Writing a Non-fiction Book: Capture Real-life Experiences
Chapters
A course by Duncan Barrett , Writer and Editor
About the video: Chapters
Overview
“In this lesson, I'll talk about the importance of chapters as a way of structuring your story into readable chunks, how to begin and end them, and why each unit of your overall story needs to have a shape of its own. ”
In this video lesson Duncan Barrett addresses the topic: Chapters, which is part of the Domestika online course: Writing a Non-fiction Book: Capture Real-life Experiences. Turn a true story into an engaging page-turner by exploring interview methods, writing techniques, and character development for non-fiction writing.
Partial transcription of the video
“ Chapters So far, we've talked about the dramatic structure of the book as a whole and the shape of the narrative arc, but every book is divided up into chapters. If you're going to write your sample chapter to try to sell your book, it's important to understand the shape of a chapter in its own right. Ideally, every chapter within the book has its own narrative arc, its own mini shape, and even better if it can contain at least one of Aristotle's two key concepts, reversal or recognition or even both. On the table in front of me, I've laid out the index cards that I made for Marta's story...”
This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.
Course summary for: Writing a Non-fiction Book: Capture Real-life Experiences
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Category
Writing -
Areas
Communication, Creative Writing, Narrative, Non-Fiction Writing, Storytelling, Writing
Duncan Barrett
A course by Duncan Barrett
Writer and Editor Duncan Barrett grew up as an avid reader and a lover of history. After studying English literature at university he went to drama school and decided to pursue a career as an actor, while working in publishing on the side. In 2009 Duncan found a WW1 memoir in the Imperial War Museum archive that he turned into a published book, The Reluctant Tommy.
The insight he gained in writing an impactful book-length story sparked a chain of events that led him to become an author of narrative non-fiction specializing in biography and memoir. His work includes the series’ The Sugar Girls and GI Brides which he wrote with his partner and which appeared in the The Sunday Times and The New York Times bestsellers’ lists. Duncan is also known for his solo titles such as Men of Letters, which was nominated for the People's Book Prize, Hitler's British Isles, and Ronnie Le Drew's showbiz memoir Unzipped. He also writes features for The Guardian.
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