The following is a summary of advice shared by expert panelists who attended our 2020 seminar series, gathered and written up here by members of Neuwrite. To learn more, please see the 'Seminars' tab on the website.
Three Personal Experiences of Writing a Book Written by Paula Rowinska For our third seminar we invited a panel of successful science writers, whose critically acclaimed books are must-reads for any aspiring nonfiction writer. Angela Saini, Prof. Mark Miodownik and Alom Shaha shared their opinions and advice about science writing. What can we learn from their experiences? How to start a writing career Each writing career is unique – and so is each career path. During her engineering degree, Angela got involved in student politics and started publishing in a student paper. After graduation, she transformed her passion for journalism into a full-time job. Many years of working in investigative journalism gave her tools to explore the intersection of science and society, which became the main topic of her books. Mark, on the other hand, is an active researcher and lecturer in materials engineering. He discovered that demos are an effective teaching tool, which earned him the media’s attention. He ended up presenting experiments on TV, which taught him about the importance of storytelling in teaching. Finally, Alom’s experience as a physics teacher proved to him that the way we teach science doesn’t leave much space for asking questions. Alom’s books encourage parents to conduct science experiments with their children, so that they never stop wondering. If parents are their children’s first teachers of English and maths, why shouldn’t they introduce kids to the world of science? Where do book ideas come from? Angela’s editor assigned her an article about menopause – a topic she didn’t know much about at the time. Why do humans, unlike other species, live past their fertility age? Angela learned that researchers proposed two main hypotheses. The first one stresses the importance of grandmothers in the society. The second one focuses on the supposed lack of attractiveness of older women among men of any age. If science was unbiased, researchers would study each hypothesis regardless of their gender. In fact, the first hypothesis is preferred by female, while the second one by male scientists. This discrepancy inspired Angela’s groundbreaking book: “Inferior”. Teaching is all about telling stories, and so are books. Mark knows how to tell a good story, so he decided to take his love for materials science beyond the lecture theatre. He wanted to describe all the materials we’re surrounded by, such as graphene, plastic or steel, each in a separate chapter. The publisher didn’t love this idea: it felt like a list. Only then Mark found a way of joining these chapters together with one, consistent narrative. How? Get a copy of “Stuff Matters” to find out, you won’t regret it! Alom’s students kept asking him about god, religion and atheism. He wanted the younger generation to get a chance he had never had: to ask, get answers and take decisions about their own faith. That’s how the idea for “The Young Atheist's Handbook” was born. How to succeed When asked about main factors contributing to their writing success, our guests offered plenty of valuable insights. The passion for the topic is necessary. You must really, really love the subject to commit to writing about it for months, or even years. Write! If you want to write, sit down and write. You need to put in hours and fill those blank pages with words. Networking helps too. You need to build connections with other writers, agents and researchers. You never know how you could help each other! A good way to build such a network, especially during the pandemic, is through social media channels. Finally, luck. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. However, being passionate, having a wide writing portfolio and a good network will allow you to make some of your own luck. What are the challenges for minority writers? The publishing industry can be biased in a similar way to society. Writers from underrepresented backgrounds might need to prepare for – but not accept – some level of bias. For example, Alom really struggled to find a publisher for his first book, since it didn’t seem “appropriate” for a writer from a Muslim background to write a book about atheism. Some publishers even suggested it might be dangerous… Luckily, Alom didn’t give up and found a publisher in Australia, who took on his book. Angela, on the other hand, is aware that as a woman of colour she might be scrutinised more than a white male would be. She’s proactive about that: she puts a lot of effort into her research and makes sure her facts are flawless, so that nobody can undermine her work. What goes into a book? To write a nonfiction book, a lot of research is needed. Our speakers shared the secret to their unique researching process. Angela starts from academic papers and references therein. They’re an excellent source of names of potential interviewees. Angela attempts to interview not only the big name in the field, but the person actually involved in the study. Sometimes it means tracking down PhD students, who might reveal inside knowledge on the research. Mark teaches material science and writes about it, so his initial research doesn’t have to be as extensive. He focuses on emotions, usually neglected when we talk about science. It’s the emotions that attract people to science and engineering. Because Alom writes for young audiences, a big part of his books are illustrations. He worked closely with his publisher to find an appropriate illustrator. They wanted someone with a passion for the project, but a knowledge for science was not a requirement. For future projects, where possible, Alom will look for illustrators from underrepresented backgrounds, or someone looking for their first break in publishing. How to take care of yourself Writing can be a lonely and stressful experience. Our guests gave some valuable advice on how to deal with challenges of writing:
How to get started Finally, our guests thought back to the beginnings of their own writing careers. They shared a few tips and tricks on getting started:
What’s next? The speakers left us with their thoughts on the future of science writing. Angela believes that this field is finally opening up for writers from underrepresented backgrounds, and to people writing at the intersection of science and politics. Mark thinks that we’re going to explore the style of narrative fiction and science writing to reach new audiences. Alom would like to incorporate new genres in his own writing, because we learn by experimenting. And you? What are you going to write next?
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