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What the STORIES Framework Is

Before I was a professional writer, I was a data analyst. My job was finding gaps in a provider network for SilverSneakers, and the fix was rarely building something new. More often, it was noticing what already existed that nobody had thought to use, like senior centers and community spaces that could serve as fitness locations. Turns out I still do that, just with stories. I look for what’s missing and for what’s already there that nobody thought to use. That’s the heart of the STORIES Framework.

I help people turn the stories they’ve already lived, and often already written down, into finished books. My approach starts with what exists: blog posts, speeches, journals, voice memos, and the stories you’ve told so many times you could tell them in your sleep. The STORIES Framework, a seven-stage process I developed through my client work, guides how we sort that material, find its themes, and shape it into a manuscript.

It works for memoir and business books, whether you want coaching to write it yourself or a ghostwriter to write it with you. Most of the people I work with are mid-career professionals, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders, and many of them don’t call themselves writers yet. Some want to tell a life story. Others want a book that grows their business or brand.

What guides the work is a belief I’ve tested on every book, including my own: a book’s structure shows up during the work, not before it. We start with a clear direction, then let the strongest insights, and often the ending, emerge through interviews, drafting, and editing.

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Where STORIES Came From

I started Agency Content Writer after a layoff in 2010, writing blogs and social media for businesses in Arizona. Over 16 years, that work grew into book ghostwriting and book coaching. People came to me saying they wanted to write a book someday. Then they’d mention, almost as an aside, that they had years of blog posts, a folder of speeches, journals, voice memos, or answers to StoryWorth prompts. As I was rethinking and writing content for my website, I realized my clients, whether blogging or writing a book, and I were using the same process. That process is now called the STORIES Framework.

Many established book methods settle the outline and positioning before any writing begins. My experience has been different. The clearest insights rarely show up on the first pass, and in my client work, the ending often comes together in the final interview or at the editing stage.

I learned the same thing writing my own book. We Don’t Get to Ring the Bell is my memoir about living with chronic myeloid leukemia. It taught me how to sort through hard material and complex feelings, carry a theme across a whole book, and keep going through the stretch where it gets difficult. Years of navigating bloodwork, insurance, and providers also shaped how I ask questions and pace interviews with clients telling their own hard stories.

I’m now writing my second memoir, and I’m using STORIES to do it. Using the framework as an author shows me where the writing process can be easier, especially for people who don’t see themselves as writers.

The story is almost never the problem. The process is. STORIES gives that process a name and an order: Spark, Tidying, Outlining, Running with It, Immersing, Evaluating, and Sharing. It’s the same process whether you work with me through blog writing, book coaching, book ghostwriting, or From Posts to Pages.

How the STORIES Framework Works

STORIES moves a book from the moment that won’t let go to a finished manuscript in seven stages. The first three work with what already exists: why the book matters, what material you have, and which themes hold it together. The next three turn that material into chapters, then into a whole book, then into a manuscript ready for other people to read. The last stage hands the book off and carries it into the world. Each stage builds on the one before it, and the same seven stages apply to memoir and business books. Whether I’m your ghostwriter or your book coach, we shape your story together.

Spark:

The Moment That Won't Let Go

Every book starts with a spark, the moment or feeling that keeps pulling you back. For my second memoir, Charlotte and the Existential Crisis, it was one sentence I said out loud to my husband, Eddie, over dinner. I was burnt out from writing for others. That sentence became the seed for the whole manuscript.

Spark is also where we answer two questions: who the book serves and why you’re writing it. “Everyone” isn’t a reader. If that’s the answer, you’re not ready to write the book yet. Every later decision about which stories stay and which go depends on knowing the reader, so this conversation happens before anyone writes a chapter.

Tidying:

Sorting What Already Exists

Tidying means gathering everything that already exists and sorting it before organizing anything into chapters. For my own book, that was journal entries, voice notes, and half-formed scenes. For a current client, it’s her website and blog posts. She’s building a brand around a philosophy she’s still developing, and much of that thinking already lives in what she’s published.

The goal isn’t to generate more material. It’s to see what you already have clearly enough to shape it. Tidying comes before Outlining because you can’t choose the strongest ideas until you can see all of them. Having more material than you need is a gift, as long as it gets sorted.

