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I'm looking for several suggestions for techniques to handle 2 similar cases ...

While writing my current non-fiction book, there are a few times where a section ends with somewhat of a teaser of a statement, or is completing a thought - but I want to say something to the effect of - 'I'll expand on this in a later chapter' , or - 'as we'll see later ...' - 'more on this later..'

then the next section (not chapter) would continue with the narrative without discussing in any more detail, the prior concept. I don't want to branch off on a tangent that will be covered in more detail later.

Any suggestions?

3 Answers 3

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Possibly you could say "we'll explore further" because it sounds rather adventurous when sandwiched into some non-fiction paragraphs. Also, I think that by using "we" for instance, or "us" you begin to immerse the audience (reader) in the book even further- which will make it more exciting. P.s- is this a non-fiction book to be published? Either published or not, it sounds really cool. 🎠😃

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Please absolutely do reference later pages, chapters or sections, because if I am interested in a particular topic that you are talking about, I might want to turn directly to it for more info. Whenever I am reading a how-to, a reference manual or, even an RPG, I find these markers within text extremely helpful to me as a reader. I would even recommend getting specific about what's covered, in very short form (maybe not on the first draft).

Something like what's below.

You will also want to make sure that you have the right tires on your bike and that they have just the right amount of air. More detailed information on tires will be covered in section 12.1.

Some of this depends on the tone of your writing. If it's less like a book that you think people will use for reference and more of a conversational book, the format of:

We'll be exploring this later in the book. OR We'll be getting more detailed about this topic, but the quick and dirty version is: the more unstable the ground, the wider your tires should be.

Every reader has a preference on this, and it will also have to fit in with what you are doing and how.

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  • >> We'll be exploring this later in the book. OR We'll be getting more detailed about this topic, but the quick and dirty version is: the more unstable the ground, the wider your tires should be. Thanks! Very useful (for the writing style of my book) ... I could user more of these suggestions. I particularly like it because it comes from the perspective of a reader - as opposed to a writer.
    – CJ Cornell
    Aug 13, 2016 at 16:53
  • "We'll get more into the particulars about how to chose your tires in chapter 3." OR "There are so many tires available that most people don't know what to chose. I recommend wider tires for off-roading, and more narrow tires for precision, but we'll go into more detail in Chapter 3, so you can chose the perfect tire for your experience." OR "While I could go on, at length, about the perfect tire for your ride (and have in chapter 3), in this chapter we're going to give you the basics you'll need." Aug 13, 2016 at 23:47
  • "As we'll see in chapter 3, there are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a tire." Or "(For more detail on tire choice, see chapter 3)." OR "We'll cover more on tire choice in chapter 3." OR "If you simply can't wait to learn more about tire choice, it's covered specifically in chapter 3." Aug 13, 2016 at 23:53
  • The biggest suggestion I have for you, if you want to look at examples of this are the FOR DUMMIES series, really on any subject. I find that they are very well done and laid out. It's a little more graphic and has fancier formatting than most non-fic books, but they really can't be beat as far as clarity and lay-out is concerned. Aug 13, 2016 at 23:58
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It depends a bit on the topic (or any possible guidelines you have to adhere to), but the best way is to have a specific section/chapter you can refer to. For example:

[...], as I will explicate in more detail in section 3.4.

or

[...]. To this I will return in chapter 4.

Overall, however, don't overdo it. Doing it once or twice is OK, but excessive referencing of this kind messes with your cohesion.

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