A Desperate Plea from Readers: “Help Me See the Big Picture!”
When I was ten or eleven, my mom asked me to deliver a message to my sister. Mom and I were in a hair salon where she was getting her hair done, and my sister was across the street taking a guitar lesson. To this day none of us is sure what happened on my way across the street, but I ended up getting very, very lost. I wandered up a busy road and started crying. After what seemed like hours a kind man in an old beater pickup stopped and asked me what was wrong. This is where the story could have gone horribly tragic because he convinced me to get into his truck, but fortunately he was a good guy. He somehow figured out where I belonged and got me there. Imagine my mom’s relief when I stepped out of that truck. I tell this story to point out what it’s like for a reader who gets lost in a book. I’m not talking about the sort of “getting lost” we all welcome–when time stops and reading is sheer joy. I’m talking about the kind of lost that happens when a reader is in the middle of a chapter and suddenly thinks, “Wait. Where am I? Where is this going? What point is the author trying to make again? I can’t see the forest for the trees here.” That’s the kind of lost we never want our readers to endure. Writing is all about providing the reader with a great experience, as I wrote in a previous post. Crucial to this endeavor is helping readers see the big picture. And, of course, helping readers see the big picture helps the writer do the same. So how we do this? Glad you asked. The introduction is a great place to explain what your purpose is and how you’re going to accomplish it. You can explain what each section of the book is going to do or describe the overall sweep of the content. This section need not be long; in fact, readers won’t tolerate more than a couple paragraphs. But a quick flyover is often a good idea. Consider grouping your chapters into parts; then label them as such in the table of contents and with part dividers within the book. You may even want to write some introductory text for each part within the body of the book; if you do, again, keep this text brief! Look at your table of contents. Does it make sense in terms of structure and flow? Do you see gaps? Does the progression of ideas in the chapter titles or chapter subtitles make sense? Is your book well organized? Keep your overall purpose in mind as you write each chapter or as you go back over a chapter you have already written. You don’t have to reference the book’s purpose in every chapter (in fact, that could be annoying), but keep in mind how each chapter contributes to your book’s purpose. The ends of chapters are good places to explain briefly where you are in your argument and what’s coming next. By the end of the book make sure you have delivered on your promise. Did you accomplish your purpose? One caution: This can be overdone. There is such a thing as too much metanarrative. But it’s fairly simple to trim this material if necessary. Imagine showing up to tour a cave when something odd happens. The tour guide doesn’t say a word, spins on his heel, and starts walking into the cave, expecting you to follow. Wouldn’t you wonder or even ask out loud, “Hey, where exactly are we going? How long will be gone? Do I need a jacket?” In one sense, orienting your readers to the big picture is simply polite. It lets them know about the ride you’ll be taking them on, and it gives them a sense of progress as they journey. It also helps your readers be that much more forgiving if you get long-winded in any particular section because they’ll know that it’s just one part of a bigger picture. Have you ever felt lost while you were reading (and not in a good way)? What are some other ways writers can help readers see the big picture?
Four Steps to Conflicts You’ll Be Glad You Had
Conflict is inevitable when people care about themselves and the work they’re doing. In fact, a lack of conflict can be worrisome because it can mean people have grown apathetic or don’t trust others to play fair. But for conflict to actually go somewhere and change things for the better, we need a way to process it intentionally. Conflict produces such a commotion of feelings and impulses that it can be difficult to know the way forward. Some may disagree with me here, but I think it’s a good idea to talk with someone you trust about what happened and what you plan to do before engaging the person with whom you have a conflict. Get a trusted friend’s or coworker’s feedback and vent your feelings, but don’t allow the conversation to spiral into gossip and slander. Be respectful even if someone was disrespectful to you. Here especially, two wrongs don’t make a right. The following four steps, to be employed face to face with a colleague (NOT via email), can bring clarity to the situation and help you progress in a deliberate, ordered way. Facts. Feelings. Perceptions. Wants. Facts: “Yesterday you said this project is worthless.” Feelings: “Honestly, that made me both angry and anxious.” Perceptions: “My perception is that you have written this project off, and you do not intend to give it a chance.” Wants: “I want you to give this project a chance.” After stating your wants, and this is hard, wait silently. Give the other person a chance to respond to what you’ve said. Chances are, things will move in a positive direction. If not, it might be time to ask for a neutral party to help. Obviously the above example is simplified. You may want to expand on any one of the above, but try not to mix the steps. In other words, when you’re stating the facts, don’t mix feelings or perceptions in with them. Just give the data. When you’re talking about your feelings, a crucial step, don’t embed your perceptions. For the fourth step, you may want to make more of a case. For example, “I want you to give this project a chance. I’ve been given the mandate to make this project happen. Why shouldn’t we all give it our best shot?” On the other hand, don’t get carried away. Move through the four steps and hear from the other person. The goal is to make progress, not to give the other person “a piece of your mind.” My experience is that while conflicts are tough, they also can be terribly important. They have a way of deepening relationships and moving members of a team into alignment. And by the way, these steps work in settings other than the workplace too… What have you found most useful in engaging with others in conflict?
