plotting

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...

Plot a Romance Novel in 2 weeks. Set your book up for success with detailed character outlines that deepen story connection and worldbuilding. You're familiar with some plotting, but still unsure you're taking the right path... learn a structure that's simple to grasp and easy to use for any...

Do you get into writing and pouring your ideas out onto the page and hit a wall, unsure where your story should go next? Do you have a great idea with a few scenes in mind, but can't picture how to get a full story together? Do you have a few books you have started that sit on your computer...

*** Registration is now full. *** 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? Hang out with Beth Daniels, author of 30 published...

Romance is the hottest genre in fiction. It has limitless subgenres and a voracious reader base. But adding a love interest isn't enough. You have to respect the genre, and you must deliver the genre conventions to meet reader expectations. Discover how to craft a powerful, character-driven...

How do you keep a reader engaged? One tool is using the desire to find out what happens next. That means predictability is the death of stories. Many people will put down a mystery as soon as they figure out whodunit. And “spoilers” that give away turns and plot points in a movie or a TV show...

When we come to discussing plot, most of the time the discussion veers into a question about how to go about plotting. We have wagon wheels, heroes on journeys, snowflakes growing in a fractal universe and all sorts of other techniques. Often, it is a debate between planning approaches. Do you...

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...

Love cozy mysteries and dying to write your own, but don’t know where to start? In this eight-week course, Lori Devoti (aka Rae Davies) USA Today Bestselling author of the Dusty Deals Mystery Series, will walk you through everything you need to know to plan and write and a successful cozy...

Write Through Fright By NY Times Bestselling Author, Kimberley Troutte Almost all writers have suffered some sort of fear associated with writing (fear of failure, sophomore book syndrome, impostor's syndrome...). Successful authors have learned to write through the fear. You can, too. This...

Are you seeking a coach and mentor who listens? Doesn't squash your writing style? And who provides positive, constructive feedback to meet your goals? As a certified coach with a background in education and over a decade of working with writers, my goal is to offer you an individualized...

You've probably heard of the Snowflake Method of writing, pioneered by award-winning writer Randy Ingermanson. Its premise is that you begin with a a single sentence that represents the theme of your book and then add complexity building outwards from that sentence until you have a full-blown...

Thanks to Deb Mc for referring me here. Hoping to break into the YA Fantasy genre this year. Would love to find some online courses/resources on improving craft/plotting/etc. Any recommendations are welcome and much appreciated! Thanks, Gloria

If you plan before you begin your draft or plan during the drafting part of your writing process, we’ll cover many of the techniques that you can use to help make your drafting go smoother. If you current do no or little planning before or during the writing of the story draft, we’ll explore...

Don’t let the plotting process get you down. It can seem like a major undertaking, but once you figure out what works best for you, you can let the real author in you come out and get down to plotting any type of story – from romance to thriller to fantasy, from short stories to a long series...

Don’t let the plotting process get you down. It can seem like a major undertaking, but once you figure out what works best for you, you can let the real author in your come out and get down to plotting any type of story – from romance to thriller to fantasy, from short stories to a long series...

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...

Hello, my name is Beth and I’m a Master Procrastinator. Or at least I was. I’m a recovering procrastinator now, but you can’t become one of these until you do a few things. What are they? · Realize what is taking up so much of your time. · Clarify whether it really is...

Before the book, before a writer types a word on a page, there is an idea. And behind that idea are the characters, the background, the location. Research is an important aspect of any story. Whether the writer prepares their background information before they begin to write the story, or if...