Nonlinear, Multimedia Writing
With much writing, ideas are introduced gradually and are used as building blocks to form the basis of what is to come later. The traditional print novel is a very good example of linear writing. You have to read what's at the beginning before the stuff in the middle will start to make sense.
Nonlinear writing simply means that you don't have to start at the beginning and go to the end to understand everything that is being presented. This really is just a complicated way of saying that each section should stand on its own. With nonlinear writing, you should be able to start reading at any point and learn what you need to know, without having to digest what's in the entire document.
When writing multimedia, never assume that your readers will start reading at the same place and follow a particular pattern. The very nature of the technology allows readers to wander anywhere, so you may not want to bury a critical piece of information in an audio file. If you're conveying important information, make sure it's in more than one place.
Each individual section, then, must contain all of the relevant information when writing for a nonlinear purpose. This means that you'll have more work to prepare for a nonlinear manuscript, but you'll find that the actual writing will go much easier because you'll have a comprehensive outline. In addition, your writing usually ends up being more concise and polished because of the extra time spent with organizing the information.
