We asked science writing guru Peter Tallack what advice he would give to budding science writers. Peter studied medicine at UCL, where he worked with the renowned scientist and writer Steve Jones. He went on to work for Nature where he was Book Reviews editor, and then he moved to Weidenfeld & Nicholson as head of Science Publishing. Peter now works for Conville & Walsh Ltd as a literary agent.

Here are Peter Tallack’s top five tips for writing a science blockbuster.

1. You need a good original idea.

It sounds incredibly obvious, but many a writer has fallen foul of this trap. In an already saturated field, you may just end up being the last book in the pile. I think there are areas that have become incredibly saturated. There are 4 or 5 books on doomsday comets, and there are hundreds of books on the genome. Genetics is usually a no-go area, unless you are a particularly gifted writer. Do you really want to compete with the likes of ‘Invisible Frontiers’ by Steven Hall, or ‘Language of the Genes’ by Steve Jones?

I would advise people to base their ideas on something topical. Be warned though, this approach can be a double edged sword – whilst some topics are able to capture the public’s imagination and turn your book into a classic, flaws in the findings may be exposed after the initial fanfare, questioning the credibility of your masterpiece.

2. Convince people why you should write a particular book.

Why you? You need to convince your readership that you, and only you could have written this book. You might be a specialist in the field, or personally involved in the subject matter or simply have a passion for the subject. Which ever way you do it, you need to convince people that this is your story to tell.

I think that it is important to have some sort of science grounding before you embark on a science writing project. Generally people like to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth – on the whole, the books that really do well and capture the public imagination are the ones written by scientists - real knowledge direct from the bench.
 
3. Why should people care?

Make it interesting to readers. Scientists can be blinkered about their subjects. You need to be able to answer the following question honestly: Do people really have a burning desire to know about this area of science?

Assuming that they do care, it’s not just about the dry dusty details of the science - there’s got to be a lot more to a book than just regurgitating the facts. People like a bit of anecdote, historical background, colour in the writing, literary asides and people. Include personality clashes and human drama in your book. It doesn’t have to be a soap opera, but definitely write a bit about people and what makes them tick, otherwise you will create a textbook.

4. Find out what competition is out there.

You don’t need to be an avid popular science book reader, but you do need to know what’s already out there. It’s salutary for authors to go into bookshops and just walk around. Pick up a few books and see what’s currently hot. And not just in science. It is not just science competing with itself. Science is competing with art, history and other equally popular fields.

5. Don’t underestimate the challenge.

Writing a book is hugely different to writing an editorial piece. A lot of journalists think they can write a book, but have never written anything longer than 3,000 words, whereas a book is probably at least 80,000 words long. The timescale for a book is often long and arduous, with final copies reaching the bookshelves two to three years after it’s commissioned. Yet if you take into account the time it takes to put together a book proposal, and the time taken post-writing to edit and re-draft, proof the book, check that the illustrations are present and correct, design a book jacket and get some reviews, you are left with a year to write the book – that works out at an average of one chapter a month, including any research you may have to do. It is hardly surprising then, that a year is often not enough and schedules get pushed further and further back. It is a mammoth task.

Interview conducted by Mina Varsani in August 2002 at Conville & Walsh Ltd, Soho, London.

If you would like to contact Peter Tallack with a book proposal, then you can e-mail him at peter@convilleandwalsh.com, or you can call him on +44 20 7287 3030.