Do you want to write good history for a general audience? Alane Salerno Mason, the Executive Editor at W.W. Norton, offers some advice.
- Keep your introduction brief, and introductory
- People the story
- Let the people move
- Honor chronology
- Don’t bury your favorite details
- Avoid subtitles
- Don’t talk down to your audience
- Accept that some subjects are inherently of minor interest and others fall into genres that have become overcrowded
- A book should not be one’s first and only attempt to address the public.
- Break any rule when to do so serves a higher purpose
Check out Mason’s post at W.W. Norton to see how she unpacks these points.