Creating Strong Bones in Non-fiction Writing

Writing is easy. It’s one word after another, repeat until you reach the end. Writing well is incredibly complicated. It’s one right word after another right word, one right sentence after another right sentence, paragraph after paragraph, until — what was your point again? Did you make it effectively?

One of the things I often notice when I’m working with newer writers is a pattern of traveling between semi-unrelated thoughts. Almost everyone writes their paragraphs this way at first — thinking of something, then something else jumps to mind, then a third thing, and did I write down that first thing yet? This is what the editing process is for. However, I don’t think many people have been taught how to fix this — or even that they should — when self-editing.

For years, I hoped an article would pop up explaining how to write logical non-fiction. I even went so far as to text another editor friend — routinely — something akin to “Why isn’t there an article about this? I would reference it all the time.”

Her response? “Because you haven’t written it yet.”

Spoiler alert? Kind of? I have now. This article is a look at how cohesion happens in a paragraph — and then in a section and a book — and how to develop it in your own writing.

The Bones of Organization

No one writes perfect paragraphs the first time. I don’t. I’ve reorganized this post many times. First drafts exist so you have words to edit later. This will always be true. But final drafts are for the reader, and they need to make sense if they’re going to be effective. When you’re editing, it can help to look for three things in particular:

• topic sentences,
• concluding sentences, and
• transitions.

These are the clues to follow to what you are most interested in saying. They’re also going to be the touchstones for every other sentence you write. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Topic Sentences

Topic sentences let us know what a paragraph or section is going to be about. They’re important. Sometimes they’re on the nose, but it’s possible to imply a topic for a paragraph, section, or even an entire essay without explicitly saying, “Next we will talk about topic sentences.” (In this paragraph, the first sentence functions as a topic sentence.)

There is a hierarchy here. A subtle topic sentence is going to lend an effortless quality to your writing, but they take a lot of effort to get right. An explicitly stated topic sentence, though, is infinitely better than no topic sentence at all.

Think of a topic sentence as your anchor. As you review the rest of the sentences in your paragraph, see how they relate back to that anchor. If you can’t find a connection, it’s a clue that a sentence is in the wrong place and you have more revision to do.

Concluding Sentences

Concluding sentences are best used at the very end of a section. They make sure loose ends are tied up: that is, everything that has been mentioned since the topic sentence contributes to the topic, and it’s being put to rest for now. If you’ve asked or implied a question, it should be answered before moving on.

While it’s possible to ask a question that you don’t come back to until later, it’s best to explicitly address that you’re skipping it. A sentence like, “We will come back to this, but before we do, we need to talk about [topic of next paragraph]” goes a long way in earning your reader’s trust.

Transitions

Transitions are the bridges from one thought to the next. They can be full sentences (like the “we will come back to this” example in Concluding Sentences), or they can be short phrases. “But,” “Even so” and “Though” are common words that are nearly invisible in the text but serve an important purpose in acting as your reader’s guide. When they’re missing, it’s noticeable that something is out of place.

When I’m editing for someone, I leave a comment that says “What’s the connective tissue here?” a lot. What I’m looking for are these transitions. How does sentence A connect to sentence B? The next section looks at how to do this in more detail.

Beyond the Bones

Beyond the building blocks of paragraphs, there is a lot of room for variation in how paragraphs are built. Just as most people have the same general bone structure but distinct characteristics that make it easy to tell individuals apart, paragraphs can be built up in distinct ways even while keeping to these bones. (Basically, this is voice.) There are organizational methods that help to create interesting, varied, and easy-to-follow paragraphs, and there are also ways to break the bones, if you will, resulting in a disjointed paragraph. We will look at how bones are broken first, then how to build them up again.

Breaking Bones

If a paragraph isn’t flowing or someone has pointed out that it’s hard to follow, look for sentences that break the flow and are out of place. The three most common broken bones in paragraphs are phrases that:

• contradict the topic sentence,
• contradict the thesis, or
• interrupt the flow of otherwise connected ideas.

If you find any of these, ask yourself: do they belong elsewhere in the paragraph? In the book? Deleted altogether? Are you missing transitions, and adding them will make the paragraph make sense?

Before we move on, let’s look at an example of how the logic could break in a paragraph, resulting in a potentially confused reader. The logic might look something like this:

1. Topic sentence
2. Clarification and exception to topic sentence
3. Return to topic sentence
4. Unrelated detail
5. Transition

Here’s a paragraph that follows this order.

