✍️ Tandem Services Coaching and Editing: Transform Nonfiction Into Page Turners
Empowering you to write the stories of your heart and increasing your impact with a book. Helpful information for your writing career each month In this issue:
Craft: Brain Science and the Magic of StorytellingLast month we looked at brain science and how it works with fiction. Nonfiction writers often think story structure doesn’t apply to them. Wrong. Your reader’s brain craves the same pattern whether you’re writing a thriller or a business book. Here’s how to deliver it. Start with Your Reader’s WoundMaking Nonfiction Unputdownable: The Story Structure ApproachIn nonfiction, the protagonist is your reader. What’s their wound? What lie do they believe about themselves or their situation? A business book reader might believe “I’m not cut out to be an entrepreneur.” A parenting book reader might think “Good parents never lose their temper.” A fitness book reader carries “I’m just not someone who can stick with exercise.” Your introduction needs to name this wound explicitly. Call it out. Make them feel seen. “You’ve tried every diet, and nothing works. You’ve decided you’re just destined to struggle with your weight.” When readers see their wound on the page, they’re hooked. Create an Inciting IncidentYour book itself is often the inciting incident, but you need to create urgency within your pages. Why must they change now? What’s at stake if they don’t? Paint the picture of what happens if they keep protecting their wound. Then show them what’s possible if they heal it. This gap creates the tension that pulls them through your book. Your Promise is Their Story GoalThe external goal in nonfiction is your book’s promise—lose weight, build a business, improve relationships. But remember, what they really want is to heal the wound. They don’t just want to lose weight; they want to believe they’re capable of lasting change. They don’t just want business success; they want to prove they’re worthy of it. Case Studies as Plot ComplicationsHere’s where stories become essential. Each case study or example should show someone facing the same wound as your reader, trying to protect it while reaching for the goal, and initially failing or struggling. These stories let your reader’s brain practice the journey safely. Structure them as mini-versions of the larger arc. Show Sarah trying to launch her business while still believing she’s not good enough (protecting her wound). Show her early failures. Then show her breakthrough moment when she confronts the lie and changes her approach. Creating Progressive ChallengesYour chapters should escalate like plot complications. Start with easier mindset shifts and simpler actions. Build to harder truths and bigger challenges. Each chapter should feel like it’s pushing your reader closer to confronting their core wound while giving them tools to handle it. If you’re writing about productivity, don’t jump straight to “redesign your entire life.” Start with “notice where your time actually goes.” Build their strength gradually, just like a fiction protagonist gaining skills through trials. The Dark Moment PreparationAcknowledge that your reader will hit a wall. There will be a moment when the old lie feels true again, when they want to quit. Address this directly. “There will come a point, usually around week three, when you’ll think this isn’t working. When every voice in your head will scream that you’re the exception, that you really can’t change.”Name it. Normalize it. Then give them the tools to push through it. The Epiphany FrameworkYour book needs to build to a crystallizing moment of understanding. This isn’t just information—it’s transformation. The reader needs to see their lie for what it is. Use a powerful story, a reframe, or an exercise that creates this shift. One business book does this by having readers write their own obituary from two perspectives: continuing with their current lie versus embracing their capability. The contrast creates the epiphany. Resolution Through ActionFiction ends with the character demonstrating their change. Your nonfiction needs the same. Give your reader a clear way to immediately apply their new understanding. This isn’t just an action step—it’s proof they’ve changed. They couldn’t have done this action at the beginning because they still believed the lie. The Secret Weapon: Your Own StoryThe most powerful nonfiction books include the author’s journey with the same wound. You’re not the guru on the mountain; you’re the guide who’s walked this path. Share your black moment. Share your epiphany. This gives your reader’s brain a complete template to follow. Practical Application Checklist:
The Nonfiction Story TestAsk yourself: Could someone describe your book as a journey? Can they articulate where the reader starts emotionally and where they end up? If your book is just information without transformation, you’re writing a manual, not a story. Your reader’s brain doesn’t care if you’re teaching accounting or astronomy—it wants to go on a journey from wounded to healed, from believing the lie to knowing the truth. Give it that journey, and your nonfiction becomes impossible to put down. Where you can find meI’ll be teaching at the Author Learning Center this month on Everything Editing: What it is, how to do it, and how to hire it out on Wednesday, November 19 at 10:30 a.m. PST. You can register here. 📺 Tandem Services has a YouTube page! Check it out at YouTube.com/@TandemServices Want personalized writing advice? Share a writing, editing, or publishing hurdle you have faced or a question you have and I will email you an autographed copy of Eat the Elephant: How to Write (and Finish!) Your Book One Bite at a Time and send you a personalized five-minute video. Click here to find out more. This month’s resource recommendationsIt’s one thing to write a book. It’s another to launch it into the world. My colleague Lisa Jones has done just that, crafting a book launch strategy, street team, and setting yourself up for the best algorithm success. Her quick weekend course will show you how to do it all. Check it out here:https://www.financiallyawakened.co/rtbs-jc Black Friday SalesMake sure you open the emails from me in the coming weeks. I have some special Black Friday deals that are only available through affiliates like me from companies I use, trust, and recommend. So stayed tuned for some great deals on resources you need for your publishing toolbox. Writing quoteIf it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.–Seth Godin Pressing on! Jennifer PS—You should assume any link in this Update is an affiliate link. It costs you nothing more but gives me a few pennies. 🙂 |
