Plot-Structure-GMC Your Novel's BluePrint with Junior Literary Agent Cate Hart

The BluePrint event was amazing! It was very challenging, a lot to do in two weeks and a fantastic learning experience. Cate Hart gave us constructive feedback and I have a lot of ideas for improving my writing.

good class, good material but not quite as advertised. I thought from the title "plotting with an editor" that the focus would be on plotting. It was not. character and setting came first, with only one lesson on plotting and not enough time for that section.

I felt like a lot of the lessons and info were great, but it was unevenly balanced. I signed up thinking it was largely about plotting, yet we spent only 2 days on a beat sheet. I also noticed that particular lesson was more sparse. I wondered how the participants who had not read Save the Cat fared with the final assignment. I did learn a lot and feel prepared to go on and complete my plotting before April but I feel the course structure needs a little fine tuning.

I think the timing of the homework should be corrected. The way it's set up now, it only leaves one day for correction/revision/feedback on assignment three. Assignment three takes the most work since it is the beat sheet and requires more time. Some people also have full-time jobs along with other responsibilities so it makes completing assignments on time tricky. Assignment two with the scene blueprint didn't work for my story with the questions on the side because I am writing a women's fiction/upmarket fiction story not a romance.

Also, it would be nice to have a fourth assignment where you turn your beat sheet into a synopsis since those can be tricky for writers. I think it would have been nice to actually do a synopsis and get feedback from an agent.

Overall, I enjoyed the assignments and the workshop even though I struggled because I am not a true plotter and I write character driven not plot driven stories.