Outlining:

Finding the Themes That Hold the Book Together

Outlining turns tidied material into a structure built on themes rather than strict chronology. For my client, that meant stepping back from her blog posts and website content and asking which ideas form the core of her philosophy. It also meant deciding what shape the book should take. We decided that long chapters wouldn’t work for her book. Instead, it’s built in sections, each with its own theme, and the themes tie together across the whole book.

That structure also means we don’t have to use every post. We can choose the strongest pieces for each section instead of stretching to include everything. The outline gives the book a clear direction. It isn’t the final word on its shape, because the clearest insights rarely show up on the first pass, and her philosophy is still taking shape as we write.

Running with It:

Where Interviews Become Chapters

Running with It is the drafting stage, where organized material becomes real chapters. For memoir clients, each interview session typically becomes one chapter, which sets a steady rhythm: interview, transcript, draft, next interview. Sometimes a date doesn’t line up, or a story needs one more layer of detail. When that happens, we schedule a session to fill the gap during drafting rather than discovering a pile of open questions at the end.

Business and brand books move a little differently. Drafting pulls from a mix of interviews, existing content, and research, woven around the structure from Outlining. In both cases, the chapters are written in the author’s voice, not mine. If you’re working with me as a book coach, you draft the chapters yourself, and I guide you through the stage.

Immersing:

Seeing the Whole Book

Running with It works chapter by chapter. Immersing steps back and reads the manuscript as a whole, the way a reader eventually will. Sometimes that means moving large sections between chapters. Sometimes it means writing new material for a section that feels thin next to the others. Sometimes it means noticing a theme that surfaced in interviews and making sure it runs through the entire book instead of appearing in a few disconnected moments.

This is also where endings tend to arrive. Real clarity about how a book should end, and how it can wrap back to something raised at the beginning, rarely shows up during outlining or the first draft. It usually comes later, often in the final interview.

Evaluating:

The Honest Read-Through

Immersing changes the book. Evaluating checks it. I read at two levels: macro, to confirm the story flows the way a reader will experience it, and micro, for proofreading, details, and making sure the changes from Immersing landed as intended.

Memoir adds another layer. Stories often involve real people, including children, relatives, and former colleagues, and some of that material is sensitive or legally risky. Evaluating a memoir honestly means considering those moments carefully before the manuscript moves forward, not after.

Sharing:

The Handoff and Everything After

Sharing starts with handing the manuscript to the author. I build questions in along the way, such as a specific year or whether to include a particular story, so the author can answer them directly during review. After a final format, the manuscript goes to a trusted collaborator for the final edit and publishing preparation.

Sharing doesn’t stop at publication. It can start earlier, with beta readers, and it continues long after, since self-published authors become their own marketing department. I learned that firsthand when I relaunched my own memoir years after it was first published.

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01

Spark:

The Moment That Won't Let Go

Every book starts with a spark, the moment or feeling that keeps pulling you back. For my second memoir, Charlotte and the Existential Crisis, it was one sentence I said out loud to my husband, Eddie, over dinner. I was burnt out from writing for others. That sentence became the seed for the whole manuscript.

Spark is also where we answer two questions: who the book serves and why you’re writing it. “Everyone” isn’t a reader. If that’s the answer, you’re not ready to write the book yet. Every later decision about which stories stay and which go depends on knowing the reader, so this conversation happens before anyone writes a chapter.

02

Tidying:

Sorting What Already Exists

Tidying means gathering everything that already exists and sorting it before organizing anything into chapters. For my own book, that was journal entries, voice notes, and half-formed scenes. For a current client, it’s her website and blog posts. She’s building a brand around a philosophy she’s still developing, and much of that thinking already lives in what she’s published.

The goal isn’t to generate more material. It’s to see what you already have clearly enough to shape it. Tidying comes before Outlining because you can’t choose the strongest ideas until you can see all of them. Having more material than you need is a gift, as long as it gets sorted.

03

Outlining:

Finding the Themes That Hold the Book Together

Outlining turns tidied material into a structure built on themes rather than strict chronology. For my client, that meant stepping back from her blog posts and website content and asking which ideas form the core of her philosophy. It also meant deciding what shape the book should take. We decided that long chapters wouldn’t work for her book. Instead, it’s built in sections, each with its own theme, and the themes tie together across the whole book.

That structure also means we don’t have to use every post. We can choose the strongest pieces for each section instead of stretching to include everything. The outline gives the book a clear direction. It isn’t the final word on its shape, because the clearest insights rarely show up on the first pass, and her philosophy is still taking shape as we write.

