How to Write for the Nonbeliever Audience Type, Part One
Original photo by Anher on Pixabay
The way you present something conveys a certain meaning to your target audience. What you might not realize is that it demonstrates how you view and understand your audience. Doing it correctly reinforces your authority and expertise on the subject. Doing it incorrectly encourages readers to go elsewhere.
The inverse of this is that your target audience’s motivation for reading dictates the structural guidelines and genre and writing conventions you need to use to be heard effectively.
Chris Huntley, one of the authors of Dramatica, puts it this way: “Story structure provides the basis for seeing meaning in the story. Meaning provides the basis for understanding and manipulating structure in a story. In other words, meaning is tied to the audience’s experience of the story while structure is tied to the author’s perspective of the story.”1
It's important to note the authors of Dramatica define structure as the relationship between character, plot, theme, and genre, as well as all the other story dynamics that come into play. And while we generally think of structure as the literal order and arrangement of elements, for the sake of this discussion, think of structure as all the elements of writing craft working together. This includes writing conventions. And it is all equally applicable to nonfiction book writing.
In a way, the writer-reader paradigm slides back and forth between the author’s perspective of their content and the reader’s perspective of the material. However, the writer-reader paradigm takes into account what Dramatica does not—the reader’s motivation for reading. To create effective meaning for your readers, you must switch over to the reader’s position in the writer-reader paradigm. This shifts their needs to the front of the line and pushes your needs to the back so you can effectively look at “structure” to shape material in just the right way to satisfy your target audience type’s needs.
That doesn’t mean your own motivation and goals for writing your book are unimportant; on the contrary, your vision and words deeply matter and have a place in the world. If you want to be read, effect change, and, well, make money, at some point during your revision process, your audience type’s motivation and needs must be considered. The writer-reader paradigm is ultimately a business mindset that helps you weave together your motivations and needs with your target audience type’s motivations and needs so you end up with a salable product that simultaneously reflects you and speaks to your readers.
There are a handful of starting questions you can ask yourself as you look at your writing through the eyes of your readers. What is the primary reason they would be reading your book? What do they care about? What questions do they have? And what order would they expect those questions to be answered?
With that said, let’s dive into part one of the first of the four ways to present content to readers.
Shaping Material for the Nonbeliever Audience Type
When you’re writing to someone who is unaware they have a problem or flat out disagrees with your stance on X, their interest is in anything but what you have to say.
Writing for the nonbeliever audience type isn’t about trying to convince someone who isn’t interested in listening to you. Taking that approach often leads to a battle of wills. It doesn’t help anyone. And it only leads to frustration and discouragement.
Instead, the best way to approach this group is to first think about a time when you were in the nonbeliever group, where you believed something that was completely opposite to what you now believe. It could be about anything—an approach to running a classroom, using a manual versus electric toothbrush, even your belief about the character of God (“He’s angry at me all the time” compared to “God loves me”).
Originally, you were in the precontemplation stage—total unawareness or denial there was even something to consider changing. You were resolute in what you believed until a passing slip of a phrase entered your radar, slowly leading you down a different path.
This is the mindset of the nonbeliever audience type. So an author writing for this audience has two priorities only. The first is to always see their target readers as people, with real thoughts, real hearts, and real life experiences. The second is to write a book with the sincere desire to entertain or share what they know about Y and view it as a no-strings-attached investment in their target audience type. If you believe your message or product is more important than this audience type’s desire for entertainment or information about Y, you should not write for this audience.
Now, what’s described below are not manipulative or bait-and-switch tactics. Rather, they are guidelines to help you demonstrate to this audience type that you understand their needs, speak their language, and, above all, have no ulterior motive than to simply meet them where they are at.
Story or Subject First
As we’ve already established, the nonbeliever audience type’s motivation for reading is all about escapism and information about Y. They want to have a good time and get the details they care about. These readers are in a completely different value-place than where you are in the writer-reader paradigm.