My cat loves to cuddle on my lap while I’m working. Sometimes she’ll leave me alone for hours. When she’s on my lap, she will knead the blanket between her paws, which I think is really cute. The stuffed Porg I keep on my desk is my favorite accessory. My cat also loves to sleep on my daughter’s lap when she does homework.

Can you see how that’s hard to follow, logically, and how the contradiction in the second sentence makes you wonder what it is I’m trying to say? If what matters is how my cat acts when she’s on my lap, the second and fourth sentences need to go.

I can see how my stream of consciousness did these things — right now my cat is not on my lap, and I think the Porg is cute just like I think my cat is cute — but for a paragraph meant for a reader, it’s just confusing.

This is what editing is for, and seeing these patterns in your work is going to help you to avoid them in the future. Of course, it also helps to have some structure for organizing your ideas.

Building the Muscles

Now that we’ve discussed how sentences can be out of place, I want to provide a few templates for ways paragraphs can be ordered that (modern, Western) minds are used to following. For full disclosure, even as an editor, I don’t look at every paragraph and intentionally try to make it follow any of the techniques I’m about to teach you. Instead, I only look at these if a paragraph clearly isn’t working. If I feel whiplash through a paragraph, or feel like it ends with a different message than it starts with, I break it down:

1. What’s the topic sentence?
2. Do all of the sentences apply to the topic sentence?
3. Is this paragraph one of details, or persuasive and moving toward a point? Do all the sentences match this type?

In non-fiction, there are a few ways you can move from a topic sentence to a concluding sentence. One way is like this:

1. Topic Sentence
2. Detail
3. Detail
4. Detail
5. Conclusion/transition

For this kind of paragraph, all the information is equal and does not build on each other. The order doesn’t matter. For instance:

I am Rochelle Deans. I am 5'1". I have two kids and a cat. I work as an editor. Thanks to my work as an editor, I can write this post.

Let’s break it down, number by number, to match the skeletal outline above.

1. I am Rochelle Deans.
2. I am 5’1”.
3. I have two kids and a cat.
4. I work as an editor.
5. Thanks to my work as an editor, I can write this post.

Another way to build a paragraph is persuasively, where the sentences need to be in order, or they don’t make sense.

1. Topic sentence
2. Thus, X
3. Thus, Y
4. Conclusion/transition

The first paragraph in “Beyond the Bones” follows this persuasive order. Let’s break it down.

Beyond the building blocks of paragraphs, there is a lot of room for variation in how paragraphs are built.

Before the comma, we have a transition from the previous thought. The bold part is the topic of this paragraph.

Just as most people have the same general bone structure but distinct characteristics that make it easy to tell individuals apart, paragraphs can be built up in distinct ways even while keeping to these bones. (Basically, this is voice.)

This sentence takes the topic sentence and analogizes it, comparing it to something else. The parenthetical remark clarifies the analogy briefly. Clarifications must go directly after that which they clarify. It wouldn’t make sense to put it before the analogy, and saving it for later would result in what I refer to as writing whiplash. It must go here.

There are organizational methods that help to create interesting, varied, and easy-to-follow paragraphs,

This sentence works better as an explanation of the analogy, not a lead-up to it. It has to be after the analogy and after the clarification. Therefore, the sentences so far MUST be in this order.

and there are also ways to break the bones, if you will, resulting in a disjointed paragraph.

The way this sentence finishes builds on the previous thoughts. It MUST be the last part of the clause because it transitions into the last sentence. With a pun, too! The pun was vital. Sort of.

We will look at how bones are broken first, then how to build them up again.

This is a conclusion to the paragraph, but it’s also movement that transitions into the next paragraph. A conclusion that doesn’t transition is possible, too. Here, it may be something like, “Putting together these details — and knowing how to avoid breaking the bones of structure — will allow for varied paragraphs that always make sense.”

Conclusion

My goal here is to help you learn the diagnostics for when something isn’t working, rather than actively analyzing every paragraph you write. It can be paralyzing to think through it all! However, equipping authors to not only find problems but have the tools to fix them is, I consider, one of the most important things I do.

One final note to this is that the technique is scalable. I’ve given you examples in paragraphs, but it works on the level of individual sentences, of paragraphs within sections, and even sections within the book. If it ever feels distracting to move from one topic to the next, it’s likely looking through the relationship of the elements to one another will help solve it. Whether it’s the words in a sentence, the sentences in a paragraph, the paragraphs in a section, or the sections in a book, it all logics out the same.