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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...

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...

We combine Premise and Story Arc into the first course. The premise forms the foundation and a way to test the story idea which leads to creating a story arc. Here's the description of the course: You have an idea for a novel, but it takes more than a vague idea to have a viable story premise...

It’s 2020. Can you believe that? Well, maybe you can, but for some of us that’s the future we read about in dime novels that actually were sold for a dime. Those novels created the future we expected to see. Now, it’s your turn to step up and write the novel that shapes someone’s world. Whether...

Digital publishing of ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks has revolutionized publishing. Individuals and small publishers can now publish directly to the reader through online bookstores. The primary force behind this has been Amazon and its Kindle Direct Publishing. Today, publishing a book...

If you think a nonfiction book has to be 300 pages long and researched over years, you have missed the quiet revolution in publishing. Many authors are creating and publishing short nonfiction books every month. I’ve actually done it in a week as a challenge. In this course you will learn how...

How long has it been since your high school English class? Five years? Ten? Twenty? It depresses you to think about? However long it has been, you have probably forgotten much of what you learned (at least learned well enough to pass the course.) This is no disgrace. The same could be said of...

How long has it been since your high school English class? Five years? Ten? Twenty? It depresses you to think about? However long it has been, you have probably forgotten much of what you learned (at least learned well enough to pass the course.) This is no disgrace. The same could be said of...

If there is one thing writers bemoan, it's a lack of time. Of course, there is no such thing as a "lack of time." Everyone has the same amount. It's how we manage that time which makes the difference. It is easy to say, "If it really matters, you will find the time." However, most of us have...

This is known as the information age. Lifelong learning whether in a formal context like a course or training seminar or informally through reading how-to books and watching videos, is now the norm. A Pew Internet survey found that 74% of American adults had participated in at least one formal...