This past week I’ve had a trio of non-fiction writing commitments raise their heads. Yesterday I had a piece on the National Day of Forgiveness published by People for Liberty. I’ve had to work up a study outline for a small group discussion about Christianity and American politics tonight. Tomorrow, I’m going to start on an article about the dangers of idealism in political discourse.
That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped working on “Salvage Run”. I’m a software developer and a writer, meaning that half of what I do (if not more!) happens in my own head. This past week I’ve been thinking about several short stories I’ve got in the pipeline. What I’ve done so far, what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change. I’ll cover some of that soon, as a way of documenting what I’m learning from these exercises.
In the meantime… let’s talk about non-fiction.
Some writing seeks to inform. You can go read about the core concepts of Kubernetes or the history of Malta and walk away essentially unchanged, aside from having obtained some new knowledge. Other writing seeks to make you think and - hopefully! - change something about yourself. It might be a call to better yourself, improve your relationships, or a call to action to get you involved in some activity. Whatever it is, the goal is to motivate a change in the reader’s life.
That’s “activist” or motivational non-fiction, and that’s what I’m talking about today.
Some of you may know that I’m a preacher. Not a pastor, mind you - I don’t lead a church. I have spent time studying Scripture and how to teach from it, however. I’ve taught all ages - 1st-grade kids up to junior high through to college age and adult/senior classes. A lot of what I’ve learned about pedagogical techniques has come from that.
The core of preaching is similar to the core of any other type of teaching. A comedian I spoke with once pointed out that using humor in public speaking very much follows the same pattern. It’s a simple enough concept that I put the entire thing in the title of this article: Explain, Illustrate, Apply.
The Explaination should be pretty straightforward. You need to catch people up on what’s going on. This is where you help give people some context so they can understand what you’re pointing them towards. Your goal is to give them the facts, the basic information they need so that they are able to understand what follows.
An Illustration immediately follows the explanation. I have heard several preachers refer to this as “the window that shines a light on the truth”. Which is a poetic way of saying that an illustration is a story for people to remember. They can either demonstrate the result of the facts or provide a real-life story that helps to cement the information you’ve presented to the reader. They give people something to help them understand the explanation you’ve given.
The Application comes last, and is what you’ve been driving to the whole time. This is what activists refer to as a “call to action”, or preachers refer to as a “decision”. You’ve presented your reader with information to explain the situation. You have given them an illustration to help them comprehend the facts. You follow that up by asking a question. You can frame the question in a million different ways, but ultimately, they are all the same: “Now that you have been informed, what are you going to do about it?”
You might want to encourage your reader to spend less time at work and more time with family. You might want them to question whether or not a certain life choice is worthwhile. Or you may want them to pick up a pen and write a letter to the editor, or make a phone call to their state representative. Whatever change it is that you are searching for, the application is where you call on people to make that change happen.
Let’s consider a quick example, and talk about the Jones Act.
For this exercise, I’ll be taking bits from an article by Josh Marcinik. Josh and I are both involved with the Classical Liberal Caucus. His article has all the elements (explanation, illustration, application) that make up a motivational non-fiction piece, in the canonical order I outlined above.
If you read the article, you can see that his explanation is much more in-depth than what I present here. Instead of a single illustration, he gives many examples of how the Jones act has impacted US affairs. It’s an excellent article overall, with a lot of personal anecdotes and vivid imagery. I’m only pulling excerpts here to try clearly show the three elements in play.
Explanation: The Facts
The Jones Act, a section of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires that all ships moving cargo from one US port to another must be US built, crewed, owned, and flagged for “national defense and for the proper growth of…foreign and domestic commerce.” The act’s intent was to grow and preserve a robust merchant fleet, but in a globalized world the opposite has occurred.
Illustration: The Example
In the fall of 2017, the relatively-unknown Jones Act posed a serious problem for disaster relief in Puerto Rico. As an island territory, It relies heavily on maritime transportation for the bulk of its trade with the mainland United States. Only a handful of shipping companies with a small number of vessels are allowed to service these routes – including lines that previously pleaded guilty to price fixing on Puerto Rico routes.
Application: The Action
As world maritime trade increases and the ocean’s critical role in human affairs grows, the United States will continue to fall behind. Congress should end or fundamentally alter the Jones Act.
There you have it. Explain, illustrate, apply. Three words that can help you quickly and easily improve your non-fiction - if you’re willing to apply them to your own writing!