When story is not the main concern, what keeps us reading? How can voice, structure, or research provide a pressurizing frame—and a pleasing shape—for nonfiction material? We will explore these questions through readings that rely on elements other than narrative for forward momentum, in the tradition of the idea-driven essay. In the course of our discussion, we’ll look at a few quick examples from writers who have published nonfiction that depends on something other than narrative and unpack some of their “alternative” strategies of making.