This is the podcast for aspiring writers, an A-to-Z guide to writing, publishing, and promoting books or any other writing project. Your hosts are Melissa Parks and Dave Goetz, co-founders of Journey Sixty6, an editorial services company and independent publisher for the family business community. Each episode is designed to both inspire and instruct writers as they take the long road trip to write and promote their ideas.
All content for The Writing Podcast is the property of Melissa Parks and Dave Goetz and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
This is the podcast for aspiring writers, an A-to-Z guide to writing, publishing, and promoting books or any other writing project. Your hosts are Melissa Parks and Dave Goetz, co-founders of Journey Sixty6, an editorial services company and independent publisher for the family business community. Each episode is designed to both inspire and instruct writers as they take the long road trip to write and promote their ideas.
How to Develop a Creative Idea for Your Nonfiction Book
The Writing Podcast
50 minutes 15 seconds
1 year ago
How to Develop a Creative Idea for Your Nonfiction Book
If you want to write a book that influences the world, you need to start with a creative idea. Great ideas form the essence of great books. And yet idea development is one of the biggest struggles of writers. In this episode, Dave and Melissa talk about what an idea really is, how to sharpen your idea, and how to develop an idea, so that readers read your book from beginning to end.
Great Moments in the Episode
7:37 – 12:19 What an idea is and examples of how to narrow an idea.
12:20 – 15:06 How to use research effectively to narrow your idea.
15:07 – 17:59 Why having a narrow idea is better than a general idea.
18:00 – 22:14 How to use quotes and interpret other ideas to support your idea.
22:15 – 22:53 The three things you can do with an idea.
22:54 – 27:26 What explaining an idea looks like in writing, and why it’s important.
27:27 – 29:48 How to prove your idea with examples of what proving look like.
29:49 – 32:18 How to use reasoning to prove an idea.
32:19 – 33:13 Using stories and counterarguments to develop an idea.
33:14 – 35:47 How to apply an idea.
35:48 – 39:06 How to develop an idea in a book through structure.
39:07 – 40:27 How to arrest the attention of your reader with each chapter.
40:28 – 41:56 How to thread your thesis—or idea—throughout the entire book.
41:57 – 43:05 How to use transition paragraphs to thread your ideas throughout the book.
43:06 – 47:18 When an idea is not big enough for a traditional book.
Words of the Episode
elysian (adj): blissful, delightful
limn (v): depict or describe in painting or words; or, suffuse or highlight something with a bright color or light
Follow Journey Sixty6
https://www.journeysixty6.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/journeysixty6/
https://www.youtube.com/@journeysixty6writingforpub
The Writing Podcast
This is the podcast for aspiring writers, an A-to-Z guide to writing, publishing, and promoting books or any other writing project. Your hosts are Melissa Parks and Dave Goetz, co-founders of Journey Sixty6, an editorial services company and independent publisher for the family business community. Each episode is designed to both inspire and instruct writers as they take the long road trip to write and promote their ideas.
