3 ms·
Ask HN: Tips on writing long-form non-fiction?
I'm currently in the midst of a pretty substantial non-fiction writing project (a series of critical essays altogether roughly the length of a short book).
I've written short essays before, but nothing of this scale. I've developed most of the ideas, fleshed them out, written rough explanations, etc. I know roughly how everything will string together. But I'm feeling kinda stuck and overwhelmed with the task before me, of assembling everything together, knowing where to put what, concerned whether I'll over-explain or repeat myself, etc etc.
One particular problem I'm experiencing is that, while I know and remember all the points I'm trying to make, I feel like I've kinda "lost touch" with some of them, like I'm just robotically piecing ideas together. It's hard to explain, but I hope that makes some sense.
Obviously, I'll probably figure out some of these things as I go, but it'd be nice to hear how others have navigated big complex (non-fiction) writing projects like this.
So, writers of long-form non-fiction (or non-fiction book writers even): What's your process for navigating all this?
Thanks!
- eimrine 5y agoNot a writer, but have two tips. Learn touch-typing if has not been done yet and read Paul Graham's essay about writing an essay [1] because it is the best I have read about the topic. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html
- brudgers 5y agoGet an editor.
- warrenm 5y ago- Don't try to write it all at once - and that may include not even whole chapters at a time - Work with a good editor (or 3) - Get honest feedback from others - The best way of proofreading your own writing is to read it out loud like you were reading to a small child (if you can read it out loud and backwards, that's even better)
- samh748 5y agoThanks for these pointers! Though, could you elaborate on the first point? Like I get the idea but tangibly I'm coming up empty.
- warrenm 5y agoNothing says you have to write the whole book start to finish Or even a whole chapter start to finish You'll find, as you go, that your outline/plan will morph and shift as you go, that some part(s) will be better elsewhere, etc Don't be afraid to cut-out content, move it, reword it, etc Some things have to be done in order (you can't throw a roof up in the air and build the walls under it so it lands on them) ... but many things are not sequence-dependent during creation Keep this in mind especially if you're writing something of the "technical" or "reference" variety - your audience may (but probably won't) read it all in the order you wrote it. They could easily find half of chapter two to be where they start, move to the end of chapter nine, and back to the middle of four
- samh748 5y agoThis is so clarifying! Thanks so much!!
- Randolf_Scott 5y agoCreate Quotes - Shorten long ideas in few words Create paragraphs - Build a paragraph based on the quote Create chapters - Build chapter based on the paragraph Validate chapters - Find references that validate your: Quotes, paragraphs, chapters.
- chrisp_how 5y agoUse the spirit-mode construct; which is a writing technique. All writing shouldn’t go the same direction. It only appears that way. Finish your chapter, then travel back through it, citing the length-only. Once you have length, split it into length-by-idea, and now you’re measuring in another dimension. Keep all ideas the same length, to be completely professional. Good luck!
- samh748 5y agoSounds interesting, will definitely look into that! Thanks!