The Questions of Book Coaching: How We Help Writers Solve a Puzzle
Today’s blog post comes to us from Author Accelerator certified book coach Barbara Boyd!
My granddaughter, Giulia, and I were doing a puzzle the other day.
We’d played with the pieces in the past but on this day she gave it her full attention and concentration. Giulia recently turned 3, the age when children begin to grasp the concepts of assembling a puzzle. Even children who seem exceptionally bright or advanced struggle to solve puzzles until around age 3. At that age, their brains begin to recognize spatial relations and color associations and their hands have the manual dexterity to manipulate the pieces.
In preparation for puzzles, Giulia has been “reading” seek-and-find books, with the help of an adult. Each spread has a dozen or so drawings of the same object and a question, such as “which beach umbrella is sad?” or “ which popsicle doesn’t have a twin?” This has prepared her to look for similarities and differences. When we worked on the puzzle, I asked her about the colors and images she saw on the pieces to guide her to find the tab and hole that matched.
When she inserted the first tab into the matching slot, Giulia smiled and clapped. I could virtually see new synapses forming and connecting in her brain, hear them snapping into place. When she struggled to add more pieces, she said, “Ask me a question so I can find the piece.” She had also grasped the idea that the questions helped her solve the puzzle.
Like most children, Giulia, if left on her own, would learn how to assemble a puzzle through trial and error. By asking questions to guide her—but not doing the puzzle for her—she grasped the concept and went forward to solve the puzzle on her own.
Book coaches use similar didactic methods in their work.
Book coaches put themselves in the reader’s head and ask questions like: does it matter that the girl’s hat is yellow? Why are you sharing that detail? Does it come up again or will it distract the reader as part of their brain tries to envision it and tucks the detail away for later use as they read forward? Or, in a book with multiple points of view, I might ask which character has the most to lose, the most at stake, so we can identify from whose perspective the chapter should be written.
In working with nonfiction writers, I ask questions to identify the order in which the reader will best absorb information. Questions like, what does the reader need to know first? Or, will the reader be familiar enough with that concept to apply the depth you describe? Experts bring knowledge bias to their writing; my job as their book coach is to defend the reader.
Writers, left on their own, do write books but without a writing coach, it can be a frustrating and lengthy process that leads to less than satisfactory results.
We ask questions to help them be more effective writers, to create a narrative that provides the best reader’s experience. We do not do the work for our clients, but give them a different way to consider their ideas and find the best way to communicate them.
In a recent call with a client, we discussed a perplexing issue in the book’s timeline that we’d been trying to solve for a while. Keeping to the puzzle metaphor, the client had all the pieces in front of her, but the tabs weren’t in the right slots, so the full picture didn’t make sense. She, too, said, “Ask me some of your great questions to help me think about this.” Through a series of exploratory questions, we came up with a solution—one that implies significant additional writing. My client expressed both excitement at finding the solution and overwhelm at the work ahead. I share her excitement and I’ll coach her through the overwhelm, supporting her as she writes these new pieces until the “full picture” is complete.
Likewise, I sat with Giulia as she worked to complete the puzzle.
When she put the final piece in place, I fully shared her satisfaction and joy.
The joy of coaching is witnessing the moment that everything clicks into place, when all the work—research, reading, studying, courses, and coaching—comes together and the client “gets it.” I can see the synapses snapping into place and share the pride and satisfaction the client feels in learning and knowing they can write a book. I share the client’s confidence that their message will resonate with their audience. I have no doubt fellow book coaches experience that same joy; for many, drawing on our teaching mindset and empathetic nature is why we became coaches in the first place.
If you’re interested in working with me as a book coach, I’m accepting nonfiction writers at the moment. You can learn more about me and my coaching packages at my website.
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