How Tension Can Lead You to Life
Take two breaths. I’m going to show you where one of them comes from. It all starts (and ends) with phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are single-cell organisms that float throughout our planet’s oceans. Billions of them. And they have a nemesis: viruses. Here’s what happens. Viruses try to batter their way through the outer shells of the phytoplankton. If a given virus succeeds, it hijacks the phytoplankton’s machinery for the purpose of creating more viruses. Then multiple viruses are created within the poor phytoplankton, and the phytoplankton gives up the ghost. The outer shell of the phytoplankton sloughs off, and you can actually see this from space. No joke. Check this out: The milky blue-green substance you see, often called a “phytoplankton bloom,” is millions and millions of phytoplankton shells, having rained off upon their erstwhile owners’ death. Interesting, right? Maybe a little gruesome? When I told this story to my boss, he grimaced in sincere disgust at the devilish deeds of those vile viruses. Except, as it turns out, the story has a happy ending. You see, when those phytoplankton die off, space is created for new phytoplankton to build up. And every time a new phytoplankton is born, a little puff of oxygen is released into our atmosphere. Half the oxygen we breathe comes from this process. Every other breath you take comes from phytoplankton. Thanks again to those masters of scientific wonder, Jad and Robert, at RadioLab, for their story. The whole thing got me thinking. It got me thinking about the tension between phytoplankton and viruses, and how the result of this tension is oxygen. It got me thinking about the tension between cooks and servers, and how the result of healthy tension between them is a tasty meal served in timely fashion. It got me thinking about the tension between editorial and marketing, and how the ideal result is incredible content with a title and cover that capture the world’s attention. It made me think about the tension between editors and authors. Authors write stuff, editors push back at various points, and the result of this tension is often (not always, but often) a much better book. I see a distinction between tension and stress. Tension comes from two free-standing bodies that push against one another. Stress is pressure a body feels within itself. Big difference. But it does make me wonder: Can we transform stress into tension? Can we externalize internal pressure that we’re feeling so that it becomes more productive? Notice too that sometimes (and I think this is probably more often the case than not) something has to die before the oxygen is released. You might ask yourself, what needs to die for you to move forward? A few more questions. Do you have some tension in your life right now? Are you struggling with a creative project? Are you anxious about what’s going to happen, what to do next, who’s going to win, where you’re going to go? Remember the phytoplankton and the viruses. Remember: oxygen. Tension is the precursor to something better. Tension can lead you to life. When has tension resulted in life for you? How can you “embrace the tension” right now on the way to something better?
My First (WordPress) Blog Post
Hi there. Like many, I started a blog years ago and let it languish. I hope to be more serious about this one with an initial goal to post twice a week. Focus To start, my focus will be fourfold: – Writing. I hope to share some things about writing that others find helpful, drawing from 15 years of editing and working with more than a hundred authors. – Publishing. This is a tumultuous and exciting time in book publishing. I’d like to share my perspective, help to dispel myths, and even help writers become published authors. – Creativity. One of the leads in the movie Chariots of Fire said that he felt God’s pleasure when he ran. I feel God’s pleasure when I’m creating. I really enjoy thinking, talking, and learning about creativity. – Work and life habits. Have you ever learned a shortcut in a software program, and it ends up making a real difference in your productivity? I want to devote some space here to discussion about improving the way we work and live. That could mean everything from a software shortcut to conflict resolution to developing a life plan to thinking differently to managing email to . . . well, you get the idea. Inspirations Many people inspire me, but when it comes to blogging, I am nothing less than indebted to Todd Henry, Michael Hyatt, Rachelle Gardner, Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Jon Acuff, Rachel Held Evans, and Chris Guillebeau. They “do the work,” to use Steven Pressfield’s phrase, and they rock my world. Hopes An initial question I often ask authors when I begin working with them is “What would success look like?” It’s amazing what a little reflection on this question can do. As I begin, I am aware of some ways this blog could benefit me. For example, I have already drafted several posts, and I just really enjoy the process of articulating thoughts and trying to do so in a way that will resonate with others. But my deep hope is that this blog will help you. What would knock my socks off is if this space became a gathering place for a community of people who helped and supported one another on the creative journey. Thanks for reading.