The process for preparation for non-fiction isn’t actually all that different from the steps needed to prepare to write a fiction book. In this blog post, I’m going to show you the steps I take to plan out a non-fiction book I’m planning to write called To Know, To Serve, and To Love.
1. The Book Blurb Start time: 5:50 am End time: 5:59 pm Total time: 9 minutes
Obviously a slightly different formula is employed than with the fiction writer’s blurb, but the result keeps to the same 15 words or less.
How multi-talented individuals can find your purpose, achieve your dreams, and make a difference.
This uses the same formula I recommend, but the order of the elements has been rearranged to fit the 15 words or less rule.
2. The Blueprint Start Time: 6:04 am End time: 6:11 am Total time: 7 minutes
Building on that book blurb, I’m going to create the book’s blueprint.
Step I. The three purposes of every human life
Step 2. Gender, Family, Community
Step 3. Finding your purpose
Step 4. Achieving your dreams
Step 5. Making a difference
3. Target Audience Profile 1 Start Time: 6:13 am End Time:6:31 am Total Time: 28 minutes
Description: A college student who wants to find a major that fits them
Personality: driven, analytical, outgoing
Name: Stew Majors
Goal: To find a career where he can experience success
Motivation: He wants to excel in life
Conflict: He doesn’t know which direction to choose
Epiphany: Who he is won’t make sense until he is serving in community.
Story:
- Forced to choose a major, a college student struggles to choose the best one for him.
- His youth minister suggests he read To Know, To Serve, and To Love, but Stew fears he can’t afford it, worries it won’t help, and doubts that Christianity has anything new to offer him.
- His youth minister lends him the book, shares his story of using the book, and reminds Stew that Christianity is a deep well with over 2000 years of useful guidance and experience to offer.
- Stew reads the book and, applying what he’s learned, begins to serve in his community.
- Stew discovers that his talents lend toward counseling, gets his degree in psychology, and develops a successful business helping people to find their purpose.
4. Target Audience Profile 2 Start Time: 6:49 am End Time: 7: 07 pm Total Time: 18 minutes
Description: An underachieving employee wants to maximize her potential
Personality: curious, active, introverted
Name: Maxine Porter
Goal: To find the best use of her talents and gifts
Motivation: To achieve what she knows she is capable of achieving
Conflict: Her many talents and gifts make it difficult for her to focus her efforts
Epiphany: She needs to focus on careers that allow her to fill in the gaps for others
Story:
- Frustrated by yet another dead end job, an underachieving employee sets out to maximize her potential.
- She searches google for answers and stumbles across the book To Know, Love, and Serve, but she’s not big on reading, she’s skeptical about its claims, and she doesn’t know if she has time to apply it.
- After trying out a sample, she resolves her doubts, buys and applies it.
- Empowered by knowing her purpose, she begins reaching out to others and serving their needs
- Her boss is amazed by her transformation and promotes her to a position more fitting to her abilities.