Defining Your Topics for a Book


by Bette Daoust, Ph.D. - Date: 2006-12-01 - Word Count: 552 Share This!

Creating a group of topics first and then organizing them is one of the easiest methods for writing a book. I prefer to use the chapter by chapter method but the choice is ultimately yours. With your entire chapter titles listed, write down every topic that you could include in the book. This means you should have room to write down at least three hundred items. This may seem like a lot but if you think about having twenty chapters with fifteen topics, the numbers get big really quickly. The point of this exercise is to keep writing everything that comes to your mind that is related to the subject of the book. When I started this book I had so many ideas that I had to throw many of them out or make them sub-titles of a bigger idea.

Once you have your list and can think of nothing else to add, it will be time to sort the list under the chapter headings. You may find that some topics fit under more than one chapter, at this point, choose the best place. You will have enough topics to go around. At the end of this exercise, you may find that some chapters have far too many topics. This may mean you have to divide that chapter into two chapters. You will also find that other chapters will not have enough. In this case place the topics under other chapters and delete that chapter. You need to keep working this process until you have twenty chapters with a minimum of fifteen topics.

This process is not the easiest one to follow but it does work well for some writers. If you prefer a simpler method use the one in this next topic.

How do you create your topics?

Once you have your chapters in the order you prefer, it is time to work on the topics that will be inside. You have between ten and fifteen pages to fill which will include diagrams and other illustrations. You should plan on defining at least eighteen topics for each chapter. If a chapter does not warrant at least eighteen topics, then you will need to replace that chapter with a new one. You do have five extra chapters to use in case this happens. For example, you want to have a chapter that shows you how to write a marketing plan. You will then brain-storm all the things that you can write about that have to do with writing the plan. Generally you will come up with more than eighteen topics and that is good. Once you have your topic list, do the following:

Sort the topic list in order of the most important to the least important Look at the list and see if there are any topics that cannot be described in three paragraphs or more.

Take the topics that do not fit the three paragraph rule and see if they can be part of any other topic, if yes, combine it, and if no, remove the topic When you have finished working the topic list, pare it down to fifteen or sixteen final topics

Each chapter will need to be worked the same way. Brain-storm the topics, order and sort them and finalizing which ones will stay. This is close to finishing the foundation of your blueprint.


Related Tags: writing, marketing, books

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. is a speaker, author (over 170 books, articles, and publications), and consultant. She has provided marketing, sales, business development and training expertise for companies such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, Varian Medical Systems, Accenture, Avaya, Cisco Systems to name a few. Dr. Daoust has also done extensive work with small businesses in developing their marketing, training, and operational plans. You may contact Dr. Daoust at http://BizMechanix.com. You may also view her latest publications at http://BlueprintBooks.com. Dr. Daoust also writes for the National Networker http://theNationalNetworker.com.

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category:


  • Don't Put Off Writing that Book! by Linden Gross
    If writing that book you've always had in mind tops your list of resolutions or regrets, hiring a wr
  • Writing on the Hoof by Rick Chapo
    Finding inspiration when you are writing is often a haphazard affair. When you are physically ready
  • How To Write A Better Press Release by Brian Konradt
    A press release is the most effective way to generate free publicity for your business or organizati
  • How to Write Great Dialogue in Your Book by Steve Manning
    Dialogue isn't so much read as it is heard by the reader. The eyes see the words on the page, the b
  • Focus On Nigeria by Andrew Sandon
    Focus on Nigeria Nigеria is a natural gas and oil rich country that is bordеrеd b
  • Women SUV Driver from www.thefrap.com by Eric Schmidt
    Why do so many women drive around in the oversized SUV's, the Tahoe, Excursion, Escalade
  • How To Write Good Articles by Jonathan White
    As a writer you may be ready to cash in on the need for web content. There is a lot of money that c
  • Popular Articles by Roel Sundiam
    Articles are those that are available in plenty these days in the internet. The articles are written
  • Writers Resources by Josh Riverside
    Writers use certain inherent talents to come up with their pieces of writing. However, they do need
  • NEWS FLASH: Technical Communicator Saves World by Peggy Bennett
    I had a boss several years ago who was amused by my earnest and relentless preaching about the impor