Three Traps That Keep You From Writing Your Historical Non-Fiction Book
A search of the world wide web will turn up many sites that tell you how to write an engaging fiction book with fascinating characters, intriguing story lines, and compelling plot twists. On the other hand, there’s almost no guidance to writing historical non-fiction. I know. I just finished writing one. But there is an endless supply of rich stories that are waiting to be told by authors like you. If you have one of these books in you, but haven’t written yours yet, you may be falling into the traps shared by countless potential authors who, sadly, may never publish. The difference between those who dream, and those who publish comes down to understanding and avoiding the three classic traps that plague authors of the historical non-fiction book.
The difference between those who dream, and those who publish comes down to understanding and avoiding the three classic traps that plague authors of the historical non-fiction book.
Trap 1: Lack of focus
Most historical non-fiction books take many years to research and write. Over that period of time, an author can become enamored of all of the details of each and every sub-topic, and begin to get lost in the minutiae. As a result, the focus of the project can get lost, muddied by deep dives into the lives of the historical characters, and adding extraneous facts from the historical period that you are writing about. It’s important to have clarity about your message. And while you want to write the book that you want to read (that’s another article), you need to be cognizant of your readers and what they care about, because if they don’t care about your book, they won’t buy it, or recommend it to their friends. Selling books should be at least one of your end goals.
Trap 2: Not starting to write
There are all sorts of reasons that people don’t start writing. The classic, “I’ll start tomorrow,” is as true for writing as it is for diets. While your research may take years to complete, if you don’t start writing sooner rather than later, you will never get the book finished. Remember, books are rewritten, not written. You can always go back and fix things if your research turns up new and unexpected facts. But what if you want to write and you’re stuck on the first paragraph? What do you do then? This is where writing blocks of text that capture important anecdotes or issues becomes useful. Write the text as it occurs to you, make notes about what chapter each one belongs in, and keep going. If you write a little each day or week, even if you’re still researching, you’ll begin to see progress and the book will come together. The last reason people don’t start writing is they think that they’ll fail. The truth is that if you never put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, it is guaranteed that you will.
Trap 3: Not knowing when to stop
It is difficult to know when to stop researching. The fear is that there is some undiscovered archive of material or fundamental fact that will change everything. This is especially true if you are writing the first book about a heretofore unknown piece of history. (Just ask me.)
Experience will show that the farther along you get in your research, the less you will find as you go, because you’ve already discovered most of what’s available. Having a hard deadline to produce a draft will help you to know when to stop researching and finish writing. I say finish writing, because you’ve been writing all along, right? The other major reason that writers don’t stop researching is they know that there are holes in the story. This is an inevitable fact of life. Not every person left their papers and diaries behind to be discovered by future generations, documents were inadvertently burned in fires or otherwise lost. It may be that someday those holes can be filled in with new and exciting discoveries that come to the fore, but if you ever want to get the book out, you may have to move forward even with the holes. That’s what second editions are for.
Underlying all these traps is usually the fear of criticism. The truth is, you’ll be criticized. Somebody will disagree, or come up with a fact you missed, or catch an inconsistency or error, no matter when you stop writing or how long you wait. History is a work in progress. Publishing your book is just your contribution to that stream of information, and if people find it interesting and compelling, you will have done your job. Even if there’s more to be known.
If you’re passionate about your subject, then you almost certainly have a book within you. Don’t get shortstopped by these common traps. Now that you recognize what they are, they’re a challenge, not a barrier. So stop worrying and start writing!