plotting

  1. RJ Garside

    Writing Life Page to Pitch: From Idea to Pitch-Ready Manuscript

    Start Date: Monday May 5 End Date: Sunday October 19 Get ready to roll up your sleeves and bring your story to life in this intensive, bootcamp-style writing event designed to take you from a spark of an idea to a polished, pitch-ready manuscript for SavvyAuthor’s Autumn Pitchfest. Whether...
  2. Deborah Bailey

    Plot-Structure-GMC Use the Heroine’s Journey to Plot Your Novel with Deb Bailey

    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...
  3. LC Hayden

    Genre-Mystery-Crime How to Craft a Mystery/Thriller Novel with L.C. Hayden

    The book world offers its readers a variety of mysteries. Some are good, some not so good, and some are excellent. What makes the difference? It all begins with its foundation: learning how to craft a successful mystery. An award winning mystery/thriller author will show you how a successful...
  4. terrimain

    Editing Become your own Plot Doctor with Terri Main

    Once you have written your first draft, you know you are not done. You understand that you need to fix everything from plot holes to punctuation. The starting point is Macro-Editing - Editing the Big Picture. Many spend $1000s on Book Doctors, Finishers, and Developmental Editors to do this work...
  5. Brenda Chin

    Craft Layering with Brenda Chin

    Once you’ve got the bare bones of your story, it’s time for layering. But what kind of elements can be layered? And which ones MUST be, if you’re trying to write a keeper. Find out… How building a book is like building a house. You can’t stop at the foundation. What about the B storyline? How...
  6. Deborah Bailey

    Plot-Structure-GMC Building Blocks for GMC with Deb Bailey

    Goal, Motivation and Conflict are building blocks for storytelling. This workshop will break down GMC as it applies to the internal, the external and romantic goals, motivations and conflicts for your story. Starting with internal goals, then adding external goals for your main characters to...
  7. SallyKilpatrick

    Plot-Structure-GMC The Nice Girl's Guide to Conflict with Sally Kilpatrick

    Whether a beginner or more seasoned, this class will teach the author to think about ways to add or enhance conflict in their stories. Primarily, conflict is a work of looking at a characters GMC--both internal and external--but this class will also explore additional strategies such as adding...
  8. Beth Daniels

    Genre-Mystery-Crime Creating a “Murder Book” for your Mystery Novel with Beth Daniels

    If you love reading, watching and/or writing murder mysteries, you’ve probably heard the term “Murder Book” somewhere along the way. It’s an American term for what equates to a single case file that has many different elements in play. Considering the police solve crimes by using a Murder Book...
  9. Robin Jeffrey

    Genre-Mystery-Crime Demystifying Mystery Writing: Keep Readers Guessing! with Robin Jeffrey

    Do you have to know the solution to the mystery before you start writing your amazing new murder mystery? The ‘who’ in whodunit? The how? The why? Not necessarily! In this course, we will explore how to craft a compelling, taut mystery from start to finish that will keep readers guessing without...
  10. Beth Daniels

    Plot-Structure-GMC The Postproduction Outline with Beth Daniels

    If you, like me, are a Pantser with a touch of Plantser in your system, you’ve found there is a point when you aren’t sure what has happened that needs to be fleshed out and then wrapped up at the close of a story. Sometimes it’s a small thing, but sometimes it’s much larger. Particularly if...
  11. Beth Daniels

    Writing Life Let the Winter Holidays Inspire You! with Beth Daniels

    The Winter Holidays! They tend to have you running around like a chicken with its head cut off (and if you haven’t been on a farm where this occurs, suffice to say, it’s weird that they do that). There’s never enough time to get things done…or so it seems. But it’s the perfect time of year to...
  12. midnight_voss

    Craft Adapting Fairy Tales and Public Domain Classics into Original Fiction with Midnight Voss

    From well-worn fairytales to far flung fantasy, the tradition of drawing from beloved stories to create new and striking iterations has a long history. At the core of this story obsession are familiar tropes and relationship dynamics that keep us coming back to similar stories time and again...
  13. Jodihenley

    Editing Fix it before you write it! with Jodi Henley

    Developmental edits are the first edit writers skip, but the first thing mentioned in reviews. If your story feels weak, your opening isn’t strong enough to hook readers, your plot goes haywire or your characters feel like cardboard—you need a dev edit. Join developmental editor Jodi Henley as...
  14. Landra Graf

    Pacing-Tension 5 W's of Conflict with Landra Graf

    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...
  15. TereMichaels

    Plot-Structure-GMC The Last Three Chapters: Tying It All Together with Tere Michaels

    Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow What best sells your next book? The ending of your previous book! A satisfying ending ties together all the pieces of your novel - the character arcs, the relationship arcs, the plot, the carefully...
  16. TereMichaels

    Plot-Structure-GMC Stuck in the Middle with Tere Michaels

    This class focuses specifically on the middle of your story, the bulk of the action that takes place after the set-up and builds up until you reach your “disembarking point” and the book’s ending. How do you crank up conflict and emotion without writing yourself into a corner? How do you...
  17. TereMichaels

    Plot-Structure-GMC Getting Your Manuscript Ready Series with Tere Michaels

    The Getting Your Manuscript Ready series is a comprehensive look at all the moving parts that make your manuscript the best it can be. We'll break down Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, discuss their unique challenges - and how to fix them! - as you create a book that flows from start to finish...
  18. CassandraCarr

    Plot-Structure-GMC The Writer's Secret Weapon: Strong GMC with Cassandra Carr

    Many writers understand GMC (goal, motivation, conflict) well enough, but still don't use them to their greatest advantage to improve their stories. In this course we'll talk about each aspect of GMC and how to maximize them, then how to make sure they work together. Lesson One: Quick primer...
  19. Beth Daniels

    Plot-Structure-GMC Plot Math for Plotters, Pantsers and Plantsers with Beth Daniels

    You’ve no doubt heard of many different ways of plotting a piece of genre fiction. Things like outlines, beat sheets, three act play, and who knows what else. But have you ever considered math as a guideline? Dexterity in mathematics is not a requirement, you’ll no doubt be relieved to know...
  20. TereMichaels

    Plot-Structure-GMC Gut Punch: Using Emotional Conflict as Plot with Tere Michaels

    When we start writing, we have an idea of how our readers will react to our stories. Do we want them to laugh? Cry? Gasp? Compose angry letters in their heads because how dare we? And what is the key to making that happen in the story? We create our characters and their internal journeys with...
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