I do non-fiction writing -- and I don't do it enough.. It's kind of depressing me. I mean, over the course of a month I'll turn out pages and pages of notes, and then when I distill it, when I make it into something coherent, I'm left with 2 or 3 thousand words.. It's depressing. All the effort and little results! Any advice on how to write more -- and how to write more well?
Outline and research. Non-fiction writing isn't just summarizing notes into an readable format, but more of guideline and points that need to be talked and expanded upon if needed. Most non-fiction is geared towards informing someone on a subject, so a crucial part is knowing your audience. Are you writing for people that already have some basic knowledge of the subject you are covering, or are you writing it for an average person out there. Once you know your audience, you get a better understanding on how present work. Do you need to explain and cover the basics of a subject in order to talk about the more advanced, in-detailed stuff? Have specific points you are hitting throughout the text that tie to your overall message. You have a subject, but what point are your specifically trying to address? Once you know that, what things are necessary to understand that point and cover them in detail. Figure out the nature of your paper. Is it to explain, is to compare and contrast, is it dissuade or persuade, bring awareness? What is the purpose of your paper? Very rarely should it be a fact-sheet. Reference more from other texts, draw out w point by giving examples without being redundant, see if all your sources have uniform opinions on your subject, or see if they differ. And if they differ, where to they differ and why?
Do you write biographies? Articles? Blog? Whatever you write would determine what the best answer is. It appears you like the knowledge from researching but don't seems to enjoy the process of fleshing out what it means.
I think the key word is research. Research, study, find out, more and more about the subject you are trying to write about. Only when you become an expert on the subject are you qualified to write a book about it.
Have you read any other nonfiction books/movies? It would be wise to get a feeling of what nonfiction is in terms of reading it first before trying to write it. Then you can sit back and do some reasearch on the subject you're doing, and start writing.
Instead of writing 'pages and paged of notes' could you not write reference points of where to find the info. again should you need to. You could add grades as to points (1-10) as to the importance of the info. Also in stead of writing out pages - why not download what you need. As to how to write well - practice, practice, practice.
What are you writing about, and for what purpose? Does it all need to be such heavily researched writing, or could you find other topics that require less research? Most of my blog writing is nonfiction, but it's not particularly researched - I babble on about perfume, gardening, murder mysteries, whatever I want to write about. While that kind of opinionated rambling might not be what you want to write in the long term, it will give you more practice with just plain writing. ChickenFreak