04

Running with It:

Where Interviews Become Chapters

Running with It is the drafting stage, where organized material becomes real chapters. For memoir clients, each interview session typically becomes one chapter, which sets a steady rhythm: interview, transcript, draft, next interview. Sometimes a date doesn’t line up, or a story needs one more layer of detail. When that happens, we schedule a session to fill the gap during drafting rather than discovering a pile of open questions at the end.

Business and brand books move a little differently. Drafting pulls from a mix of interviews, existing content, and research, woven around the structure from Outlining. In both cases, the chapters are written in the author’s voice, not mine. If you’re working with me as a book coach, you draft the chapters yourself, and I guide you through the stage.

05

Immersing:

Seeing the Whole Book

Running with It works chapter by chapter. Immersing steps back and reads the manuscript as a whole, the way a reader eventually will. Sometimes that means moving large sections between chapters. Sometimes it means writing new material for a section that feels thin next to the others. Sometimes it means noticing a theme that surfaced in interviews and making sure it runs through the entire book instead of appearing in a few disconnected moments.

This is also where endings tend to arrive. Real clarity about how a book should end, and how it can wrap back to something raised at the beginning, rarely shows up during outlining or the first draft. It usually comes later, often in the final interview.

06

Evaluating:

The Honest Read-Through

Immersing changes the book. Evaluating checks it. I read at two levels: macro, to confirm the story flows the way a reader will experience it, and micro, for proofreading, details, and making sure the changes from Immersing landed as intended.

Memoir adds another layer. Stories often involve real people, including children, relatives, and former colleagues, and some of that material is sensitive or legally risky. Evaluating a memoir honestly means considering those moments carefully before the manuscript moves forward, not after.

07

Sharing:

The Handoff and Everything After

Sharing starts with handing the manuscript to the author. I build questions in along the way, such as a specific year or whether to include a particular story, so the author can answer them directly during review. After a final format, the manuscript goes to a trusted collaborator for the final edit and publishing preparation.

Sharing doesn’t stop at publication. It can start earlier, with beta readers, and it continues long after, since self-published authors become their own marketing department. I learned that firsthand when I relaunched my own memoir years after it was first published.

Why This Order

The sequence follows where clarity actually shows up in a book. You need the reader and the reason before you can judge material, the material sorted before you can find themes, and the themes before you can draft with direction. Once chapters exist, you can see the whole book, and once the whole book has settled, you can check it honestly. The outline sets the direction early, and the book's final shape arrives late, during the work rather than before it.
Jarrett Ransom
The Rayvan Group

Why This Order

I Specialize in Nonfiction Books for Business and Nonprofit Leaders

The sequence follows where clarity actually shows up in a book.

You need the reader and the reason before you can judge material, the material sorted before you can find themes, and the themes before you can draft with direction.

Once chapters exist, you can see the whole book, and once the whole book has settled, you can check it honestly.

The outline sets the direction early, and the book’s final shape arrives late, during the work rather than before it.

I Work with Your Existing Content

After all, your book may already be partially written. Those blog posts on your website, client testimonials, conference presentations, and social media stories all contain valuable material we can expand and organize.

We evaluate existing content first, then create new content to fill the gaps.

Working with STORIES

Every book I work on moves through these seven stages. What changes is who writes and where the material comes from.

With book ghostwriting, I write the book with you, drawing on our interviews and the material you already have. With book coaching, you write the book yourself, and I guide you through each stage with structure and accountability. From Posts to Pages is for people whose book is already scattered across years of blog posts and online content, the clearest case of Tidying doing the heavy lifting.

Blog writing services run through the same seven stages on a smaller scale. A single post moves from Spark to Sharing in a matter of days, and over time, those posts can become the foundation of a book.

If you’d like to see the framework in action first, How to Write a Book: A Deep Dive into the STORIES Framework walks through each stage with examples from my own memoir and client projects. What I’ve Learned From Both Sides of the Memoir Ghostwriting Process shares what I’ve seen as both an author and a ghostwriter.

If you’re ready to start with Spark, Your Book on One Page asks you to fill in four sections, and you’ll have the bones of your book.

Wherever you are right now, even if you can’t name the stage yet, that’s a normal place to be. When you’re ready, schedule a consultation, and we’ll figure out together which stage you’re actually in.

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