How to Cook a Book

Let’s explore how to cook a nonfiction book. I am an enthusiastic home cook. It’s a hobby and rather than cooking the same thing over and over again, I try to stay fresh so my enthusiasm for this daily task doesn’t wane. Let me back up a little and explain that every quarter for the last several years I’ve taken on  a new challenge to keep the old brain cells fresh and growing.  The second quarter of 2024 my challenge was to  master Asian cooking. Okay, maybe the term “master” is a little daunting. Let’s say I decided to dip my toe into this culinary tradition and add several dishes to my cooking rotation, As I began this challenge I kept sensing that I had done this kind of challenge over and over. That’s when I realized the steps of learning this new cuisine paralleled writing a book.

In no specific order, let me outline some of the parallels I discovered. If you are a seat-of-the-pants writer you can stop here. My Type A way of approaching a task, whether writing or cooking, will probably not compute for you.

The Simple Idea

The way this quest started was simple. I wanted to add Vietnamese spring rolls to my repertoire. I bought rice paper, glass noodles and bean sprouts.I julienned carrots and sliced cucumber. I made peanut sauce and red chili sauce. Voila! The dish resonated with my peeps. Most of the books I’ve written started the same way— one simple idea. And when I served up that idea to friends and my agent the initial feedback was good.

From Overwhelm to Narrow it Down

I was on a quest. My next attempt was Thai Red Curry Chicken. Goodness! The spices and ingredients needed for the first couple of dishes lead to complete overwhelm. My pantry was bulging. Coconut milk, Thai red chili paste, Kaffir lime leaves, baked tofu, fish sauce, two kinds of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, bamboo shoots, lemon grass, ginger. . . I could go on and on. Realizing that Asian culture spans a good part of the globe, I needed to narrow my quest down. I decided to focus on the cuisine of Southeast Asia for a start. It reminded me that I often came up against that very thing while planning a book. So much could go into my book. It becomes imperative to decide what not to include.

It also necessitates the need to know most of what is out there already. Just as I studied recipes and decided how to combine main dishes and possible sides, the writer needs to study bookstore shelves and online offerings to insure that his book offers a unique slant— a new take on the subject.

Flavor Profiles

I hadn’t realized how spicy Thai food was when a recipe was followed as written. I needed to stop and take into consideration those who would eat the food. When Thai chilis were added to a sizzling wok, eyes would water and anyone within range would start coughing. I had to dial the spice back for our American palates. We talk a lot about felt need when considering who the reader will be for our book. Another parallel— both the cook and the writer need to know their audience.

Wok Wednesday

I decided to name Wednesdays as the day I would try a new recipe. Setting up a schedule for a task is key to completing the challenge, whether it is Pad Thai or a book on friendship evangelism. Intentionality keeps a project moving forward.

Mise En Place

The French term, mise en place, simply means to have all the ingredients measured out and at the ready before beginning a dish. With Asian food it is especially important because most meals are created in a sizzling hot wok and completed in less than fifteen minutes. There’s not time for going to look for an ingredient. In doing the research for your book, this gathering of resources is key to getting the job done with finesse. If you don’t keep complete notes of sources used, including photos of title pages and the page numbers of any quotes you’ve used, trying to go back and assemble these to turn in with your book becomes a nightmare.

The First Attempt

Taking on a new dish came with the realization that it would simply be a first attempt. A few worked on the first attempt but most needed many subsequent tries. I learned there is no one classic recipe for a dish. If you search for Thai Pork Satay, say, you’ll find dozens of recipes— all tweaked to represent the style of the particular chef. The only way to know what will work is to make the attempt and then be ready to test and tweak each dish until it sings. Yep. That’s how to cook a book as well. Just start. That’s only the first attempt. A first try may be formatted as a devotional but the book eventually morphs into a Christian Living trade book. The only way to know is to test and tweak the material, always keeping your reader (or eater) in mind. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Moving Away from Recipes

My goal as a home cook is to become so familiar with a dish that I can make it without consulting a recipe. When I was writing, it was much the same. I wanted to know my subject backward and forward so that  research proceeded the writing. When I sat down to write I didn’t slave over my resources. I just wrote. Checking resources came back in during rewriting and editing.

Plating Each Dish

The old saying, “The proof is in the pudding,” is true in cooking and equally true when you cook a book. The finished dish must be appealing to the eye as well as to the sense of smell and taste. Much of the “plating” of our books is out of our hands like the cover, back cover copy and interior design, but the way we present the material is up to us. How big are the chapters? How are we chunking out the meat of the book? Do we offer side dishes. . . I mean sidebars? Pull quotes? You decide how to put creativity into the plating of your book.

So then, how do you cook a book? Are your steps anything like mine? It’s fun to find parallels in the things we do.  I know many writers compare childbirth and child rearing to coming up with a book and then getting that book out into the world. What about you? Writing a book is like. . .