Nonfiction: Self-Help & Channeling
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Nonfiction is a hybrid between expository writing and fiction. Combined, you have part education and part entertainment. According to Kubris and Howland in The Complete Guide To fiction And Nonfiction And Getting It Published (1990:161), “Many fiction-writing techniques, such as characterization, setting and dialogue are used in writing fiction and nonfiction.”
To write a nonfiction book, start as you would with fiction by doing research on your subject. Once you have your research, organize what you need to say in a lucid structure. The best way to do this is by outlining your book in standard outline form with major topics under Roman numerals, sub-topics under capital letters and so on. For example, take a book on depression:
I. The etiology of depression
A. Nature vs. Nurture
- Theories supporting the genetic origin of depression: a. DNA, genetics
b. heritage
- Theories supporting the environmental origin of depression: a. scientists
b. psychology
b. spiritual
And so on...
The outline will help you to organize your thinking and research, and is also a necessary tool in selling your book to an agent or publisher, which we’ll talk about later.
Self-help books, a fairly recent phenomenon, have taken off like wildfire in the market and have become a popular entertainment and teaching vehicle in the Nonfiction field. Many Metaphysical practitioners use the self-help method to convey their teachings and information. Stephen King in On Writing (2000:130) points out, “In expository prose, paragraphs can (and should) be neat and utilitarian. The ideal expository graph contains a topic sentence followed by others, which explain or amplify the point.
If it wasn’t for the self-help genre and its close relative, channeled writing, metaphysics would not have the wide-spread appeal and growing number of followers it does today. The books of Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and M. Scott Peck, just to name a few, have all been influential in motivating people to participate in metaphysical groups and churches. For many of us, we owe our initial introduction and understanding of metaphysics to these fine books.
Channeling is a special branch of Self-help. In order to channel, you must be able to go into your innermost self and call forth an inner voice, whether it be yours or another. Helen Schucman, who channeled A Course In Miracles, felt she was channeling Jesus Christ. Jane Roberts channels a spirit guide named Seth. Lee Carroll channels Lazaris. There are multitudes of helpful channeled books available. Channeled books no longer hold the appeal to publishers or the public the way they did in the 1980’s, but they remain a cornerstone of the metaphysical section in every bookstore.
In the majority of self-help books, information is illustrated with personal stories. If you will pick up a Harville Hendricks book on relationships, such as Getting The Love You Want Or Losing The Love You Have (1994), you will see how the author weaves stories of his patients’ lives throughout the book to illuminate what he is saying. One thing all successful self-help authors have in common is that their writing is clear and their message rings true. That is what makes their work so compelling.