Just because you write non-fiction doesn’t mean you can’t be a good storyteller.
In fact, I heartily advocate using all the elements of fiction in your writing. This is often called “narrative non-fiction” and employs good storytelling in order to offer an important takeaway.
While strong characterization, dialogue, and context are important, the key is in the details. Details are what help a writer to heed the advice of “Show, don’t tell.”
What does this mean to a writer?
“It means to learning how to use descriptive details to give your story a sense of time and place and an emotional tone that will help readers feel what is going on the story as you relate it,” says writing expert Biff Barnes.
The key is to be specific.
For instance, compare these two sentences:
Both sentences get me to my truck and off to work.
But which one tells you more of the story? Obviously, #2 with many more details:
We communicate more clearly when we use the right words – not just “I walked to my truck,” but “I wearily shuffled.” Descriptive words. That’s why developing a wide vocabulary is important!
Don’t just tell about the beautiful evening by the shore. Help your readers experience it the way you did – involve their senses. Is it warm? Is there a breeze? Can you hear waves lapping on the shore? What music comes from the nearby restaurant? And why do the smells make you suddenly hungry for fish and chips?
But in order to provide details in your non-fiction story you must be a person who chooses to notice.
To be attentive to life. To slow down long enough to observe the details of what and who surround you. And then to filter those details through your own mind so that you can portray them realistically, empathetically or critically to others, depending on what you are communicating.
This week a friend of mine died of cancer. Now, if I were writing about some of the spiritual and practical lessons I learned while walking with her through this process, I might utilize the narrative non-fiction format of storytelling. I would present dialogue, scenery, and characterization, to help make you feel that you are there with me in the hospital as I visit her. So that you totally understand my frustration when I say or do the wrong thing; my despair at not being able to comfort her grieving family. And by my giving details, you the reader will take away some of the very lessons I learned in this real life experience. But perhaps you will learn it better through story than through a bulleted how-to article.
But there’s no way I can be the kind of writer who offers this to my reader unless I am the kind of person who assimilates life through noticing. Taking time to filter and process. That’s why good writers are deliberate and focus on others. That’s why we choose to relish the moments and to listen and to look deeper.
I cannot be a writer of details if I am always on the run.
Our readers don’t want us to tell them how to feel something or even what to feel. They want us to help them experience the situation so vividly that the lesson or emotion is naturally awakened within them.
Author Cec Murphey says that we “show” (not tell) when we present a picture to our readers. “Good writing draws a picture for us and pulls us into the scene. Good writing is subtle. I can insert one simple detail and it conveys more than a paragraph of telling statements.”
Learn how to develop details in your writing. Take a walk and be especially attentive to all around you. Jot down what every sense experienced. Watch people and practice describing them with precision, not just what they’re wearing, but their demeanor or attitude.
You will not only become a better storyteller, but perhaps a kinder person as well.
“Our life story is multilayered and filled with wonder;
our task is to stop our activity long enough to notice the details.”
– Vinita Hampton Wright
Your Asheville Christian Writes Conference assignment:
Assignment 6 - Creative Non-Fiction
2/15/2021 12:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 5 - Don't Waste Your Conference Experience
2/6/2021 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
January 31, Assignment 4 - Bring Your Characters to Life
1/31/2021 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
January 24, Assignment Four - Time to Shoot the Weasel Words
1/24/2021 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 3 - The Role of Speaker Tags and Beats
1/21/2021 7:34:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 2 (2 of 2) Week of January 10
1/13/2021 7:00:00 AM by: Andrea Merrell
