Notes from a Non-Fiction Writing Course

Today I was at a non-fiction writing course at Tieteiden talo (the House of Sciences) in Helsinki. A good day’s education — it gave me a lot to think about. Here are some fresh thoughts.

Anne Rutanen encouraged us to prepare an “elevator pitch” — to say in three sentences what is new or surprising about one’s work. Without much deliberation, the following came to me:

Finnish Cavalry in the Swedish Era. They made heroes of the Hakkapeliitta, but this is the first comprehensive book on Finnish cavalry in the Swedish era. The real picture of how those damn bunglers became invincible and then scapegoats.

I personally dislike the word hakkapeliitta, but I suppose one has to use it.

Riitta Suominen gave good guidance on developing blog writing and encouraged going to Twitter as well. Where on earth do I find the time for all that. Still, various ideas have lodged in the back of my mind. Perhaps something will eventually emerge. But priorities have to be set.

There is urgency because Anne Rutanen advised starting pre-marketing for a book six months before publication. The goal is to have the book on the market in autumn, and spring is already well advanced. In addition to the elevator pitch I need a cover design and a description text.

Plans exist to be changed. Decisions exist to be kept. On 7 March I wrote about spring thoughts: the book has progressed so that the plan has changed — after all, one book. The estimated page count is 790. So hardback binding with thread sewing is needed. As the text is completed I can state the page count more precisely.

In the final editing I am now getting past the Great Northern War. There are only a couple of small details slowing progress. I still need to read a handful of books — perhaps a thousand pages in total. I hope nothing new appears that I absolutely have to take into account. Then there is the index: which terms to include, whether to have a full name index, a surname-only index, or whether to include other place names and terms as well. The book has many pages and every page has names. Marking the index entries is the labour-intensive part; once they are marked, the computer compiles the index automatically.

With these thoughts, looking forward to the green of spring.