1. Start with a captivating hook, such as a thoughtful quote, a shocking statement, a question everyone wants to know the answer to, or an anecdote.

2. Use unusual facts to support findings and include sidebars, such as a different perspective, a time line, a glossary, biography, or bibliography

3. Tension. For some reason, everyone loves to sit in wide-eyed bewilderment while reading a true experience. So, give it to them.

4. Strong characters, including historical integrity or lack of it, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, interviewing experts in a specific field

5. Dialogue to spotlight your characters. Dialogue can resuscitate the dead. You can find this information in diaries, letters, autobiographies, newspapers, and magazines.

6. Anecdotes or scenes that reveal the people and their situation. Use at least three moments in the subject’s life.

7. A sense of time and place using sensory details and the appearance, gestures, and facial expressions of characters.

8. A snappy title, whether it be a question, unique phrase, hopeful remark, or dramatic sentence