on Jane Friedman site:

You aim to write a nonfiction book full of big, serious ideas and loads of juicy facts. You organize your research, refine your thesis, and begin outlining sections or chapters.

The last thing on your mind is fiction and the world of made-up stories. After all, you’re intent on packing as much truth, reality, and analysis into your book as possible. Novelists do the opposite: they invent characters who proceed to emote all over the page, fabricate tension and drama and all manner of coincidences, and then wrap the story up with a neat bow.

But are these two writing crafts really like oil and water? Not nearly as much as you might think.

I’m going to highlight specific techniques borrowed from the novelist’s craft that can elevate a non-academic nonfiction book (other than memoir) so that it is “unputdownable” and readers will want to keep turning the pages.