As I was walking past the circulation desk of the Logan library last week, a woman, who had been tracking my movements, turned, pointed at me, and made a loud complimentary exclamation. I know you’re thinking she said something about my fabulous looks or the animal magnetism that pours off me sometimes in uncontrollable waves. But no, she was not talking about that. She explained she had been in one of my presentations at LTUE last year and found it very helpful and was going to be at this year’s event. She asked if I was going again.
Up until a few days ago I was planning on it and had two new presentations prepared that I think are killer. But that was before I saw my daughter’s school basketball schedule. Life is short, and my time with my kids is even shorter, and so I will not be there to exude my extraordinary fantasy-boy kavorka upon the teeming masses. Alas.
(What did you say? That wasn’t a kavorka I exuded?)
Exclaiming Libaray Patron, who made my day, if you’re reading this, please accept my apologies.
In the meantime, I’m hard at work on the thriller. I’ve finally nailed down the full premise and am moving into sketching out my scenes.
Bow to the dark god, ye minions. Here’s some of what’s coming in book 2:
The dogmen of Toth and their maulers
The Ungar and the one they call Ruin
The tanglewoods of the woodikin
Firesteeds
Gloryweaves
Nashrud the hunter
And last, but not least, the Orange-eyed priest of Mungo
The end is in sight on the first draft of book 2 in the Dark God series, and because this one has been a roller coaster, I had to post some of the coolness before I have to go back into frantic mode. My word count estimates for this book have been so consistently off it hasn’t been funny. Literally. It’s made me panic and stress. It should clock in around 220k. And then it’s going to be cut, cut, cut.
In the meantime…dogmen of Toth (give it the James Earl Jones).
I know this thing. At least the ones taken from cattle don’t. But this Nobel prize-winning discovery is not what’s important. What’s important is why I know this. Read more.
A cracking good story idea requires five critical elements.
Until you have all five, you’ll struggle to plot. You’ll write a few scenes and run out of gas. You’ll feel like the story just isn’t going anywhere.
And that’s because it isn’t. It can’t. A story isn’t a story without all five elements.
However, once you develop these five things, your story will suddenly roar to life. There are a few other elements that are important as well, but these five things form the core of the story setup.
In this course you’re not going to merely learn about all of those story elements. You’re going to go deep and learn what can only be learned by actually doing the work and developing story idea after story idea with personal one-on-one feedback from someone who knows what they’re doing.
When you finish, you won’t just know story theory. You will be a story idea machine. And you will be that because you have put in the work. The right work.
Again, this is not a course full of lectures and videos. This is a course where you’re going to work. And develop the insights and skills that only come from doing the work.
You’re actually going to:
Come up with story setup after story setup after story setup
And improve them with one-on-one feedback.
It’s going to:
Eliminate years of you wandering about in the story wilderness trying to figure things out on your own.
Put you miles ahead of other writers who have no idea what’s really at the core of story.
You are going to learn how to develop killer story ideas on purpose instead of on accident. Which means you’ll be able to do again and again. Reliably. Like clockwork.
Course details
The focus of the class is not on learning about story, although you will do that. The majority of your time will be spent on developing stories.
You can’t become a carpenter by watching videos and reading books about it.
You have to get out on the work site, cut wood, and pound nails. You have to make the mistakes all beginning carpenters make, get feedback, and improve.
The same goes for writing.
And you’re going to work in this class. You develop 21 story setups. In fact, you develop more because the 21 are just the ones you turn into me. And with each one your skills, insights, and abilities grow.
In the beginning, your setups will be bare bones. By the end, they’ll be fully developed setups that beg to be written. Setups you can use to immediately write the first draft of your novel, whether that’s in outline or chapter form.
Here’s what you do each week.
Week 1.
Uncover the secrets of what’s really at the heart of story and how to generate ideas.
Define your genre requirements
Create story setups 1-3
Week 2.
Uncover the secrets to compelling characters
Create character sketches
Create story setups 4-7
Week 3.
Uncover the secrets to formidable obstacles
Create story setups 8-11
Week 4.
Uncover the secrets to interesting casts
Create story setups 12-15
Week 5.
Uncover the secrets to managing multiple storylines and series
Create story setups 16-19
Week 6.
Create story setups 20-21. These are your capstone projects where you apply everything you’ve learned and take it to the next level
In this class you develop story idea after story idea after story idea. You are going to be marinated in the work of developing characters, THOMs, goals, obstacles, settings, casts, and more. And because of that, each week will not only bring an explosion of insights, but new skills and abilities.
Every week you get two private, one-on-one, live sessions with me where you get encouragement and feedback on what you’ve developed. And you’ll have access to a private Facebook group where you can apply the principles to brainstorm even MORE ideas for each other’s stories.
