By the time I wrote the following post 13 months ago, nonfiction authors and nonfiction readers were getting a lucky break. Check it out and then go have yourselves an outstanding summer that might even include some great reading and writing....
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Who woulda thunk it?
Nonfiction is on a roll! And it’s
largely because of a big game-changer called the Common
Core State Standards. What in the world is that? Well, it’s an educational initiative that has already
been adopted by every public school in 45 of these United States and in 3 territories
to boot. In my humble but admittedly prejudiced opinion,
the best part is this: The Common Core requires
that by senior year in high school, 70% of the books students read throughout
their entire curriculum have to be nonfiction.
Hoo-hah!! Ladies and gentlemen, it
is about time.
And there’s more. Instead of writing dreary papers that imitate the facts kids have to learn for testing purposes, they
are now being encouraged to write some truly interesting and thoughtful nonfiction literature of their
own. Here’s just one small example. To tempt the Youth of America to dip their
toes into nonfiction waters, the New York Times is holding its Third
Annual Summer Reading Contest, in which young people aged 13 to 25 are
invited to submit blog posts for possible inclusion on the Times’ educational
site. Check out last year’s winning post
by Elisabeth Rosenthal and tell me this isn’t a great idea. Here ‘tis: “Answer for
Invasive Species: Put It on a Plate and Eat It”
But
what if students like Elisabeth get psyched by
reading some truly outstanding nonfiction (insert brazen hint about INK
books here). And what if they get enough of a kick out of
writing brief nonfiction pieces that they want to write an entire book
of amazing-but-true
tales? Or come to think of it, what if
you want to write a nonfiction book your own self?
I recently helped a couple of fourth grade classes at Bogert
Elementary School in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, to do just that. The challenge was to take certain bland
basic material from the school’s curriculum and let the kids work together to
write and illustrate an exciting (and accurate) page turner that they would actually love to
read themselves. The kids came through like
champs and had a blast. And in the process, they soaked up the material
in their curriculum like a sponge.
Of course there’s more than one way to skin a cat. But maybe I can entice somebody out there to walk down
the author path by offering a few small tricks of my own for writing nonfiction
books that (I hope) can’t be beat.
1) PAIR YOUR TOPIC WITH A GREAT HOOK
Whether you pick a topic that you’d love to know more about,
or whether a teacher has assigned your kids to write about dry subjects from the
school curriculum, any budding authors out there should try hard to write stories
that fascinate. How? One way is to find a
great hook! I write about history,
and here are just a few of the hooks I’ve used ever since time immemorial for readers in different age groups:
- Drawing colorful, complex picture mazes in which readers have to wend their way through the accurate but amazing scenery of America’s Wild West, say, or Europe’s Middle Ages in order to reach the next pages in the story.
- Telling true tales from two completely opposite points of view.
- Picking a genuine hero from the past and telling his story via his 13 great escapes from danger.
2) BECOME A SPY
Everything in a nonfiction book has to be 100% true, and you
can never ever put your own words
into other peoples’ mouths either. So to
find the facts and to figure out what really happened and what people really said, you have to do tons of
research. That's when you get to become a spy! Snoop around till you can quote from the original letters,
diaries, speeches, and journals of your protagonists! Bravely interview people who were on the scene during a terrifying
event! Or rustle your way through dusty ancient
tomes written by responsible scholars until you uncover hidden clues.
3) USE THE MEAT AND SALT METHOD
“Meat” equals the
facts. Make sure you have them down pat.
“Salt” equals a tasty sprinkling of all the humor, interesting tidbits, unusual
facts, and clever or creative ideas you can lay your hands on in order to bring
your book to life. I love the salt part.
4) WRITE A PAGE TURNER
Every
single sentence you write has to be carefully crafted so that your
readers can’t wait to see what happens next. Read what you wrote out
loud to find out. Does it sound compelling enough? You may be surprised.
5) ADD PICTURES PLEASE
Everyone loves pictures, even grownups. It doesn’t matter if you can't draw your own cartoons
in a graphic novel. Try adding a bunch of your best photos from your cell phone or create
very some clever, colorful graphs with fancy lettering on a computer instead. Or if you have the chops, make Like Michelangelo.
In other words, just add your best pictures to the mix and more people will be likely to read your book.
Ellen Butts