Video: Choosing Which Person to Write In for a Non-Fiction Book

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Learn how to decide in which person to write your non-fiction book in this free video guide for first-time authors.

- Interviewing Experts to Write a Non-Fiction Book

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Video Transcript

I’m Bobbi Linkemer on behalf of expertvillage.com, and I’d like to invite you to visit my website at writeanonfictionbook.com. Am I talking to my reader? That’s called second person. So, if I’m writing a how to book, chances are I’m going to say you should do this and have you ever considered this, and I’m going to use the word you. If I’m writing a memoir or an autobiography, I’m going to use the word I. So, as a child I did this. I remember my grandfather; he always put me on his knee and read me stories. That’s called first person, when you’re talking about yourself. Third person is when you are talking about something out there; you’re talking about the reader one, the person, somebody else, he, she and it’s like a text book in that you’re distancing yourself from your subject. It’s not very conversational, it’s more academic and I tend to be a very conversational writer; I tend to write pretty much the way I talk. I frequently use second person; I talk to my reader. I assume that we’re engaged in a dialogue. But the important thing to remember is you can’t change your mind, so it’s a really good idea to have a sense of your own style and your own voice and how you want to address the subject matter. Do you want it to be personal? Do you want to be engaged in a conversation? Do you want to put it over there, get away from it, and talk about it in very objective terms?

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Choosing Which Person to Write In for a Non-Fiction Book

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