Write Your Book!
In this lesson:
Estimated Time to Complete Week: 2 Hours
Lesson Progress
Now that you’re all set up, it’s time to get serious about your book by creating an outline that will serve as a guide for the next 13 weeks
Your book outline will serve as a guide for yourself and your readers. However, know that the outline you create this week won’t necessarily stick. You might end up cutting out certain chapters, adding new ones, or merging a few ideas together. The point isn’t to get it perfect; it’s to give yourself a solid foundation so you know what topics to include when you start researching and writing. Creating an outline at the beginning of your writing process can also help you uncover gaps and research opportunities.
Using AI To Create an Outline
Do you already have ChatGPT open on another tab? It’s okay; you don’t need to rush to close it. AI can be an effective writing partner – IF you use it correctly. We recommend trying to come up with an outline without using AI to get your thoughts down on paper first. From there, you can create a prompt asking ChatGPT (or your preferred generative AI tool) to build out the outline. Remember, though, that these tools are imperfect and do not know more than you about your particular topic.
We highly recommend writing your outline without help from an AI tool. But if you get really stuck, you can use it to get those creative juices flowing.
The Big Idea
Expected time: 5 minutes
Start with your big idea. What is the main topic you are writing about? (To make sure you have a focused topic, your answer should be about 5 words or less.)
Examples: “Business Ethics.”
Develop Chapter Topics
Expected time: 20 minutes
Now, break that main idea into 10 topic. Don’t worry about the organization at this point. While these subtopics will become your chapter eventually, for now focus on the topic, not a catchy title. We’re looking for foundational work at this point. You’ll add the bells and whistles as you go. (Of course, if you have a really clever idea for a chapter title, by all means, write it down now—before you lose it).
If you are aiming for 50,000 words, then you will likely want ~10 chapters. This can vary, of course. 10 chapters will equal a little less than 5,000 words per chapter, or about 20 manuscript pages single-spaced.
Note: This outline is integrated with the rest of the course so it may be the most convenient option. However, if you have a preferred method of outlining, feel free to use that!
Write Your Topics
Example:
Foundational knowledge of business ethics
Ethical frameworks that shape modern businesses
The role of ethics in business
Holding stakeholders accountable to ethics
Why is ethics challenging?
Whistleblowing
Environmental ethics and sustainability
Legal aspects and ramifications of ethics
How tech impacts and blurs ethics
Future considerations of ethics
Develop Subtopics
Expected time: 40 minutes
Great, those all seem like they could potentially be good chapters. But what will go in each chapter? To answer that, you'll need to create 3 subtopics for each main topic. You’ll be able to create more subtopics later, but for now, limit yourself to 3.
Subtopics
Example:
Foundational knowledge of business ethics
Definition of ethics
Historical background of ethics in business
Why ethics matters now more than ever
Citing Sources
Expected time: 30 minutes
If you have done preliminary research on any of your topics or subtopics, add those sources to your outline. That way, you’ll have them at your fingertips when it’s time to write. The more work you can do now, the less daunting it will be to sit down and start writing your first chapter.
Helpful hint: We love using Zotero to keep track of sources. It’s easy to use, easy to share, and, best of all, FREE. Once you have all your sources, you can pop them into zbib.org to get them cited in your preferred format.
Come back to this outline as you work, and remember that you can always add, remove, and change the headers and topics. Think of your outline as a roadmap that might encounter a few bumps or curves along the way and need to change direction.
Once you have your list, think about which topic you want to write about first. That will be your task for next week.
Weekly Writing Tip - Research Is Everywhere
Now that you’re tuned into a particular topic to write about, you’re going to get ideas at random moments or come across interesting and relevant articles at inopportune times.
Create a discovery journal where you can quickly add these sources along with a quick note about why they are interesting to you. Let your close friends and family members know the general topic you are interested in and encourage them to share resources they come across. You’ll be surprised at just how much you can research outside of your set writing hours!
Weekly Word Count Check-In
Total Words (16 weeks): 0 / 50000
Weekly Progress: 0 / 3125
Overall Progress: 0%