gmc

An emotional arc is the journey that a character’s emotional state of mind undertakes during a scene. A typical emotional arc has a beginning in which the character is feeling a certain way, an end in which their emotional state of mind has undergone a change, and a turning point that triggers...

A class designed to take the idea and opening scenes of a story and turn it into a full-fledged finished product. Using a method involving character needs and oppositions, writers will learn to churn out a list of ideas, create detailed scenes from those ideas, and figure out the best ending...

Learn how to keep the middle of your book from suffering from the Sagging Syndrome. Get secrets of how to make your plot move along more quickly through the middle. Learn the basics of subplots and how they can be utilized to get the most out of your characters. Find out how you can use dialogue...

Conflict is the reason stories happen. Conflict is keeping a romance from blossoming, a hero from reaching his goal, a villain trying to stop a hero, or even a killer from being stopped. Nine times out of ten a book falls flat because the conflict is non-existent and in this one-week course...

Every writer, but especially beginning writers, have trouble keeping their plots moving. We've all heard about the "sagging middle" and other gotchas authors run into, but how do you avoid these pitfalls? In this workshop you'll learn tried and true techniques for making sure your reader...

Have you heard the dreaded phrase…your book needs more conflict? Ugh! Maybe you've been told the story just doesn't grab me? Perhaps you're wondering what you can do differently? How can you make your characters come alive? In Plot Friction: Making Your Plots Sticky multi-published erotic...

The foundation of every functional novel is goal, motivation, and conflict. What your character wants, why they want it, and what they’re willing to endure to get it. Sounds simple in principle, right? But I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with this, so over the next few weeks, I’m going to...

Want to pump out a well structured manuscript in less than 90 days? L.C. Hayden wants to share her first-draft blueprint with YOU. In this two-week workshop she will guide you through a series of exercises so that after you finish the workshop you can write, write, write! The importance of...

A six-week course outlining step-by-step instructions on crafting a work of fiction. Students of this course will receive feedback after Week 1, and after Week 6, as well as receiving a 20% discount on Brenda Chin’s freelance editing services, if they choose to take their work further...

Core Wounds sit in the heart of every person - both real and fictional. An understanding of these deep-seated, harmful "truths" we believe can lead to the creation of three-dimensional characters and emotionally impactful narratives readers will never forget. This workshop will explore what a...

Ask a veteran author about the importance of creating a strong and cohesive plot with a solid GMC and they'll tell you it's key to sustaining a long and rewarding publishing career. Don't let your book fall into an agent or editor's the slush pile with a weak plot and unmotivated characters...

Ask a veteran author about the importance of creating a strong and cohesive plot with a solid GMC and they'll tell you it's key to sustaining a long and rewarding publishing career. Don't let your book fall into an agent or editor's the slush pile with a weak plot and unmotivated characters...

This workshop explores story structure models from Aristotle's and Sid Field's 3-Acts, to Shakespeare's 5 acts, The Hero's Journey's 12 steps, Save The Cat's 13+ Beats, and several other less well known ones. The genres and sub-genres best suited to each story structure model are suggested...

You’ve heard of “reverse engineering”, right? It’s when a company takes a product another firm has created and then tears it down to see how it works and then improves on it to tromp the original company’s profits nearly out of existence. Actually, the first time I heard the term was in the...

You’ve just typed The End. Sigh! You’re done… Not so fast. You can be absolutely sure that somewhere in that stack of pages are: embarrassing plot holes; limp love scenes; sentences that clank instead of ring; conflicts that go nowhere; colorless cardboard characters; and fight scenes with...

Based on Gia's experience as a PitchWars mentee and Binders Mentor, we're offering a program with in-depth, personalized coaching on craft (plot, pacing, GMC, etc.) and the overall "product" of the MS (sensitivity issues, marketability, story cohesion, etc.) I'll include two passes: the first a...

Writing erotica means sexy - but it doesn't mean plotless or scatological. The art of erotic phrasing, how to keep a story going yet still "hot," and what women want in terms of erotic subjects are all part of this class in which assignments will be critiqued.

Lots of writers have heard of the Hero's Journey, which is based on the work of Joseph Campbell. But there's also a Heroine's Journey, which is based on the story of the Sumerian goddess, Inanna, an epic that describes her descent into the underworld. The heroine’s journey is not so much about...

Forget making your characters 'sympathetic.' Make them remarkable. How many times have we heard the advice: "Make your character 'sympathetic.'" Or scarier yet, 'relatable.' But maybe that’s not what you need... When you start focusing on making your heroes and heroines sympathetic...

The foundation of every functional novel is goal, motivation, and conflict. What your character wants, why they want it, and what they’re willing to endure to get it. Sounds simple in principle, right? But I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with this, so over the next few weeks, I’m going to...