posted 19 years ago
Howdy all,
I think I agree with what everyone has said here. Rick, in my opinion, the best approach to have the book be interesting is (not in any order):
* Write it the way you'd explain it to a smart friend. In other words, unless you are *already* a truly talented writer, concentrate far more on how and what you are communicating, rather than on the writing. When tech folks start trying to be Writers (capital "W"), they tend to go into a mode that sucks the life out of the topic. The best tech book writers often sound almost exactly as if they're giving an interesting talk and explanation about it (but stripping out the stupid parts of conversational speech).
There's some evidence (a series of studies) that writing conversationally is more memorable and the knowledge more transferrable than when the same content is written in a more formal tone (of course it depends on your topic, but...)
* Organize the content as a "story". Not a fiction story, but a user-as-hero on a hero's journey kind of story. What is a natural progression for *learning* the topics, rathe than what is an organized "logical" categorization of topics.
* Care about the user/reader/learner more than anything else. The user could care less about *you* -- who you are, how smart you are, etc. (assuming you meet some base threshold of knowledge and ability). They care how smart you can make THEM, and that can dramatically change the way you approach a topic. This is the one thing we tell our authors/co-authors that matters the most. But it must be taken very seriously. If you're worried about how readers will perceive *you*, the book often fails in its goal of helping the reader truly, quickly, and deeply learn. (This doesn't apply in the same way, though, if you are writing a book strictly for reference). You must put the user/learner/reader at the front and center at all times. Always ask, "how will this help the reader kick ass?"
* There are a million different ways to implement a book, and probably thousands that could be truly beneficial to the reader. Our HF way is but one possible way, and not in any way a model of what a book should be. It IS, in our opinion, an *example* or really *proof* that readers care more about what works for them than about anything else. Our books are an example of one possible implementation of brain-friendly techniques. I suggest that anyone writing a learning book or course study some recent brain research and learning theories, but that they follow their own heart and inclinations for how to implement their book.
* Don't do it for the money, but don't do it to help your career either. Do it for one reason only -- to make a difference in a reader's life. When authors get too concerned about writing it to help their career in some way, then there is a conflict of interest. What authors often perceive as being helpful for *them* (getting more professional respect, contracts, etc.) is often the *opposite* of what the reader needs. Tech authors that try to hard to be taken seriously, often (not always) do it at the expense of being understandable for the reader -- most often demonstrated by simply including too many topics, or too much detail that causes too much cognitive overhead.
This is a labor of love that can be dramatically rewarding in many ways!
Cheers and good luck