January 10, Assignment 2 (1 of 2 assignments)
1/10/2021 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 1 - ACWC January 5 - Let's Start with a Bio
1/5/2021 11:25:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 8 & 9 - Titles & Sentences - Nancy Lohr
2/13/2020 7:29:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Assignment 7 - What in the World is a One Sheet - Andrea Merrell
2/7/2020 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
February 1 - Assignments 5 & 6 - Linda Glaz
2/1/2020 7:31:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Sensory Perception Enhances Your Writing - Assignment 4
1/26/2020 10:09:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Don't Write Your Bio - Write WHY ME? - Assignment 3
1/18/2020 7:00:00 PM by: Bob Hostetler
How to Make the Most of Your Conference Experience - Assignment 2
1/18/2020 4:15:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Appropriate Emails - [email protected] - Assignment 1
1/11/2020 7:47:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
How Not to Get an Agent - Assignment 7
2/10/2019 5:47:00 PM by: Bob Hostetler
January 27 Assignment 5 -Storytelling Your Life Lessons
1/27/2019 8:55:00 PM by: Lucinda Secrest McDowell
It's Not What You Know; It's Who You Know - Assignment 4
1/20/2019 5:44:00 PM by: Bob Hostetler
Stay on Track with a Writing Schedule - Assignment 3
1/13/2019 7:35:00 PM by: Larry Leech
Assignment 2 - Finding Speaker Topics
1/5/2019 7:38:00 PM by: Beth Fortune
IMAGERY–WHEN THIS IS LIKE THAT
12/30/2018 9:00:00 PM by: By Ann Tatlock
Asheville Christian Writers Conference Privacy Policy
6/4/2018 8:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
2018 Writers Charge
2/18/2018 10:20:00 PM by: Cindy
Last Chance - Assignment 7
2/11/2018 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
An Adjective Safari - Assignment 6
2/4/2018 7:30:00 PM by: Denise Loock
Get in the Mood to Write - Assignment 5
1/28/2018 7:10:00 PM by: Larry J. Leech II
Getting Rid of “I” Disease - Assignment 3
1/14/2018 9:37:00 PM by: Andrea Merrell
Curb Your Adverb Addiction - Assignment 2
1/7/2018 7:30:00 PM by: Denise Loock
WHO ARE YOU? - Writing Your Bio
11/17/2017 7:30:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
WRITING IN A PICKLE
11/13/2017 9:45:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
THE NaNoWriMo CHALLENGE
11/10/2017 11:30:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
BRINGING YOUR CHARACTERS TO LIFE
2/12/2017 3:35:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
DON’T LET SPEAKER BEATS RUIN YOUR MANUSCRIPT
2/5/2017 3:43:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
HOW TO CRAFT GREAT DIALOGUE
1/30/2017 3:49:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
AVOID REPETITION AND WRITE TIGHT
1/20/2017 3:55:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
THE QUOTATION QUOTA – ASSIGNMENT 2
1/13/2017 3:38:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
ELIMINATE THE EXCLAMATION POINTS – ASSIGNMENT 1
1/7/2017 3:43:00 PM by: By Andrea Merrell
WRITING ADVICE FROM MARK TWAIN: WRITE WITHOUT PAY UNTIL SOMEBODY OFFERS TO PAY
12/22/2016 3:48:00 PM by: By Sandra Merville Hart
WHEN THE STORY STALLS IN THE MIDDLE
12/20/2016 3:51:00 PM by: by Sandra Merville Hart
WHO REALLY SELLS YOUR BOOKS ?
9/20/2016 3:53:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE APPOINTMENTS
9/16/2016 3:56:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
ARRRGH! ANOTHER REJECTION – CINDY SPROLES
9/12/2016 3:59:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
FROZEN IN PLACE – ICEY SELF-TALK TO FREEZE YOUR WRITING
9/8/2016 3:15:00 PM by: By Cindy Sproles
THE BIO – THE FRAGRANCE OF WHO YOU ARE
9/3/2016 3:21:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
THE PAIN OF UNSOLICITED
8/29/2016 3:24:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
REDUNDANCY: AN EXCESSIVE, OPPRESSIVE, PERVASIVE DISEASE
8/26/2016 3:31:00 PM by: By Denise Loock
7 THINGS TO DO NOW TO BE READY WHEN WRITING INSPIRATION STRIKES – EDIE MELSON
8/23/2016 3:33:00 PM by: by Edie Melson
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR 15-MINUTE CONFERENCE APPOINTMENTS
8/20/2016 3:36:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
WHY SHOULD I ATTEND THE ASHEVILLE CHRISTIAN WRITERS’ CONFERENCE?
8/17/2016 3:47:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
YOU NEED A PLATFORM – LIVING A STORY- ASSIGNMENT 3
1/20/2016 3:49:00 PM by: By La-tan Murphy
THE ONE SHEET
1/8/2016 3:51:00 PM by: by Cindy Sproles
OVER-EDIT?
11/4/2015 3:54:00 PM by: By Steven James