How to Outline a Nonfiction Book

When I hear the word outline, I’m back in grade school laboring through
I.
A.
B.
II.
III.

Is that what comes to mind for you when someone starts talking outlines.

But that’s not what you need to do!

Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Online Dictionary gives these definitions of outline: “the principal features or general principles of a subject of discussion; a summary giving the essential content of a written work.”

So when I say, outline your book, I simply mean jot down the main content you plan to cover. Bullet points will do.

The concept behind outlining is to help you take command of your topic and organize the information in a manner suited to your audience. Otherwise you might end up with a book that includes everything but the Mad Hatter’s top hat.

Let’s take a closer look.

Steps to Outlining

First of all, outlining isn’t for everyone, so give yourself permission not to do it.

Personally, I’m not a big outliner.

If you want to outline, start by brain dumping and brainstorming the primary topic of your book. How you do this is a personal choice (see below for methods).

Let’s say you’re writing about tourism in Nebraska. Write down everything you know you want to include and then brainstorm 10 to 20 or more items. I imagine your list would include:

• Nebraska’s state tourism website
• Best places to visit
• Best/cheapest hotels
• Airbnbs
• Best/Worst Restaurants, etc.

I always try to aim for at least 10 items beyond my brain dump. This forces me to think outside the norm and beyond what I know about my topic. If you can’t come up with that many, that’s okay.

Next, determine what you want to include from the brainstorm list.

Now take that list and move the items around into the order you think they need. Maybe your topic fits a chronological order. Maybe by theme fits it best. You won’t find out until you experiment.

Methods of Outlining

Now we enter another personal choice: how you organize those ideas. You can use a

• whiteboard,
• pen/pencil and paper,
• colored pencils,
• colored markers,
• colored sticky notes,
• index cards,
• Scrivener,
• mind mapping software,
• Trello,
• Evernote, and more.

When I first started writing, I wasn’t fancy. I used pencil and paper for my brainstorm list, and then numbered my items according to what chapter in which that info needed to be. Yup, I did a lot of erasing, scratching out, and changing order. Now I use Scrivener (as seen above).

Find what fits your style. And like I said at the beginning, outlining might not fit you. That’s entirely okay.

Later this month , I’ll take a look at outlining a fiction book.

Do you have a particular method you use to outline? Please share it in the comments so everyone can benefit.

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