#6 in an occasional series on writing non-fiction.
If you are writing a book that is essentially creative, the crucial thing is that it works. If you are writing Teach Your Child to Swim! Or Build Your Own Microlight Aircraft, it is vital.
Cookbooks are a less extreme example; you should have made all the recipes you describe, using all the ingredients you list. So much is obvious. Less obvious is how you set down your culinary skills so others may bake in your wake. You may be an expert chef, but your reader is likely not to be. Literally they need to be spoon-fed each step of the way or you will start losing sections of your audience. For example, you are describing making moussaka; “next, pour on your bechamel sauce…”
Wait a minute, have you already described how to make bechamel sauce, and how to do it well? Personally, I’ve never managed it. Do not assume the reader has all the acquired knowledge and skill you have.
Similar arguments extend to the use of jargon, abbreviations, the names of tools and products. You may recommend a 0.5mm Rotring pen for drawing technical diagrams but is the 0.5mm Staedtler I have just as good? If describing that APC armed with a NATO standard GPMG does your book have a glossary, or have you at least already defined an APC (armoured personnel carrier) and GPMG (general purpose machine gun)? The more expert your target audience the less spoon-feeding they will need, but it underlines how you should understand who you are writing for.
Even if the target audience is assumed to have a level of skill, your manual should enable them to follow your instructions. Every one of your 101 New Origami Models must be able to be created with reference to your book.
I have read too many how-to books that pull back on the detail. Manuals on writing often throw out advice such as “build a mailing list!” but leave the reader asking “how?”. Too often, the author skates over the detail or throws out a couple of web addresses in lieu of diving down into the machinery. It’s lazy and it devalues the book.
A keep fit manual, a guide to renovating old bikes or a handbook on writing non-fiction alike need to deliver what they promise. There is a temptation to write quickly about a subject you know well, partly in the enthusiasm to see your book published, perhaps to avoid being pipped by a similar book appearing. You already know this stuff – but that’s when you need top-up research. Share your recipes with friends and see how they get along with your instructions. Ask fellow gym members to have a go at your fitness regime. Test your own product in the way a novelist would engage a beta reader for feedback on their romance. If the test volunteers have problems understanding this instruction or that diagram, then a fair number of your readers will too.
I’m testing my book on writing non-fiction by issuing sections as a blog – including this one. Comments and criticisms will be noted!
Well-composed pictures and diagrams always help, but make sure these tie in smoothly with the text and are placed so that the reader is not flicking around trying to find the relevant information.
I love table-top games but over the years have bought several that have clearly only been tested on a small circle of immediate friends of the rules writer. They know the writer, understand where they are coming from, share interests, and chat regularly. The rules manual may work for them, but a wider audience finds gaps, lack of explanation and unsatisfying outcomes. Cue a stream of updates and FAQ on the author’s websites and some grumpy reviews by enthusiasts. Test your work beyond your circle of mates.
Be aware of generational issues. Millennials may be far more comfortable with technologies and techniques developed since AD 2000 than Boomers, but may have less knowledge of the more hands-on skills required in the decades before. Modern cars are not maintained in the way classic cars are, while digital photography is a world apart from using film. Vinyl records, cassette tapes, compact discs and streamed music each come with a different experience. It’s easy to skate over detail without considering that the reader may not be of a similar age to you and may never have actually used a rotary dial phone, driven a car with a starting handle or posted a video to Tik Tok. Depending on your target audience you may need to include some background explanation so the reader is not befuddled from page 1.
To make your book as useful as possible, ensure information you present is still accurate. David Leffman, author of The Rough Guide to China offers this nugget of advice:
“I spent several decades researching travel guides to China, returning regularly to check that the books were still up to date. Background info relating to culture and history tended to hold up well; less so practical things like transport timetables and hotel quality – it wasn’t unusual to find formerly bright, spiffy accommodation reduced to a mildewed slum.”
Be confident in your mastery of the subject but write for people who are less confident and less competent. Imagine all the dumb questions you might hear if you were reading the book aloud to a class who will shortly be expected to apply it practically. Dumb questions are often the most fundamental questions, so make sure you answer them before they are asked. Everything in your book must work.
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