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Story Grid Writing Podcast

Non-fiction Conventions and Obligatory Scenes

Story Grid Writing Podcast

Shawn Coyne

Books, Language Learning, Authors, Education, Story, Publishing, Arts, Creativity, Writing, Fiction Writing

4.8767 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2017

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Non-fiction has specific genres, conventions, and obligatory scenes just like fiction, but they are, of course, a little different. Shawn and Tim delve into what it takes to write a great non-fiction book. See more at storygrid.com/podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to the Storygrid podcast. This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better writer.

0:07.9

I'm your host Tim Graal and I am a struggling writer trying to figure out how to tell a story that works.

0:14.2

Joining me shortly is Sean Coyne. He is the creator of Story Grid, the author of the book Story Grid, and an editor with over 25 years' experience.

0:23.1

In this episode, we continue talking about nonfiction and how to come up with the theme for

0:30.0

your nonfiction, how to edit it, and a lot in this episode is talking about the conventions and

0:35.8

obligatory scenes of your nonfiction work. So it's a really

0:39.1

great episode. I think you'll get a lot out of it. Even if you're not writing much nonfiction,

0:44.3

it's nice to hear the same ideas from a different standpoint. So let's jump in and get started.

0:51.9

So Sean, last week, we looked at the six story grid questions as it relates

0:58.9

to nonfiction, specifically the book I'm working on. And I got some more feedback in some other places

1:05.9

about the book. And, you know, we were talking about it. And, you know, I think it's good to step back again and talk about the difference between a how-to book and a big idea book.

1:21.4

Because, you know, some of the advice I got was, you know, basically rearranging the book so it makes more sense.

1:30.0

And I was kind of like, okay, so I could do that and, you know, make it, you know, flow a little better.

1:35.4

And then when, you know, I sent that feedback to you, you're like, well, this is still trying to make the book a how-to book, not a big idea book.

1:44.6

So I'm, and then I spent a little time.

1:47.1

I wrote probably a thousand words, some of it answering the questions, the six questions,

1:53.6

and a bulk of it, just kind of free writing about the book, kind of flailing around,

1:57.8

trying to figure out exactly what it is I'm trying to say with it and

2:02.2

still struggling with that.

2:03.7

But anyway, I'd like you to just talk a little bit more about like the difference between

2:09.7

a how to book and a big idea book and like examples of each.

2:14.0

Because before you had said, you know, this would be like a how to gardening book you know

...

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