Storytelling and Writing for the BookPlus: Understanding Your Tools

Some Stories Write Themselves

But what if you were doing research on celebrities that drink too much, or maybe you just want to explore that stereotype? Where’s the story?

Smart storytellers know where the punch line is in the story. And sometimes, you only tell half the story.

Half the Story

Kinda makes you wonder what the US said, exactly. Are we trying to goad him into doing something?

I Obviously Need to Know this

Doesn’t everyone?

Active/Passive Voice

At dinner, six shrimp were had by Harry. (passive)

Harry had six shrimp at dinner. (active)

Harry ate six shrimp at dinner. (stronger verb)

Harry devoured six shrimp at dinner. (stronger, more-specific verb)

Examples taken and adapted from: http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-active-and-passive-voice.html

Tools for the Book

Indesign. Styles & Layout.

Layout. Look at existing books and count the different page styles within the same book. For instance, cover page, bio page and whatever’s in the middle.

Illustrator. For logos, icons, other line art and infographics. Learn: stroke, path and fill.

Iconography. Do you want to create an icon set for your book? This can be used in conjunction with infographics and can unify your design.

Infographics. What kinds of data are you trying to produce? The SWOT can be an infographic if you assign values and chart it.

Photoshop. Photo Editing.

For as little as editing levels of photos (consider doing cropping in Indy) and as much as changing the objects in a photo.

The End