What if you don’t know what you want to write? I mean, you have an idea. But should it be a self-help guide? A memoir? A practical how-to book? A thought-provoking mindset discussion? There are a thousand ways to present your idea. What type of book should YOU write?

I am a firm believer in letting the content lead. We don’t force our ideas into a book format we think looks good, even though it doesn’t really fit. Instead, we create a container that will perfectly hold the idea.

But to create a container that’s the right shape for this idea, you need to understand the idea. How many sides does it have? Is it a long, flowing river or a building held up by six columns? Or something else?

You can understand the idea better by taking an inventory of what’s already in your big, beautiful brain.

  • What stories do you have?

  • What advice can you give?

  • Is there a framework or analogy you use to explain things?

  • What experiences do you want to share?

Now, I know you. You just blazed through those four questions and kept right on reading. Right?

Of course. (And I’m glad you’re here and reading!) But I want you to pause.


Three steps to figure out what you want to write

The pause gives us time to do these three simple steps to figure out what you want to write. And it only takes 20 minutes. Because we’re only going to let it take 20 minutes!

Here we go!

 

1. Get a piece of paper. Or a blank note on your phone, a Word or Google doc, a notepad, or an old receipt from your purse. Anything with some space to scribble.

2. Draw four columns. Label them:

  • Stories

  • Advice

  • Frameworks/analogies

  • Experiences.

3. Set a timer for 20 minutes, and brain dump everything that comes to mind. Everything you want to share. Everything that speaks to your subject, or helps you describe things, or is an interesting idea, or a boring idea. No questioning, editing, or judging.

See what comes out. Get an overview of what you’re working with. What’s there?

Let the content lead

Then, let the content lead.

Do you have an interesting framework? Maybe that’s the structure for your book, and you’re going to write a practical self-help guide with solid action steps (that are illustrated by a nice sprinkling of stories).

Perhaps the experiences list is a mile long, but there’s nada in the frameworks column. That’s cool. Your book might be the story of your experience, with plenty of takeaways for readers to implement in their own life.

I’m working on a book right now that’s all story-based, but not the author’s stories. It’s other people’s stories that the author wants to discuss and get curious about and comment on. And his commentary is fascinating and thought provoking.

If you’re all about the advice, maybe you build the book around each piece, or stage, of guidance. It could be practical or more mindset-based, depending on what’s in that column.

Take an inventory of what you’re working with, then take your direction from that. Let the content lead.

That will tell you what type of book to write.

Thanks,

Liz “Let the Content Lead” Green
Editor, Book Coach, and Ghostwriter
Green Goose Writing

P.S. Want more advice, encouragement, and inspiration about writing all of the above? Follow me on Facebook here. (Plus, there are cat pictures. Always cat pictures.)

 
 
 

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