You might hear fiction authors discussing ‘narrative arcs’ and ‘plotting’, but even non-fiction books need stories. Why? Because people engage more and remember better when there’s a story that brings your point to life.
The difference between a fictional story and a story in a non-fiction book is that your stories are about real people and situations. Typically, they’re shorter too.
What makes a good story?
There are various ways to use stories in a non-fiction book. You could simply tell an anecdote that demonstrates the point you are making, or you could do a more in-depth case study. Or a combination of both.
An anecdote usually describes a situation where the key character learns a lesson, takes a different action to get a better result or has an ‘aha’ moment.
A case study will usually have four key elements:
- The current situation – before you got involved
- The brief the client provided
- The solution you put in place
- The outcome for the client
If you have a quote from the client and permission to use it, better still. This will make a neat ending to number 4.
While anecdotes are generally written in an informal style, case studies often end up being more formal – but, if you’re using a case study in your book, my advice would be to keep your style consistent with the rest of the content.
A more formal style may work well on your website or in a report-style document, but when you’re writing a book, you’ll probably need to ‘soften’ it a little, to make it sound more conversational.
Stories can be about you, about a client (with their permission) or about a third party. But don’t make them up!
If you need to protect confidentiality, you may need to change names or industry specifics, but you need to keep the scenario authentic. People can usually spot when stories are fictional!
My tip is – change the gender, people often recognise themselves, even if the name has been changed, but rarely realise it’s about them if the gender has changed.
Bring your stories to life, help your reader to get a feel of the main character, who they are, what they’re struggling with, what they want to achieve. Include colour – what they’ve been doing so far, how they feel about the situation. Describe your interactions and why and how you arrived at the solution for their situation.
When it comes to the ‘punchline’ (the outcomes), make sure you include the real benefits, not just the facts. Answer the question in your reader’s mind ‘So what?’
Story telling is a craft – practise on your blogs and you’ll hone your skill.
