Writing a Great Non Fiction Book Using the Technique of Surprise

I love surprises, especially surprises in books and movies. Don't you surprise?

You love eggs. So I wore an egg. Now you love me.

All right, not enough nonfiction authors take advantage of this incredible interest creating tool in their writing. But you will after you watch today's video. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad award winning author and founder of Book Launchers, a professional self publishing team that will help you write, publish and promote a business building nonfiction book. Here is a small taste of some of the incredible books we've worked on lately. Oh so good. I've previously talked about how to start your chapters so the reader has to keep reading. You'll find that video right here and linked at the end. Today I want to share another tool to help you keep your reader engaged and avoid writing a boring book. Remember our hashtag no boring books because we don't like boring books at Book Launchers. That's why we put no boring books on a mug right here. Malcolm Gladwell doesn't like boring books either and he even talked about the theme of today's video. His quote cultivating surprise is a central part of what it means to be a writer in the world. I like using suspense and surprise in my writing. There's a subtle but noteworthy difference between suspense and surprise. With suspense, the reader knows it's coming, but they don't know when. Surprise is when you tell your reader something and it's totally unexpected. You can do it in bigger ways with great stories. I just read my friend Philip McKernan's latest book, One Last Talk. My favorite chapter in this book is actually one his wife wrote. It was a great example of surprise to me. I don't want to spoil it for you because this book is worth reading if you are an author because it's going to help you dig out your most important messages and figure out what really matters in life and legacy. Not a small topic anyway, the whole chapter is about creating this One last talk. The message you want to share before you die. So imagine my surprise when one of the last chapters in the book book is all about how sharing your One last talk message can go all kinds of wrong. And it's Philip's wife sharing the story of how hers went wrong. That was a surprise. The story I opened my second book, the new brand you'd with has a bit of a funny surprise to get your attention and I assure you it's 100% true. So how do you bring surprise into your nonfiction? It's easier done with the help of an experienced writer. Someone to coach you through writing a really awesome page turning nonfiction book. Which is why a lot of our clients start their writing working with one of our professional writing coaches. But in case a writing coach is not in the budget or you're just one of those steadfast do it yourselfers who really wants to do it themselves, here's a list of things that I noticed have surprised me in writing when something is revealed that I didn't know and I didn't expect. William Hung yeah, that William Hung from American Idol has a book coming out really soon and there's one fact he reveals about 2/3 of the way into his book that made me go wait. What? If your reader is saying wait what? You've revealed something that has their attention, congratulations. So think about those things that people stop and go wait, what? When you tell them in conversation, share something embarrassing that you would not expect someone to be so open about in a book. You can't force this. It has to fit. But if it fits, use it. Like the time I was rushing out of my apartment late for work when I realized I didn't have pants on. True, you could share a story where an enemy becomes an ally, or vice versa. Told right, this can be really surprising to the reader. Lies piled upon lies can be surprising too, although maybe less so in today's American political climate. But you could still share stories of lies and scandals. I'm curious, have you read a nonfiction book that contains some delightful surprises that kept you reading on? Do you share surprises in your books? Let's talk about surprises in the comments below. If you have a way that you use to bring surprise into your writing, I would love to to learn from you and make sure you've subscribed to the channel and turn those notifications on so you get notified when a new video comes out. Because when you comment on the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some cool book launcher swag and a shout out to my fantastic YouTube community. Thank you to Kevin McGuire. You are so awesome and you even stay up late in Europe to catch some of our livestreams. You are so appreciated. And also shout out to Sir Raymond Luxury Yacht, Brian Crossman, Stone Castle Publications, Steph Harringtonio and my husband Dave Penyak, who has his own new channel full of surprises. You can check out his stuff at Giggle and Grin. He has quick videos that make fun of what it's like to be a parent, sure to give you a few laughs. But he's also here for every shoot, not always paying attention mind you, but he's always here, and I appreciate him. All right, what are you doing still listening to me? Go on. Watch this video on 4 Ways to Start a chapter in a captivating way, or one of these other fantastic videos. Cause I am waiting for you over there. Click it.