Narrative sequencing is as much a technical issue in writing non-fiction as it is in writing a novel.  If you’re writing a history of Bullfrog County, Louisiana or a biography Brigadier Sir Henry Mandible, your first impulse will probably be to adopt a linear, chronological approach to your subject. However, if you’re of a more adventurous turn of mind, you might consider presenting your subject discursively, as a sequence of thematically related anecdotes, reflections, interpretive speculations and commentary. It’s a more demanding approach, but it can yield a richer reading experience. The discursive literary technique replicates the associative way that the human mind works.  It’s a mental chain reaction.  For instance, if somebody casually mentions “September” in my hearing, the word spontaneously calls to mind a whole series of associations. It works something like this: September; hurricane season; sitting out Hurricane Donna with my mother, back when I w...