What do fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers get MOST wrong MOST often?

Some insights into my Blueprint method

One of our students recently asked me a question about the Blueprint — Why are the outlines at the end different? — that got my attention because I thought the answer was so obvious. Upon reflection, I realized it is not obvious at all so I thought I would explain.

Blueprint for a Book

I originally wrote Blueprint for a Book, which is a method of inquiry to help writers start their novels, to address a specific problem that was coming up again and again in the fiction writers I was coaching.

Most manuscripts I was seeing had solid plots — an interesting character in an interesting situations and some sort of dramatic turn of events. The writers had carefully followed the story structure models that give writers external markers or milestones — inciting incident here, dark night of the soul, climax, etc — but there was no there there.

The story was flat. It didn’t do what a story is supposed to do, which is to make the reader feel something or experience something. And it was heartbreaking to see this in manuscript after manuscript.

I came up with the Blueprint method to help writers first figure out what they wanted their reader to feel (and why, of course — always why), and then to make sure that their story was delivering on that promise.

To do that, each plot point has to have a purpose. So the work is to tie the story into the plot. I think of it as a kind of emotional retrofitting — which is why I am always begging writers to do this work before they start to write; it’s 1000% easier to do that work first than to do it after you’ve written an entire manuscript. (That’s a scientific percentage…)

The Inside Outline at the end of the Blueprint for a novel asks the writer to prove that every plot point is connected to a story point. They have to identify the reason for each scene, and show how the emotional story unfolds alongside the plot. They have to dig deep inside the story in order to make it work.

The Blueprint addresses the thing that most fiction writers tend to get most wrong often.

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

The Blueprint for fiction worked so well that I wanted a similar tool for nonfiction books. But when writing nonfiction, the thing writers most get wrong is something entirely different.

Nonfiction book writers are usually experts who are sharing their expertise. They are experts, educators, executives, or entrepreneurs. The natural tendency is for them to put in a whole bunch of information — facts and data, citations and studies, interviews and anecdotes. It’s the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink method of writing. And it doesn’t work.

The result is a manuscript that is unfocused and bloated. It has no authority and therefore no power to change the reader’s perspective or thinking — which is the whole reason the reader comes to a nonfiction book.

This reality is often very confusing to the writer because they have authority in their field. But their manuscript does not.

The solution is to ask the writer to first figure out what transformation they wanted their reader to experience (and why, again), and then to make sure that their manuscript us delivering on that promise.

To do that, each chapter in the manuscript has to directly connect to the others around it. The writer has to know how the reader is moving through the transformation process as they move through the narrative. Knowing the outcome of each chapter is what locks in this narrative drive — which is what delivers the authority.

The Outcome Outline at the end of the Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book asks the writer to prove that each outcome of each chapter is both distinct and connected to the chapter that comes before and after it. They have to dig deep into the outcome they want their reader to experience.

Blueprint for a Memoir

Once I wrote the other two books, writing the Blueprint for memoir was inevitable. And the biggest problem that memoir writers make is different from fiction and nonfiction writers.

In memoir, writers tend to do pretty well with the plot and the point (or meaning) of each event: after all, they lived through the experiences they are writing about. What they tend to get wrong is they forget about the reader’s experience and what the reader might be feeling or experiencing as they listen to the unfolding tale.

The danger is that the writer comes across as self-centered and narcissistic — only concerned with what happened to them and not with their reader. This is never a good thing in a memoir and results in a book that never gets traction.

The solution is to ask the writer to define in each chapter what the impact on the reader will be. Will the reader be dreading what comes next? Rooting for you? Screaming at you to make a different choice?

Once a reader identifies the impact on the reader, they can make better decisions about what stories to tell in what order; when to cut something because it is redundant; how to bring in more self-awareness so they can offer a deep reading experience and not just tell their tale.

The Impact Outline at the end of the memoir Blueprint asks the writer to identify the impact on the reader for each scene or chapter.

Fix The Most Likely Problem Before It Gets Baked In

The whole point of the Blueprints is to help writers fix the most likely problem before it gets baked into their books. That’s why each one is different: the most likely problems are different.

The Blueprint process is very simple but it is not easy.

It is asking the writer to do the hardest work of writing all at once, all at the start.'

Of course the Blueprint can also be used at the revision stage, or when a writer is stuck; it’s a process that asks them to stop and think before they keep writing.

No matter when it is used, the Blueprint saves time, helps a writer get out of frustration and overwhelm, and allows them to move forward with clarity and confidence.

I didn’t mean to end this newsletter with an advertisement for the Blueprint, but it’s a very good tool! If you haven’t used it, go check it out. There are some free downloads and worksheets at https://jennienash.com/blueprint

---