Finding The Narrative In Your Nonfiction – Erik Hane

The serious nonfiction books we love most are of course full of facts, research, and insight. But the difference between a good topic and a great book lies in not just the information, but the writing. It’s one thing to present a bunch of worthwhile thoughts to a reader, and quite another to bring these thoughts and this research to life in way that resonates and engages. The key to this is narrative, the backbone of the story you’re trying to tell, and fostering it throughout your nonfiction writing is a crucial step in keeping a reader’s attention. In this course, we’ll discuss issues related to creating and sustaining narrative in nonfiction. How do you find where your story is, or where it starts? How do you decide when and how to disperse your research and information? When do tangents and asides distract from your story, and when do they provide critical layering to your argument? The course will aim to prove that narrative is not only the main thrust of great nonfiction writing, but is also the foundation from which all other elements in a book are built.