Thoughts in the Margins: How to Write Compelling Nonfiction, Part One
First Installment of a Multi-Part Series
I decided to write this how-to guide because of the challenges I experienced, particularly as an undergrad and then---even more so—as a grad student. In the process of pursuing my history degrees, I found that many others endured similar struggles in navigating their research and writing. Between the couple of years earning my bachelor’s degree and entering grad school to pursue my master’s degree, I was able to secure the publishing of several articles in academic journals as well as venues intended for a general audience. I felt very fortunate that my work was being seen in various outlets with differing objectives. These experiences were crucial for me as a writer, as they provided me with opportunities of peer-review and constructive feedback on what I could improve on.
I found that graduate school offered similar opportunities, but I also began to notice something else. Though the standards of academic nonfiction writing were well established, it did not seem that there was an informative collection of lessons, habits, and tips in a centralized location for those who sought help with the arduous process of researching and writing a master’s thesis. It is not that books do not exist with such aims in mind so much as that none of them seem to offer the information and advice necessary in a way that is easily comprehensible and with appropriate brevity. This balance of instruction and concision seemed lacking and I later began to think that I may be able to provide the remedy for this absence.
Upon the completion of my master’s thesis, which turned out to be of considerable length, I pondered turning it into a book. This idea was reaffirmed when my graduate adviser, who not only signed off on the work but also nominated it for master’s thesis of the year, recommended that I pursue turning the thesis into a book and sending it out to publishers. He also, among the others who first read it, offered to write a blurb for the book, advocating its scholarly merit and accessible writing style. I pursued getting the work published as a book and McFarland & Company offered to do so a matter of months later.
Following these events, I began again to think about writing a brief but informative how-to guide on research and writing, but one that would be useful both to those in college and graduate school, but also interested writers across the spectrum who have a curiosity in entering the world of nonfiction. This manual thus seeks to offer information that will be useful to students writing research papers or master’s theses, as well as those long done with—or who have never been formally associated with—academia. This brief work thus hopes to be useful for all sorts of writers who possess a penchant for research and nonfiction.
The reasoning behind the title, Thoughts in the Margins, is discussed in some detail later, but it may be helpful to understand its meaning from the start. It is a reference to something I advocate strongly in this work which connects to the research process. I advocate for authors to write their thoughts in the margins of the pages they write their notes on in order to give some space to their own initial analysis, even as they are only beginning to draw relevant data for their project. This exercise alone yields surprisingly fruitful results in a way that connects the research practice with the routine of writing. This small bit of advice, expanded on in later installments, is one of many exercises I learned for myself as I groped my way through the darkness of researching and writing my first substantial work. Everything I advocate for in this book are practices developed by yours truly, in the pursuit of conducting solid research and writing compelling and accessible nonfiction. It is hoped that the success found in my academic background and in my numerous publications will be seen as a testament to the merit of the advice I present in future installments of this series. These tactics worked for me. I think they may work for you as well.
[End of Part One]
[James M. Masnov is a writer, historian, and lecturer. He has been a contributor at Past Tense, Pure Insights, New Discourses, the Brownstone Institute, Armstrong Journal of History, and the Oregon Encyclopedia. His newest book, Rights Reign Supreme: An Intellectual History of Judicial Review and the Supreme Court, is available here. His first book, History Killers and Other Essays by an Intellectual Historian, is available here.]