Christian fiction authors looking to share aspects of Christianity with readers who don’t believe in God must give these readers a story that sweeps them off their feet. The narrative drive and stakes need to be so well developed, they fuel your readers’ curiosity or concern for your main character, propelling them forward with a momentum that doesn’t stop until the very end. These readers end up so invested in finding out what happens next to the main character, they’ll keep reading when faith content is gently introduced later on in the novel.
For nonfiction authors, nonbeliever readers come in two categories: those who believe in what you’re teaching (Y) but are not in a place to learn about your other products or services (X), and those also looking for information about Y but are in denial about their problem, and the solution they need is uncomfortable or controversial (X) to their belief system.
If you’re writing for nonfiction nonbelievers, it’s essential to concentrate on delivering high-value content about Y for them. This is the reason they will pick up your book in the first place. The topic can be about anything, such as marketing or even something as technical as baking cakes.
Focusing on high-value content about Y shifts your priority from X to Y, keeping what you really want to talk to your readers about in check (all those custom baking gadgets you sell). It also shows this audience type that you genuinely desire to meet their current interest and need. To be respected, you must first give respect. When you demonstrate considerate behavior toward this audience type and X eventually comes into the discussion, they will be more inclined to hear what you have to say.
Regulate Specialty Content
Faith content, special or hard-to-hear messages, and non-salesy sales pitch material are all considered specialty content. Even if you don’t read or write Christian fiction, I recommend you consider also reading that section so you can get the most out of the nonfiction section (it builds on what’s covered in the Christian fiction section).
Christian Fiction Considerations
For Christian fiction writers writing to this audience type, faith content is typically introduced only when you are well into the story. The reason? It’s the final solution to the main character’s problems. As with all stories that reflect character change, the main character must first realize that what they thought wasn’t a problem actually is. Then they must come to the revelation that all the “solutions” they try to use to solve their problem during the story aren’t working, leaving only God.
Keep in mind that faith content is your value-place in the writer-reader paradigm, not your readers’. In order to prevent them from feeling blindsided, faith content should be hinted at in your book blurb as well as in your book before it’s actually introduced (e.g., a character who talks about something faith-related late in the story should exhibit Christ-like behavior before that). Not only is this respectful to your nonbeliever readers’ beliefs, it also softens the abrasiveness they may experience when they see a core belief opposite to their own value-place acting as the solution to the main character’s problems.
Now, the amount of faith content will vary from story to story as no two are alike. Some plots require a lot of faith content and others a mere dusting. And there are no definitive percentages as to when you should introduce faith content. It must arise naturally from the story, the characters’ viewpoints and existing beliefs, and what’s going on in each scene.
For example, Mysterious Ways by Terry W. Burns is a fun novel about a con man pretending to be a preacher so he can hide from the law. This novel has an unusually large amount of faith content for the nonbeliever audience type, but all the elements of the story support it. The first time a verse is featured occurs at the 25% mark, and the character reads it with a lot of skepticism. The book also features salvation, which takes place at about the 70% point. Any earlier than this and it would have been forced because it would have overrode the natural sequence of the main character sorting out his beliefs while also trying to sort out the pickle he put himself in.
On the other hand, Meant to Bee by Storm Schultz, a novel about an unmarried American expat making a life for herself and her baby in the UK, doesn’t feature any faith content until the 70% mark, where a secondary character (whom the main character has come to know and respect) explains what forgiveness really means. The main character thinks about the secondary character's gentle advice and decides to forgive someone else for the wrong done to her little family at the 77% point. A few other nods to forgiveness occur before the main character mentions a passing comment to God right before accepting that person’s apology at 91%.
A very different book with a lot less faith content, which is how most books for this audience type tend to go. Because faith content is the final solution to a main character’s problems, it’s naturally introduced pretty late in the book, so there’s appropriately not a lot of room to get too deep into the topic. Anything more than a light touch will come across as out of place.
Sometimes authors worry that a minor thread of faith content is too subtle and will go right past readers’ heads. Even though they mean well, they end up writing a little heavy-handed, making the faith content read as “convenient” or even contrived. This approach is actually a form of authorial intrusion, which we’ll get into later, but it ultimately stems from not trusting God to reach someone.
