A discussion I had with my wife after posting yesterday’s blog entry made me think about how I teach people to write books. I’ll try to lay it out for you in brief here, so that you can see if this fits your thoughts.
My market for my book-writing products and services has been, to date, anyone who has professional knowledge they want to share with clients. They have a body of knowledge, and a method (perhaps more than one) for applying it to the needs of their clients.
So my book-writing “secret” is simply this: If you want to write a book quickly, you must complete the structure–a simple outline–before you do any writing. And I mean ANY writing.
If you do this, your path from finished outline to finished book is just days long; maybe even hours.
But how do your produce the structure?
Steven Johnson, the author I mentioned yesterday, describes his process: He spends months collecting pieces–notes, quotes, websites, articles, etc.–without being quite sure what the book looks like, or even what it is precisely about. That emerges as he sifts through the stuff.
Important distinction: My method does not necessarily offer anything to replace this process; it’s really not intended for this type of explorer. My ideal client already has a body of knowledge, and a way that she teaches it to her clients. So she can start her structuring process by simply clustering; it will all pop up.
Steven Johnson’s approach is for getting to the point when structuring is possible.
Now, I believe he could benefit from clustering, and from understanding the diamond (if you don’t know what these are, use the “search” above to find my explanations). And maybe he does, but just didn’t mention them in that article.
I’ll have more to say over time about what must precede structuring. What are your thoughts?
