Top Mistakes Authors Make, Pt. 2 - Nonfiction
top mistakes nonfiction writers make in their memoir/self development manuscripts
Authors, these are the biggest mistakes I see nonfiction writers making in their memoirs. I edit… a LOT of books, and memoirs or nonfiction books which are some combination of memoir and self development are one of the most popular genres that come across my inbox.
There are many reasons that people feel moved to share their experiences or convey lessons and information learned, but this often means that folks who are less experienced writers enter into this genre. And there’s nothing wrong with that! You will never hear me judging folks who want to become writers. (This is what editors like me are here for, after all! *wink* If you need an editor, let’s talk.)
Anyways…these are the number one mistakes I see whenever I edit nonfiction:
1. Mixing up Autobiography vs. Memoir
Autobiography is when an author walks through their life chronologically from start to finish cataloging details and major life events. This is what you would typically see with celebrities, athletes, political figures and other folks who have already gained notoriety in other parts of their lives. People are simply interested in their life stories, so telling it that way makes sense, and it’s easy to sell to a publisher.
However, as a normal person, most of us should stick to Memoir!
It’s going to be very difficult to sell a book to a press or find an audience with self-publishing if you just write about your life from birth to present.
Memoir takes a specific time from someone’s life, a theme or a lesson learned, and uses that as an idea to center the book around. So, I recommend if you’re interested in writing a memoir, you think less about the timeline of your life or including every event, and more about what message you want your reader to learn from your lived experiences.
2. No Cohesive Idea/Including Too Much
As we talked about above, this is not an autobiography; there’s no reason to include a little bit about this and a little bit about that from your life unless it contributes to the centering theme of the book.
When a reader picks up a memoir, no offense, but they’re not reading it to learn about you. They want to relate to your struggles; they want to be uplifted and inspired by your success; they want to learn from your life lessons, and complete the book having learned something, or having changed the way they think about their life and the world.
So, there really needs to be a cohesive idea and a thread that can be seen throughout the entire book to attract the reader to the book to begin with, and to keep them hooked throughout.
Ask yourself: what do I want the reader to take away or to learn? Why is this part of my story specifically important, and to whom might that be important?
3. Chronology/Gaps in Info
When you write about yourself, it can be particularly difficult to see the gaps where the reader may need more information. Editing memoirs, one of the most common categories of feedback I’m offering is: “clarify the timeline,” “when exactly did this happen, and in what order with this other event you described?” “wait, in the previous chapter you were 21 and at Harvard; now you’re 24 and in Switzerland? What did we miss?” “who is Melanie–you never introduced that person!”
A good memoir is not going to start from the beginning, so I recommend creating a timeline for yourself to reference on the side to ensure that you’re offering all of the chronological information needed for the reader to understand the narrative. You don’t need to offer every detail, but confusing your reader is a sure way to get them to close the book.
This is where bringing others into your process also becomes essential. Someone who is outside of your own experiences will be much more equipped to point out gaps in information or chronology. That’s what I’m here for!
4. Lack of storytelling/writing skills
Whether a book is fiction or nonfiction, it’s still a story, and writing a good book depends heavily on one’s writing skills and storytelling abilities.
Writing memoir, at the end of the day, is making your personal story into art–into something others want to read.
Having lived an interesting life, or being incredibly knowledgeable or filled with experiences to share is not necessarily enough to produce a good manuscript.
Everyone can become a writer, but it would be an insult to say that it doesn’t take any work and practice to do so. If you want to invest the time and practice in becoming a writer, I commend and cheer you on and there will be editors like me and other professionals out there to help you. If you don’t want to make that investment, there are many fabulous, talented ghostwriters who will help you translate that story into art.
Alright, that’s it! As a book editor, those are my hot takes on the top mistakes nonfiction writers are making in their book manuscripts. Let me know what questions you have, stick around for the posts to come, and if you need an editor to help you tackle these items in your own manuscript, get in touch with me!
