I see a lot of good nonfiction writing that falters at the same point. It happens when the writer begins with what they want to say, rather than with an awareness of the audience who will be reading it.
Think of it from the reader’s perspective. Imagine you are the reader. You approach a piece of writing with your framework already in place. That framework, unique to you, has been formed over time through experience, reading, and reflection. It includes some beliefs already determined, some conclusions that remain tentative, and questions left unresolved. None of these disappear when you begin reading new arguments. Instead, they interact with text and influence your reception.
For that reason, persuasive writing is more than just presenting an idea clearly. It requires understanding how that idea will be encountered. Rather than attempting to replace the reader’s thinking all at once, the writer builds from what is already there. Shared convictions become points of agreement, and the argument develops in a way that feels connected, rather than combative. This approach allows the reader to move forward without building defensive walls.
At the same time, the writer must anticipate objections that may arise along the way. Many of these objections remain unspoken, though they exert a steady influence. Bringing them into view and addressing them with care strengthens the argument and demonstrates integrity, echoing the kind of reasoning seen in Acts where Paul “reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2).
This process requires patience. Unfold the material gently so the reader can see how each idea connects to the next. When handled well, persuasion feels like guidance, like a fellow traveler showing the way forward.
This has been a great series so far. Thank you for sharing! I wish more nonfiction books were written with this approach in mind.
An informative article, thank you.
Is the entire series available online? Where is part one? This is exactly what I am thinking about as I go forward with building my worlds online. I am writing 7 speculative fiction worlds and putting them chapter by chapter on a website (CATierney.com -currently being updated) so readers can follow along as the worlds emerge. I consider my stories parables, hidden within speculative fantasy. Naturally, I am very interested in the art of persuasive writing.
I asked AI to give me a list of books that might help me. Here is the list he gave me. I am almost finished with Aristotle’s Rhetoric. It has many thought-provoking sentiments, but sometimes I cannot relate what I am reading to what I am writing, although I hope it influences my outlook overall. I appreciate Steve giving a more relevant summary of what is needed.
ChatGPT’s list of what might help my speculative fiction writing:
Aristotle — Rhetoric
The foundation: persuasion, ethos, pathos, logos, audience, and how arguments are constructed.
Cicero — De Oratore
Especially useful for understanding voice, character, eloquence, and how ideas are shaped for an audience.
Quintilian — Institutio Oratoria
Broader than persuasion alone. Very useful for thinking about the relationship between the speaker, moral character, language, and effect.
Augustine — On Christian Doctrine, Book IV
Particularly relevant to your work because Augustine considers how truth, belief, teaching, persuasion, and eloquence interact.
Wayne C. Booth — The Rhetoric of Fiction
One of the most important books on the list for you. Booth applies rhetorical thinking directly to fiction: narrator, implied author, distance, reliability, reader response, and how a novelist guides a reader without openly instructing them.
Kenneth Burke — A Rhetoric of Motives
Moves rhetoric beyond simple persuasion into identification—how readers come to identify with people, beliefs, groups, and ideas. Very applicable to characters whose beliefs differ from the reader’s.
Chaïm Perelman & Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca — The New Rhetoric
Explores how people reason when absolute proof is impossible—which is much of human life, theology, morality, politics, and speculative fiction.
Mikhail Bakhtin — The Dialogic Imagination
Excellent for your kind of fiction. Bakhtin looks at the novel as a meeting place of competing voices, beliefs, worldviews, and ways of speaking.
Lloyd Bitzer — “The Rhetorical Situation”
An essay rather than a book. It examines how situation, audience, and circumstances create the need for a particular kind of communication.
Richard A. Lanham — Analyzing Prose
Helps develop an ear for what sentences actually do—rhythm, emphasis, energy, pacing, and rhetorical effect.
Joseph M. Williams & Joseph Bizup — Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Very practical. It deals with sentence construction, emphasis, cohesion, clarity, rhythm, and reader expectations.
James Phelan — Living to Tell About It: A Rhetoric and Ethics of Character Narration
Particularly valuable for first-person and character-centered narration. It examines how narrators communicate simultaneously on several levels and how readers judge narrators ethically and rhetorically.
https://stevelaube.com/the-art-of-persuasive-writing-series-1-of-7-where-persuasion-really-starts/