Nonfiction Considerations
If you’re writing nonfiction, say a brand book you hope will lead to other business, simply replace the thread of faith content with your sales pitch. It’s that simple. Since your value-place and your readers’ value-place are on opposite sides of the writer-reader paradigm, carefully work through everything that you promised your reader (the reason they bought your book) while respectfully demonstrating how those real-world solutions may not be the most convenient (e.g., painting a clear picture of all that’s involved). This will allow you to lead up to being able to share how your product or service eliminates the inconvenience of those solutions. Just remember that creating awareness about your other offerings must arise naturally from the discussion.
For example, 40 Days Closer to Him (forthcoming) by Dr. Glenda McGowen Shepard, DNP, is a wellness guide and devotional that outlines core strategies for nutritional, fitness, and spiritual success. After laying out a significant amount of information a reader needs to equip themselves in achieving their health goals, my client shifts gears by sharing a story about her personal holistic journey at the 55% mark. This anecdote naturally transitions into her approach to wellness and an it-feels-like-a-behind-the-scenes explanation about how she works with her wellness clients. If you set aside the devotional portion of her book, this discussion actually occurs at the 75% mark of her teaching content. Then she continues on with other topics before revisiting her services again with an opt-in in a dedicated area in her book’s back matter at the very end. (Shared with client permission.)
Although creating awareness about your services is a different type of content compared to faith content, the principle of delivering such material late in your book still applies. Nonfiction nonbeliever readers are only interested in reading what they intend to learn. These purchasers make a small but critical investment in an author probably unknown to them and are not in a position to commitment to more. Moderating when and how much non-salesy sales pitch content that is woven into your book is crucial to keeping this audience’s trust.
If your nonfiction book instead features an uncomfortable or controversial solution (X) for this audience type, you’ll also replace the thread of faith content with your message. I’m going to use a made-up example heavily inspired by a real life European forum post I happened upon fifteen ago. I still remember it, including one particular phrase of description. I chose this example because it’s broad enough that just about everybody should be able to follow along in one way or another, though it may be uncomfortable for my American readers:
Let’s say you’re from Europe and you’re living in the US because of your American spouse. And, as an animal lover, out of all the culture shock you experience, the behavioral problems you see in American dogs is the most unsettling. Owners let their dogs bark and lunge at people walking in the park, let their dogs wander on leads and trip strangers, don’t take snapping and biting seriously, or let their dogs claw on people, ruining their clothes. You adore dogs and, having lived all over Europe, never witnessed this sort of “barbaric behavior” in Europe.
You feel inspired to write a book about all the behavioral problems in dogs (Y) for the everyday American dog mom and dad, but your solution is one that isn’t popular in the society you’re trying to reach: that the owners are the source (X) of their dogs’ problematic behaviors, not the dogs. A nonbeliever reader will pick up your book because they’re interested in learning how to stop their dog’s bad behaviors. They’re convinced the dog is the problem (Y). The idea that the owner is the cause of their dog’s behavior hasn’t even crossed their radar. As you progress through your book’s content, first creating understanding about dog psychology and then demonstrating behavioral methodology, you naturally lead up to your conclusion that the only method for creating change in a dog is creating change in the owner’s behavior (X).
This is respectful persuasion, demonstrating and implying with evidence before stating an outright solution. If the fictional author reversed this order, the nonbeliever audience type would immediately resist what the author has to say and probably chuck the book in the trash.
Wrapping Up
Ultimately, to effectively connect with the nonbeliever audience type, the amount of faith, messaging, or sales pitch information you have in your book should be quite minimal. A conversation or two here, a few sentences there, and the reader is informed in a thoughtful but not overbearing manner.
Think of it this way: If you removed such content, the book would lose something but still be able to stand on its own after a little patching.
Next week we’ll look at part two of writing for the nonbeliever audience, where I’ll break down how to create genuine connection, prevent authorial intrusion, and shape the language you use, plus a whole lot more!
References
1. Huntley, Chris. 2007. “How and Why Dramatica is Different from Six Other Story Paradigms.” Dramatica. July 2007. https://dramatica.com/articles/how-and-why-dramatica-is-different-from-six-other-story-paradigms.