The shape of your ideas matters
so I'm sharing this Library of Nonfiction Forms developed at my workshop
Hey! If you’re new here, I’m Harrison, I’m obsessed with becoming a great writer and committed to helping you make work you’re proud of, so if you find this resource helpful, I’d appreciate you subscribing (and sharing it) so I can reach more people and have more impact—thanks!
In early 2025 I ran an experimental writing workshop. One of the coolest things that came out of the workshop was a Library of Nonfiction Forms.
By “form” I mean the format, the structure, the vehicle, the specific shape an idea can take.
Here is the Library so far. It includes a description of each form along with an example to bring it to life. It’s obviously not exhaustive!
[For mobile users: To view the full Library, click ‘View this chart interactively on Datawrapper’👇]
The Library’s helpful in a few different ways:
1) Expanding your awareness
The first thing the Library gives you is an expanded sense of what’s possible with your ideas. On platforms like Medium and Substack, it’s easy to think that everything you write has to be an insight-driven “how-to” piece or a reflective personal essay. But maybe your idea will look better as a personal letter, an interview, a manifesto, or a slide deck. Maybe your readers would prefer that too, if it’s not what they’re expecting.
2) Inspiring you
Secondly, if you’ve done a lot of work thinking about a topic already, you’re sure of what you want to say, and it’s now time to say it, then certain forms will feel well-suited or even inevitable, in which case the Library gives you inspiring examples from great writers. This will become even more useful once we build out the Library more, sourcing different examples of each form (eg, essays that are ominous, nostalgic, comedic, or [add your taste here]).
3) Transforming your thinking (and your work)
But my favourite thing about forms is that you can use them literally to shape your thinking. Let’s say you have an idea for a piece about…IDK…the relationship between martial arts and workplace culture. Writing about that topic in the form of a listicle will force you to think through your ideas differently than if you used a comic strip or a 2-way dialogue. In other words, a form can be both an end and a means, allowing you to produce work you never thought was possible.
Help us make the Form Library more useful
As I mentioned above, the Library will be more useful for writers if we can provide more examples of each form. I want to see ten varieties of personal letter and ten different listicles—each with its own special style we can learn from.
I’m building out the Library with some friends from my workshop, and we’ll be updating this page with new examples as we find them.
If you’d like to collaborate on this and contribute to the Library, get in touch by email or DMs.
The goal is to make a go-to resource for essayists, newsletterists and bloggers who want to raise their awareness of what’s possible with the written word, have more fun experimenting, and see how the best writers do it.
Enjoy the Library—and happy writing!
Harrison 🙋♂️
PS. Here’s a video I recorded when I was way too excited about it ☺️
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Tagging fellow Substackers—thank you Elle at , Mari at , Noah at , Wes at , Grant at , Charlie at , Scott at , Ted at , Visakan at , and Carlos at for making the inspiring examples included here. And thank you to Jeff at , Maksim at , and Claire at for your invaluable feedback.
Contributors to the Library: Big up Fis at for the oral history addition, Simon at for the job ad, and Samantha for the monologue. Keep the contributions coming!
Please share this in Substack (or wherever you spend your time) if you liked it, so others can enjoy it too.
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How to stay relevant and have more friends [call for submissions]
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We’ve had 20 entries for this writing prompt call for submissions. If you’re a keen writer and you like to make new friends with other creatives AND you can tell your life story in 6 words (not 5, not 7, just 6) then why not join us!
I’ll be publishing all entries and running a social Zoom call for all participating writers at the end of Feb—and there’s a seat with your name on.
This is great, Harrison. Not only to have the list, but with examples of each form. It’s obvious from your Loom video how excited you are about this. And you’re so right about the importance of acting in the moment when an idea hits us.
Here’s a suggestion for a possible form to add to the library: a job ad. See edition 251 of Charlie Bleecker’s Transparent Tuesdays.
…down to assist bud…let me know which bank is near empty and i will move on that prompt…