowledge that will be helpful to other people. I hope that this blog post will help you to be able to turn your knowledge into written words.

So, how to write nonfiction-turn your knowledge into the words. Again, I hope this has been helpful to you.

I will remind you that you can go to Randy’s blogs.com to get more writing tips like these. If you are already on the blog, you can click on the “Writing” tab on this page.

You can also get videos like this on YouTube. I would even recommend that you subscribe to my YouTube channel to get a sample of more videos like these. if you are a subscriber, on a rainy day, you can binge watch the whole set!

Incidentally, if you are interested in the above mentioned, From Mountains to Molehills: Overcoming and Celebrating Your differences in Marriage,  you can find more info here.

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Writing Nonfiction Articles – Questions to Speed Your Way to the Cash

Today, I’m offering more tips that have to do with writing. So, writing nonfiction articles: the fastest way to the cash. These are some tips that will help you write nonfiction articles.

First of all, you want to do this because it is one of the fastest ways to get to the cash and it’s also one of the fastest ways to become prolific in what you do. There is a variety of topics that you can talk about with nonfiction. Of course with fiction, there are all kinds of stories that you can do too, but it seems to be a little bit harder. to come up with different variations of stories. However, with nonfiction, you can talk about all kinds of things, so you can come up with many, many more nonfiction articles.

The reason why I’m writing about this here is because it is possible to both be able to speed your way to being prolific and have many topics on which to write.

Think About Your Audience

Here is something that you should think about when you’re getting ready to write your nonfiction article: Think about your audience. Who is your audience? Who, most likely, would be interested in it? Is your audience male or female? Young or old?

You may not know the answer to all of those questions but sometimes you can get a pretty good handle on it if you go to the groups that are discussing the topics that you’re talking about. Also, if it’s something that you know a lot about, without having to do a lot of extra research, you are probably in your target market. You would know yourself some of the things your audience would need to know. So, first of all, think about your audience.

Think About a Problem

Second, think about a problem. What is the biggest pain that is associated with the topic that you’re discussing and the problem you’re trying to solve? What is it that would keep people awake at night? What would they have to overcome?

Think About the Solution

Next, think about a solution. What is the biggest benefit? What will they care about the most? What will bring them the most joy as a result of getting this solution? Will they be happy because of being able to do things more easily or more quickly? Will getting that solution help them make more money? Will getting that solution help them to be able to help other people? Will arriving at the solution give them a sense of fulfillment?

Think About the Steps to the Solution

Finally, think about the steps to the solution. Imagine that you’re standing on one side of a stream and the solution is on the other side. There are a bunch of stepping stones in the middle. Figure out what steps are involved in arriving at the solution. Do the steps have to be performed in a certain order? Do some of the steps build upon previous steps, or can they be placed anywhere between the problem and the final solution?

So there it is: writing nonfiction articles is the fastest way to the cash.


✅Think about your audience.
✅Think about a problem.
✅Think about a solution.
✅Think about steps to the solution

Nonfiction articles are the fastest way to become prolific. Yes, you become an expert when you write a book, but it takes so much longer to write a book than it does to write a short article. Some people get double mileage by writing articles for their blogs or for websites, and when they are ready to write their books, they can pull the articles from their blogs and then edit them to become chapters or parts of chapters for their books.

You can find places to put your articles by submitting them to article directory sites, like Ezine Articles.

Another way of using your articles is to put them on your own blog, or your own website. I have already mention how you could get double-mileage out of those articles. Search engines like to see websites that are updated frequently. You do that by continually adding articles that will bring value to your readers.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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Writing Nonfiction Narrative: How to Spice Up Your Helpful Information

Would you like to know how to get more people to read your helpful information?

John and Bill were mentioned in my last blog, Bill was having a problem with his Internet business. John saw a way that he could help his friend. He had very helpful information that he knew could help many people. But he could not get many to read it. Whenever he would go to his analytics, there were not nearly as many views of the articles as he would have wished. Then he tried some different things.

First of all, he started off telling, at the beginning his article, why the reader should read it.

Then he went to his analytics. He found that the number of views jumped up a little bit.

Then, whenever he told about why someone should read the article, he presented the problem. Then he agitated that problem a little bit before he gave the solution.

After he did that, he went to the analytics, and he was very hopeful. He clicked the button to look, but he was disappointed. Still, though, that result was better than what it was previously.

Then his friend John came along and gave him just one helpful suggestion. After implementing the one change, he kept clicking on his analytics report throughout the rest of the month. By the end of that time, he found his views had risen dramatically.

There was just one simple suggestion that caused that great result to come about. What was that suggestion? Here is the answer: John simply told Bill to add some stories.

We’re talking about writing nonfiction narrative Of course the word “narrative” is where the story-telling comes in.

What is A Narrative?

Let’s look at the definition of nonfiction narrative: It would be similar to historical fiction. Maybe in its truest sense, it would be one narrative that would go throughout the whole article, story, or book. There is another definition, though. That is, facts, told as a story, or facts that are illustrated by a story. That’s the one I’m focusing on. That’s the one that helped Bill’s views to jump dramatically.

You’ve probably discerned by now that Bill and John are composites of many different people, and yet these ideas are very true.

The Three Types of Narratives

In storytelling, you’re able to connect with your audience in a much better way. There are three types of narratives.

One of the first is to tell your own personal narrative.

The second one is to tell the experiences from your clients or your friends. You have to be careful with this one, though. If you have been engaged in confidential discussions, and you don’t have permission to use their names, then you must change the names and some other elements to present the facts, but to protect the innocent (or sometimes the guilty). Sometimes you will have permission to use other people’s stories.

The third kind of narrative will have fictional characters that are composites of many clients. They have true characteristics, and the facts, the things that are involved are true, but the character is a fictional character that has those true characteristics.

What Makes a Good Narrative?

What are some elements of good narrative. The first one has to do with the setting.
“They were standing in the desert. They had been there for several hours and the sun was going down. Though they’d been terribly hot, they had been told that the temperature would drop dramatically.”

There we are. We’re at the beginning of the setting for a good story. It helps you to identify with your audience. The setting should be similar to those to whom you’re writing. If you can involve the five senses in describing that setting, that helps create the image in the mind.

Then you want to introduce a main character. Since you’re doing these very short stories within the rest of your book, it’s best to focus on one character. However, you may have to introduce at least one more to have some type of conflict, setup, or to carry the story, but you focus on a single character.

When you introduce another character, you can make the story more interesting by including their dialogue.

Then you have the conflict. The conflict is related to the pain. It is related to the problem, and the problem can be agitated. It can be set up. The conflict, tells why there is a problem. It’s okay for things to repeatedly look like they’re going to succeed, and then fall apart. That makes for good fiction. So you have the conflict, you have the pain, you have the problem, and you have the tension and surprise.

At this point you can put in additional characters. Sometimes it’s man against nature. Sometimes it’s a person against a certain situation.

Then it builds to the climax. This is when the good finally triumphs. This is when the success finally overrules defeat. This is what this solution is. After that, you don’t really want to just cut it off abruptly. Sometimes you need to tie together the loose details,

The problem is solved. The satisfaction is there. This is where you dial it down a little bit, and perhaps you give a summary of the steps that were involved.

So those are some of the elements of putting stories within your nonfiction writing. Most of us like stories, and stories will keep us involved. Well, I hope that this has been helpful to you.

To recap, the elements of a good narrative are setting, character conflict, climax, and resolution.

If you’d like more writing tips like these, go to www.randycarney.com or www.randysblogscom. 

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