Is your nonfiction ready for the public? Try this ancient framework
My senior-class high school English teacher would be proud of this sentence: I need to read Cicero.
I’m not sure I ever have. Maybe a speech here or there when I majored in English.
But—and this reveals the gaps in my historical and rhetorical knowledge—apparently he knew a thing or three about communication.
Earlier this month, an intriguing tweet thread from @culturaltutor appeared in my feed. I read it, enjoyed it, and immediately signed up for “The Areopagus: Seven short lessons each Friday. A beautiful education every week.”
As email newsletters go, it’s lengthy. But I’ve found myself looking forward to these insightful history lessons, reading a section or two each day. (It’s expanding my education beyond my all-too-siloed reading about writing and golf.)
Back to Cicero.
In his Dec. 4 newsletter, The Cultural Tutor summarizes Cicero's threefold framework for ascertaining if someone has delivered a successful speech.
Docere (prove) is about convincing the audience that your position is the correct one; so much is surely the purpose of any argument.
Delectare (delight) is about how you speak, about using language in a way that is appealling, entertaining, interesting, perhaps even beautiful; that's how you keep their attention.
Movere (move) is about engaging the emotions of your listeners; there is no better way to convince, after all.
The Cultural Tutor then directly quotes Cicero from Brutus: “To prove, is a matter of necessity:—to delight, is indispensably requisite to engage the attention:—and to force the passions, is the surest means of victory; for this contributes more effectually than both the others to get a cause decided to our wishes.”
Now consider the last thing you wrote for the purpose of making an impression on your readers.
How would you grade yourself through this framework?
Where did you shine?
Where did you fail?
What may have been left out?
Now consider your oeuvre.
Which issue is your crutch?
Why do you lean on it so heavily?
How can you enhance your writing by incorporating any of these three aspects that may feel foreign to you?
Certainly, this framework doesn’t apply to the needs of every type of nonfiction. Sometimes the aim is just information, for example.
But, on the whole, when you’re trying to win someone to your perspective, this broad framework can help you assess if what you’ve written has the best opportunity to prove, delight, and move its audience.
To engage the head, the heart, and the soul is to scale the walls of a reader’s highest defenses.
Better Writing Advice
📝 Must read
Justin Welsh’s “very simple 5-step writing process”
First, please know that everything I share in this newsletter is a suggestion, not a prescription. Use what works, adapt it to your needs, and ditch the rest.
If you wrestle with what to write next—especially if you have to create content on a daily or weekly basis—Welsh’s ideas in this thread could help you.
His tips are easy in that they’re easy to follow, but they do take time and commitment.
What’s your ideation process? Let me know by replying to this email.
And if you’ve written about your process already, send me a link.
Also, if you haven’t written about your process—there’s an article idea!
👀 Must watch
Order Words for Emphasis
Have you ever read or edited something that looks like this?
Setting words in bold or italics is often a lazy writer’s quick attempt to force the reader’s interpretation of a sentence.
But if you spent just a few more moments reworking an important sentence, you can rid yourself of unnecessary formatting and make your sentence more appealing (delectare).
Watch this from Roy Peter Clark:
Shoutout to @SNeiderhauser for surfacing this video on Twitter.
📖 Must know
Whither publishing?
Three publishing-related articles caught my eye this week:
Barnes & Noble Opening 30 Stores In 2023, Leading Big Real Estate Wave
“The BookTok effect may affect the sorts of books that editors acquire in the future”
Brief context for each:
The possible closure of the USA Today list could severely impact self-published authors who strive for exposure there, one of the few places they could be seen by millions.
More B&Ns opening surprises me given how many have closed recently (and how many of its brick-and-mortar competitors, like Amazon, completely shut down).
There’s no link for the last point because it’s from Jane Friedman’s Dec. 21 paid newsletter The Hot Sheet. The full quote is: “The BookTok effect may affect the sorts of books that editors acquire in the future. However, no social listening tools exist (yet) for TikTok that quickly show marketers and publicists what books are being talked about.” (Note: I don’t recommend using TikTok for privacy reasons. In fact, Congress is moving to ban it from government phones.)
The point:
The world of publishing is always changing, but the changes seem to come faster every year. Keep yourself knowledgeable about these changes long before you choose to publish—and that’s for both traditional publishing and self-publishing.
Recommended read
Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
I recently recommended this to a coworker and he found it quite helpful.
Judging by its 4.5-star average out of more than 1,500 ratings, many others agree.
It’s one I should reread this year.
In fact, the second chapter might be familiar to you: “Order words for emphasis.”
Much of the advice may not be new to you, but I’m willing to bet there are one or two or ten chapters that could be the next reminder you need to make your work sing.
Housekeeping
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Let’s connect on Twitter (while we still can).