Awhile back, a young musical artist I know wanted to write a book about an older musical artist who had been an influence but who died before they really got to know one another. [I am not mentioning names, not to be coy, but because it’s not germane.] The young artist, wanting to know more, and also wanting to pay tribute, interviewed many of the older artist’s friends and colleagues, and then sent me a manuscript with a request for my opinion. To be completely honest, I was so profoundly disappointed by what I saw that, at first, I did not know what to say. Clearly the young artist had done a great deal of research and leg-work in contacting folks, interviewing them and transcribing their thoughts; also in compiling large portions of other people’s writings. And that was the problem. The manuscript was one large compendium of other peoples work and words and as such was little more than a copyright nightmare. I know a lot of people who are not Writers with a capital W, by which I mean that they are not writers by profession and/or they have not studied the craft, either formally or through years of practice. They are either hobbyists or professionals in another field who have a burning interest, message, and/or a story to tell, and they need guidance. Here’s the gist of what I told the young artist.
What is missing, first and foremost, is YOU. I know you wanted to tell the artist’s story in the artist’s words, but you can’t. Furthermore, readers want to go on a journey with the author — that’s you. You have a unique perspective from which to tell your story of the older artist and how the experience impacted your life. You probably think that you don’t have enough to say about that artist on your own, but I am not suggesting that you not use the research, rather that you make it part of the story of your journey to discover and get to really know the artist after death took away the person-to-person opportunities.
* There is your life before actually meeting the artist – when did you first hear the artist’s music? On record? Radio? Live? What did you think/how did you feel? Who was with you and/or with whom did you discuss it later? How did the artist’s work influence your musical and professional growth?
* Then one day you met the artist in person. How? When? Where?
* Describe the events where you were in contact and/or worked with or around the artist.
* The artist’s funeral
* Then, feeling the loss of the opportunity to learn more from the artist, you decided to get to know the artist by interviewing friends and colleagues, and by reading everything you could find.
Get into all these events and focus on that artist as seen through your eyes – what did you feel? What did you think? What did you learn? Try to remember what you thought/felt back then, and if time has given you a different perspective today, say so. If someone tells you about something that artist did or said, share your thoughts and reactions with the reader.
As an artist yourself, you think about things like the relationships between leader and sidemen, criteria for picking material, and such. You can explore these topics by sharing what you learned from the artist, from firsthand observation and from what interviewees said. The interviews should be woven throughout, but you have to use only the golden nuggets, then paraphrase any salient info, and lose the rest. Readers don’t want to wade through the transcripts; that’s your job. The golden nuggets are those that share insight and perspective, rather than obvious historical facts.
Writing is a craft, and, just like music, it takes training and practice. Of course there are many books on the market written by people who are not professional writers, but most of those ‘writers’ hire editors, book doctors, or ghost writers to help them create a publishable manuscript.
I still believe you have a story worthy of telling, but the materials you sent represent only the accumulated research. What you need now is to prepare a proper structure and to tell your story. The structure can be mostly chronological, and one way to find your story is to look at each little section you compiled and ask “what does that mean to me.â€