Can’t I Just Write About What I Know?

Unless you’re in the textbook or academic field (where there’s a need for very specific, academically accurate and impartial information) then you shouldn’t just write about what you know – you should find a way to write about it in a way the reader will want.

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Meta Program: General Vs Detail

1. Choose a main theme or topic – let’s say Publishing for this example
2. List general words that define publishing at the top of your page (landscape format) with a row each
3. Under each general word write down all the details, options and alternatives you can find for each main heading
4. You’ll end up with something like this – and pretty much any one of these deeper topics could be a whole book in itself.

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The mind and brain is like any other part of our body – use it and it either stays in shape or improves – abuse it or ignore it and it will atrophy.

Words and vocabulary are the essential raw materials for a writer.

In the English language especially, we are blessed with a rich repository of words. D’accord, we have the ability to cross pollinate from other tongues too, n’est pas?

There are two free resources on the web (at least) that will deliver a new supply of words to your In Box every day

1. Dictionary.com Word of the Day

2. Visual Thesaurus also has a word of the day and is one of the great lexicographical tools on the web

3. When you get a word you like the sound of, write a six words or six sentences about it on either of these two sites

Six Sentences

Six Word Stories

Meta Program: Pain Vs Gain

Some people are more motivated by what they don’t want than by what they do. You’ll likely have a tendency to one extreme or another and this tendency can leave blind spots in your creative thinking. So follow these steps and see what comes up…

• Choose a target audience – we’ll go for authors again
• Divide your page into 6 columns – with Pain to the left and Gain to the right
• List all the things your audience “is afraid of”, “hates”, “doesn’t want” in the third column
• List all the things your audience “is excited about”, “loves”, “does want” in the fourth column – you should have something that looks like this…

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The Author’s Creativity Matrix

This uses elements of matching and mis-matching as well as big picture and detail to produce lots of ideas and content to bring out a full range of creative flexibility you may not have thought you had. What you do with the resulting content is up to you but it’s likely that inspiration for the following elements of your book can all be covered…

• The big idea, benefits or promise
• A title and subtitle
• The main chapter headings
• Your target audience
• Words for the blurb

There are three main ways we sort data in our minds. They are:

1. Chunking Up (where you’ll get all the benefits and reasons why)
2. Chunking Down (where you’ll get all the detail)
3. Chunking Laterally (where you’ll often find the weirdest stuff and metaphors)

This is useful to know because, what most people describe as creativity is really a form of chunking up and chunking laterally – and when you’re not feeling creative it’s almost always because the details are bogging you down.
So here’s what you’re going to do…

1. Get a big sheet of paper
2. Write a theme, topic, audience, main idea or your subject in the centre (draw it as a picture too if you like) – I’ll choose “Being An Author”
3. Draw the lines as shown below
4. Use the questions below to help you chunk in all the directions (up, down, lateral) and negatively (left) and positively (right) from your main theme

Here’s an example of a completed Creativity Matrix…

Now, if you’re more analytical and prefer to work to a proven formula then here are some other useful tools to spark your imagination to come up with potentially profitable and definitely brilliant book ideas…

Books To Solve Problems or Give Answers (How To)

This approach is the best way to come up with “How To” book ideas. I’d suggest using Brainstorming and Mind Mapping (see earlier) to generate ideas using the “Big Problem” as your central theme. Make sure it’s a problem people really want solving though else you’ll have a book that won’t sell. Here are the steps…

1. Choose a Market
2. Define Their Biggest Problem or Need they’re seeking
3. Think of Ways To Solve/Answer It (Your Big Promise)
4. Include Their Big Problem/Need in the Title
5. Include Your Answer/Big Promise in the Sub-Title

No need for examples here – they’re all over the place!

Books That Appeal To The “Human Condition”

Most humans share many good and amazing traits – and on the whole I like humans – well I am one too!

However, there is also a dark side (although it’s just human nature) known as “The Human Condition” – which is a powerful place to dig for universal themes to base your book idea on. While not applicable to everyone, all of the time, we can all relate to many of the following:

• Greed
• Laziness
• Complacency
• Procrastination
• Superstition
• Aggression
• Jealousy
• Spite
• Self Interest
• Need to be liked/loved
• Insecurity
• Impatience
• Fear
• Nosiness
• Hate
• Schadenfreude (enjoying/being fascinated by another person’s mis-fortune) etc.

Pic by practicalowl

Making a book that appeals to one (or preferable many) of these human conditions is bound to get a good response, cause some buzz and provide you with a book people will want. Just think how popular Get Rich Quick Schemes are? Most of us know they’re rubbish but they continue to sell because they appeal to the greed, laziness and self-interest in all of us.

Examples of Books That Are Successful (Though Not Necessarily Good!) Due To Their “Human Condition Appeal”

• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne: Get what you want simply by thinking happy thoughts! (Laziness, Self Interest, Superstition, Greed)
• The 4-Hour WorkWeek by Tim Ferris: Enjoy the lifestyle of the rich without having to wait for retirement (Laziness, Impatience)
• The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen: Become a Millionaire The Easy & Fast Way (Laziness, Impatience, Greed, Self Interest)
• All the Childhood Abuse Books: Tragic Stories of People’s Misfortunes (Fear, Schadenfreude, Nosiness)
• Pulp Romance: Mushy, Feelgood, Stories (Need to be loved)
• The Bible: Answers all our questions – about where we came from, why we’re here and where we’re going (Superstition, Fear, Insecurity)
• Celeb Books: Tells the story of their rise and fall (Nosiness, Jealousy, Schadenfreude)
• True Crime Memoirs:  (Nosiness, Aggression, Schadenfreude)

I could go on but I think you get the point!