Blame Aristotle.  Blame classical Greek culture. Blame all of Western Civilization. But every story must have a beginning, middle, and end. And more than that. Without narrative structure, non-fiction writing is just a boring recitation of one thing after another. You may think because it is based on your experiences, historical events, scientific experimentation, or natural observations that you don’t need a story to write a book. Think again. Fictio, from the Latin, is the heart of writing: to inscribe, shape and mold an inventive or interpretive explanation. To write non-fiction is to create a coherent tale. For a writer, there are two parts to every telling: story and plot. They are not the same thing. Plot is the structure given to the story. For example, girl meets boy. Familiar story. The plot is that girl gets a new hairdo, leaves salon, drives through traffic looking in rear-view mirror and rear-ends boy in a baby blue BMW. Love ensues. Archetypal stories, myths, and fairy tales provide a cultural pool from which to remix story structure variations, techniques, and stylistic flourishes. Shakespeare, the Bible, Greek mythology and stories in popular culture from The Wizard of Oz to the Minions. Writers need to find their story first and then figure out how best to tell it. Your job is to let the reader know what they need to know when they need to know it. Not an easy task. Some call it writing craft. Following Aristotle’s dramatic arc provides a template. Set…

Last week here I shared a dirty little secret. Authors get the blues. Depression strikes when you least expect it: upon the successful publication of your book. I did not intend to discourage writers from pursuing the path to publication, though it may have had that effect on those who hadn’t realized how much hard work and personal sacrifice might be involved. Today I’d like to share the upside of writing and publishing your work. Hopefully, this will offer encouragement to those who take the journey. It’s as much about the adventures along the way as it is the final destination. So what WILL you gain from all your hard work? First, writing itself has its own rewards. Whether you decide to publish or not, you can enjoy the tremendous benefits from putting your words to paper. Since the mid-1980s, studies have provided evidence of the value of expressive writing as a way to bring about healing – measurable changes in physical and mental health. It can also positively affect people’s sleep habits, work efficiency, and social relations. Dr. James Pennebaker at the University of Texas-Austin pioneered research on the effects of expressive writing and Joshua Smyth, Ph.D., of Syracuse University has also been at the forefront with studies that suggest writing can boost immune functioning in patients with illnesses such as AIDS, asthma, and arthritis.  The “writing to heal” movement has served adult victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and PTSD, and has been recognized as therapeutic by the…

As many of you may know, February is Black History Month. President Gerald Ford recognized it during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial in 1976, urging Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Today, we at Swenson Book Development would like to take time to recognize one outstanding man, Carl T. Rowan, and his incredible achievements. Carl Rowan, born on August 11, 1925, was a journalist, author, and television commentator, and he is the only journalist to have won the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi medallion three years in a row. Growing up during the Great Depression, Rowan’s family was poor, and in his autobiography Breaking Barriers, he writes about having “no electricity, no running water, no toothbrushes, no telephone, no radio, and no regular inflow of money.” However, he didn’t let his impoverished circumstances stop him from getting an education. An article on blackpast.org states, “One of young Carl’s teachers encouraged him to read and write as much as possible, even going to the library for him because, as a black person, Rowan wasn’t allowed to check out books for himself.” Rowan graduated as valedictorian from Bernard High School in 1942, going on to enroll in the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College with money that he’d saved up working at a hospital for tuberculosis patients. When the United States entered the Second World War, Rowan entered the Navy and became…