Tuesday’s writing tip for authors

If you’re having trouble organizing your book’s table of contents, consider using a simple and elegant “past, present, and future” structure to organize your chapters. This is the organization scheme that Jeff Howe used to organize Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business.

It’s hard to get any simpler than using past, present, and future to organize your ideas and the sections of your book. Here’s one way to do it:

• Part 1: How We Got Here. In the first part of your book, describe the trends and conditions leading up to the present situation. What’s the background of the problem?
• Part 2: Where We Are. In the second part of your book, describe the present situation. What’s happening now, what are the symptoms, problems, and frustrations your readers are facing?
• Part 3: Where We’re Going. In the last part of the book, describe the implications of the transition that took place in Parts 2 and 3. In this section, you can not only define the logical future outcome of present trends, but advise your readers how to react to the changes likely to take place.

As authors, we have to avoid mistaking complexity for profound thinking. Our academic backgrounds can often be our undoing. Sometimes, the easiest organizing solutions are the best.

Sometimes, even the most complex topics can be addressed in a past, present, and future way.