Let's Get Real
Coaching You Through the Wide World of Non-Fiction
Eventually we had to come back to reality, but it’s not all bad. There are some silver linings. Your background as a veteran or first responder holds immense power when it comes to writing non-fiction. You have insights that very few possess and hard-earned credibility that no textbook can replicate. Despite what many people think, you do not need a journalism degree or a literary pedigree to create something compelling and meaningful. Think of yourself as a coach working with a team that has never faced your challenges, guiding them through unfamiliar terrain. Your authenticity, forged in real-world trials, will help readers trust you from the first sentence. Non-fiction writing can take many forms, from sharing personal experiences to dissecting complex issues, and your voice can shine in each one. While the following is not a complete list it does cover the main types of non-fiction writing that you may choose to dabble in the near future.
Memoirs allow you to take readers on a journey through your own life, offering a truthful account that resonates because it is grounded in reality. Instead of theory, you have stories of missions, emergencies, or quiet acts of bravery that reveal character, resilience, and growth. A memoir transforms your experiences into a narrative that shows how human beings adapt, overcome, and evolve. These stories come from deep within and with that can stir some tough emotions. Memoirs can be messy, especially for those that have significant trauma to discuss. Not all memoirs need to focus on every aspect of your life, however, and it can be centered around a significant experience, time period, a business, or even a person. This can allow you to break up your memoirs into multiple books or editions that uncover more about you as your audience grows and wants to learn more about you.
Essays give you space to reflect and analyze. They let you connect the dots between what you have seen and what it might mean for others. If you want to explore the moral questions that arose during deployments or examine how a critical decision impacted an entire community, essays let you dig deeper. Your readers benefit from your perspective, learning about the human side of issues that might otherwise remain abstract or misunderstood. Magazines and online blog sites typically accept these types of submissions under certain formatting and deadline restrictions, but it is an easy way to start putting out your knowledge on a subject that you are an expert in regardless of the topic and from a viewpoint that they may not have on staff. Former medics or paramedics writing into medical journal or website trying to push some new device that has significant issues that they may be overlooking or benefits for a demographic they may not even be reaching could be beneficial to all parties involved. You won’t know until you take a shot.
How-to guides let you put your specialized training into a practical format. Perhaps you can explain stress management techniques learned from high-pressure situations, or break down field medicine into steps a civilian can follow for basic first aid. By clearly outlining procedures and offering real-world tips, you give readers tools they can use, helping them feel more prepared and confident in their own lives. It will likely be better training than they ever received as well. After recently going to a CPR certification, I was baffled at how limited the knowledge of the techniques and information had become.
Academic writing can feel formal, but your firsthand experience can bring much-needed relevance to research and theory. When you present studies or historical events, you can illuminate them with personal examples or clarify complex issues with insights that come from having lived through them. This blend of credibility and clarity can elevate your academic work, making it more accessible and meaningful to a broader audience. Your first-hand knowledge of on-the-ground information is invaluable. Especially, if you decide to take academic courses in your field. Surprising enough when I corrected a professor on anti-terrorism topics covering Afghanistan and Iraq that were in her textbook, because I was there and the people I interviewed for my paper were there, she made note of the information and stated she would make changes for the next update. Most professors stick to their guns when it comes to their information so I was shocked. However, as I stated, our on-the-ground information is invaluable to the people who only study and read this stuff for a living and rarely put themselves on the spot to implement what we have lived.
Self-help writing allows you to coach readers through their own struggles by drawing on the challenges you have overcome. The lessons you learned under adversity, the mental toughness that saw you through difficult nights, and the strategies that kept your team functioning under extreme stress can guide others to make better decisions or develop resilience in their everyday lives. Your words can become a lifeline for someone looking to navigate their own hardships. However, you do have learn to state it in a way that does not turn your readers off. “Suck it up buttercup.” or “Rub some dirt on it.” or “Life sucks and so do you, deal with it.” Probably will not attract many readers. Though if it something like therapy through dark humor that you are going for…then…hell yea!
Leadership books thrive on authenticity, and who better to offer that than someone who led in conditions far removed from the boardroom? You can show readers that leadership is not just theory, it is the way you maintained morale during a long assignment, negotiated with limited resources, or inspired trust under duress. Offering concrete examples and hard-won lessons gives your leadership advice the force of reality, making it relatable and applicable. Unfortunately, you have to compete with generals and admirals retiring and selling their schtick on thought leadership, abstract mind empowerment, remote synergistic cohesiveness or…okay I’m just throwing out buzz words, but I’m pretty sure some officer will try to use those as a bullet point on an OER as something they created. I would really like to see a definition for the two I made up. But I digress, if you’re a leader, you know it and you don’t need to sell yourself short. You know what made you successful and you know what made you liked and hated among those above you, below you, and your peers. Putting it into a book is simple, but you need to also show how it was done and how those around you reacted to demonstrate why it was successful or even better why it failed so others know how to learn from those mistakes.
Journalism for magazines or newspapers allows you to report facts and dissect current events with a perspective that stands apart from standard commentary. Your experience can spot details others miss, provide context that clarifies complex issues, and highlight angles that inform readers. Where others might rely on secondhand information, you can lean on what you know from firsthand encounters, making your reporting more grounded and trustworthy. You see military advisors on the news all the time providing their insight to news anchors. They do not have degrees in journalism, but they may have had connections, or they simply reached out to their PR reps with enough compelling information that got them the spotlight. Some definitely have made fools of themselves, but nobody is perfect. If you know about a topic from fishing, rock climbing, sky-diving, even pipe smoking magazines, newspapers, and even tv outlets will look to you for your expertise.
Now, as you embark on these different avenues of non-fiction, keep your role as a coach in mind. Your readers look to you for guidance, insight, and understanding that they cannot find elsewhere. You are not just relaying data or recounting stories, you are teaching, advising, and sharing the truth of what you have seen and done. With honesty, clarity, and the confidence that comes from lived experience, you can transform your hard earned knowledge into non-fiction that resonates and endures. So, what is your next literary adventure?
James Hettinger
EoS Founder
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