Böcker av Shelley Sperry

Is it possible to write a nonfiction book that changes minds or even changes the world?The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell sold 1.7 million copies in its first year of release, and today remains a perennial bestseller.What made it go viral? What made it stick? On the 20th anniversary of The Tipping Point’s publication, two Story Grid editors decided to dissect Gladwell’s masterwork to find out what made it a cultural touchstone.Leslie Watts and Shelley Sperry analyze the macro structure of the book and each individual scene to understand how Gladwell uses scientific evidence, charming anecdotes, and compelling characters to bring complex ideas to life. The breakdown of each scene reveals the essential questions Gladwell asks and answers and . . . . This Story Grid Masterwork Guide is a unique tool—a deep dive into the mind of a master storyteller designed to give you the tools and confidence to set off on an intellectual adventure and write a book that will transform your readers and stay on bookstore shelves for years to come.  

Undertaking any big project, but especially a book is a daunting proposition. The way to make it less scary is to have a map for the journey, and ideally, some experienced fellow travelers to ride shotgun—friends who know the road well and can help you make it to your destination. That’s what we are aiming to provide.We’re two editors with over twenty years of experience between us, writing and editing many types of nonfiction. In the pages that follow, we distill some of the lessons we’ve learned in the trenches applying Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid methodology to the work of our clients, all of whom are leveling up their skills as nonfiction writers.We’ve chosen to use several masterworks—with the most considerable emphasis on The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan—as the maps to guide us throughout What’s the Big Idea?Although Baldwin and Pollan write on different topics and in different styles over half a century apart, both men had an enormous cultural impact. They extended that influence to a broad popular audience with these works. We could have chosen many other titles, and we’ll include examples from some others where it’s helpful.After reading this short, macro-principles primer, you may want to take a microscopic dive into Big Idea nonfiction by looking at The Story Grid Masterwork Guide to Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, which provides a scene-by-scene analysis of another exemplary title. We hope you’ll be inspired to find your own favorite masterworks to learn from and apply Story Grid Methodology yourself. We’ll provide some tips on how to do that too.With Baldwin and Pollan as our touchstones, we’ve organized this book around a series of questions and answers that will explain how and why Big Idea books work.