by Jeanette Taylor | Jan 14, 2023 | Writing Tips
Captivate Fiction & Nonfiction Readers from the Start A lot rides on the opening, which determines whether—or not—readers will commit to your book. For this reason, it’s best to leave writing the first chapter in polished detail until you’ve completed the...
by Jeanette Taylor | Jan 3, 2020 | Writing Tips
The Writer’s Stance: Point of View and Tense Options Fiction and nonfiction writers often simply fall into a point of view (POV)—the narrator’s stance—on an intuitive whim, adopting either first-person (the I-position), second-person (addressing a ‘you’); or...
by Jeanette Taylor | Oct 10, 2019 | Writing Tips
How Stories Impact Our Brains Crafting a memorable fiction or nonfiction story requires compelling characters with unmet desires, specific and sensory details that fire the imagination, tension, setbacks, a tangible setting, and a delivery with universal appeal. It...
by Jeanette Taylor | Jan 7, 2019 | Writing Tips
Scene Writing in Fiction & Nonfiction A scene unfolds in the moment, dropping readers into the thick of a critical interaction or experience. Something important takes place and if there’s dialogue, it reveals characters’ strengths, weaknesses, and goals. There’s...
by Jeanette Taylor | Dec 6, 2018 | Writing Tips
When Should the Nonfiction Author Interrupt a Story to Offer Insights? Readers of nonfiction want glimmers of author interpretation, either within an underlying narrator’s ‘voice’, or overtly in first-person—but doing so in my current piece, a history of a...
by Jeanette Taylor | Sep 30, 2018 | Writing Tips
Tips for Organizing Research Material for a Nonfiction Writing Project Nonfiction projects, whether it’s a memoir, an essay about a natural disaster, or a community history, are backed by research. For memoir there are clippings, journals and contemporary accounts....