At first you might feel a bit shy and worried about your ideas and abilities. But you’ll soon get over that. By the end of the course you’ll be one of those people that can generate terrific ideas easily. And you’ll be able to do that because you will have put in the work to become a different writer.
What’s the price?
Hours of one-on-one instruction from a professional editor or author costs thousands of dollars. An MFA program can cost $25,000 to $30,000 or more!
But this course won’t cost anywhere close to that.
Plus you’re going to learn things here you’ll never get in an MFA program (I know. I was accepted into a top-ranked program).
The cost of this course is $799. And I personally guarantee your results. You’ll be totally oh-my-gosh-I’m-so-happy-I-took-that-class satisfied, or I’ll give you your money back. No questions asked.
Now’s your chance to stop spinning your wheels. I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d had something like this when I’d started:
The secrets about the true core of story.
The secrets about how to come up with ideas.
Actual work with personal one-on-one feedback.
Laser focused on what actually matters, not a bunch of ridiculous writing rules.
When you finish, you will be a story idea machine.
You won’t know plotting. That’s a different course and set of skills. You won’t know how to write chapters. But you’ll know how to create the engine that powers all the rest of that. You’ll know how to create the core that makes awesome plots and chapters possible.
If you want to take this course, click the button below and contact me. I will tell you exactly how to apply.
I’m not going to be able to accept everyone who wants to take the class. I have a very strict limit on the number of students I can work with. So you need to get your application in before the deadline of midnight, December 11th.
What happens when you get someone new to self-publishing? You get delays. It’s to be expected, Precious. The cover art is taking longer than expected, and so we’re moving the release back a few weeks into October. When we get closer I’ll announce a firm date.
I’ve decided to tentatively call the first book in my Frank Shaw series “Bad Penny.” This is the thriller I’ve been talking about. It’s a working title, so it may change.
As for progress, I’m close to 14,000 words. Huzzah! And I’m having a blast writing it. Every day I look forward to my writing time.
For those curious, the book takes place in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The plot will move it across eastern part of the state and then down into Colorado.
Frank Moses Shaw, ex-con . . .
Ah, folks. I’m just loving it.
I’m also generating options for a pen name. Althought I know there’s overlap between readers of epic fantasy and thrillers (hey, look at me!), I still think the genres are too different to try to spread a brand name across both. I read about Tess Gerritsen, who started in romance, using the same name for her thrillers, which is all I think she writes now. She reports that she had a number of the thriller readers pick up her romances and vice versa, and then get frustrated because her brand meant one thing to them, but they got another.
If I was writing thrillerish SF, like Card’s Ender’s Game, or thrillerish fantasy, like Correia’s Monster Hunter, then maybe the stretch wouldn’t be so far. For those of you who are thriller readers, I’ll be posting some possible names in the near future. I’d like your reactions on the options, so keep a look out.
As for CURSE OF A DARK GOD, no word yet from ye Editors. I’m expecting a reply March or April. Yeah, I turned it into my agent end of November. She submitted it to Tor in December. No, I don’t like these lead times any better than you do. But it is what it is. My job is to produce. My target this year is two novels–DARK GOD’S GLORY (book 3 in the series) and BAD PENNY. My stretch goal is to finish the working outline for the second Frank Shaw book (already have the premise) and actually start on it before the end of the year. We’ll see what happens.
6 Comments
Oh, dangit. I am going for the first time this year. Ah, well. I understand completely.
Dang, rough. Will you be attending CONduit this year instead? I miss you and Larry’s awesome prep talks disguised and writing lectures. 😉
@Nathan, hopefully. I’m counting on it, but we’re playing it by ear.
This is actually a relief for me. I wasn’t planning on attending this year, since we moved 2000 miles away, but now I don’t feel so bad, since the best part of the show is invariably your presentations.
Aw, shucks. Of course, I’m a bit jealous of you. Aren’t you relatively close to NY city? That’s where Thrillerfest is being held. . .
Yeah, we’re in Philadelphia, so not too far away. I guess there’s a convention here called PhilCon, so I’ll be attending that one next year. We just had a little girl, though, so no Cons for me for a while (gotta buy those diapers).
Oh, dangit. I am going for the first time this year. Ah, well. I understand completely.
Dang, rough. Will you be attending CONduit this year instead? I miss you and Larry’s awesome prep talks disguised and writing lectures. 😉
@Nathan, hopefully. I’m counting on it, but we’re playing it by ear.
This is actually a relief for me. I wasn’t planning on attending this year, since we moved 2000 miles away, but now I don’t feel so bad, since the best part of the show is invariably your presentations.
Aw, shucks. Of course, I’m a bit jealous of you. Aren’t you relatively close to NY city? That’s where Thrillerfest is being held. . .
Yeah, we’re in Philadelphia, so not too far away. I guess there’s a convention here called PhilCon, so I’ll be attending that one next year. We just had a little girl, though, so no Cons for me for a while (gotta buy those diapers).