Goodnon-fiction revolves around a story. Even a cookbook, as evidenced by Lindsay Nixon’s Everyday Happy Herbivore: “Shortly after I finished my first cookbook . . . my husband and I were transferred to St. Maarten for a year. While the prospect of living in paradise was quite exciting, the realization that I’d have to cook three meals a day, everyday was daunting. . .”

Don’t you want to know how that year in paradise turned out and why it wasdaunting?

If you’ve already started writing your boo...