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If only you could craft the perfect outline...
If only you could stick to a daily writing routine...
All of your problems would be solved. That's what the experts online tell you anyway.
But the more you force yourself, the harder writing feels.
And then everyone also tells you that's normal! Writers should hate writing, right? Otherwise, they're not real writers.
...can you taste the sarcasm dripping off my words?
What if I told you writing didn't have to be a struggle?
Novel Plotting Academy
Novel Plotting Academy is the most streamlined outlining course out there, crafted to help you focus on the important parts of pre-work.
You start from the heart of your story, then build out your character. Once it's time to outline, your plot will come together easier than expected.
Most students finish their outline in just a few hours.
The best part of this course?
We don't only work with theory and analysis, but you'll actually see me create two original stories with you from scratch: We'll put together everything from the premise, the main characters, a thorough story outline, and even a break-down of the first 3 chapters.
🤯 1) Plotting is fun and outlines will change: This lesson dismantles the common belief that plotting can be limiting, or that plotting can zap your creativity. We also talk about the very important notion of letting your outlines change as you write, so you can allow your story to grow into a more refined and stronger version of itself.
🫵 2) Why YOU can do this: In this lesson you will learn that none of us are special, and you don’t need to have any prior knowledge on writing to do this course successfully. We’ll try to reframe some common blockers that might be holding you back! You will hear from some of the clients I worked with on a personal coaching level, and see how they felt about my plotting method.
✨ 3) Character and theme over plot: Another mindset shift I would love for you to make! This one is an absolute game-changer, and once you truly start to implement it, you should be able to notice the quality of your work improve.
📕 1) Purpose: author and novel: In this lesson we will try to pinpoint what your higher literary purpose will be as an author, and how that might translate into your novel.
🤔 2) Thematic argument or question: Let's find that key statement that you want to make through your project. This carries the core of your story. You'll get to see real media examples of poignant story questions and learn to craft your own.
🌻 3) Themes: In this lesson we will learn the difference between themes and thematic questions by analysing some popular media examples! And you'll learn why you should (ideally) have both in your own project.
🐦⬛ 4) Motifs and symbolism: Let's learn what motifs and symbolism are and how you can best use them in your individual project to emphasise your deeper purpose in every creative aspect of your story.
✍️ 5) Writing with purpose: Now that you understand why purpose is the solid foundation upon which you will build out your portfolio of novels... We'll wrap up this module by identifying all the areas in your project that you can make conscious creative choices for.
🧠 1) Brainstorm your beginning: This lesson is a simple and quick breakdown of all the things you need to know about your project before you start plotting and writing.
🤓 2) Genre: In this lesson, I will take you through the difference between genre fiction and literary fiction, and show you the most common subgenres and word counts of each of these.
📗 3) Title: This lesson looks at some successful titling techniques and formatting methods to give you ideas for your own project.
💬 4) Premise & Blurb: Learn on examples of best-selling books how you can write an effective book blurb using the simple blurb formula. You can watch this lesson below as a little taste-test for the course!
📄 5) Synopsis: Learn the equilibrium story theory and draft out the synopsis for your project with easy guiding questions. This structure will actually help you with storytelling in chapters and scenes too!
💁 6) Audience & reader consideration How do you write for someone else? What are all the things you need to consider? And what happens if someone doesn't like your book?
🌲 7) Visuals: In this lesson, we’ll talk about the atmosphere, the visuals, the vibe of your story and how exactly you can create a vibrant and realistic world for your characters.
📚 8) Sample stories: In this lesson, we run through our two sample stories: a dystopian adventure novel "King of the New World" and a literary, magical realism novel "Our Chained Wrists" to set up their solid story foundations.
👩💼 1) Narrative, major and minor characters: This lesson divides our character into 4 main categories: narrative, major, minor, and passersby; all with their own very unique purpose in your story!
❤️ 2) Internal conflict and story purpose: Internal conflict, misbelief and purpose is the most important part of crafting your character! In this lesson, we'll learn how to identify these for your characters with simple formulas and guiding questions. We'll also look at examples that illustrate this internal conflict on Page 1, and how you can do the same.
🧜♀️ 3) Character arc & backstory: Time extends to both sides of your story, so let's build your backstory as we build your arcs. It's equally as important (if not more so!).
🗣️ 4) Personality & voice: Let's find your character's flaws and virtues to build out the personality and voice of your character.
🥰 5) Significant relationships: This lesson looks at relationships within your story as having their own arcs. We'll explore the way relationships can influence your major characters.
👱♀️ 6) Appearance, unique quirks and names: This lesson contains some ideas to make your character descriptions and names POP, and some things you might be better off avoiding.
💐 7) Diversity: Areas of character diversity you should be thinking about as you write your novel, not just in terms of representation, but also your character goals, personalities, names, and unique viewpoints.
🧨 1) Story conflict: This lesson touches on the importance of having conflict that matters in your story, and all the subtle ways you can look to include it into every scene inside your novel. We'll watch two scenes from award-winning TV series The Bear and identify both obvious and subtle sources of conflict in each scene.
🦹♀️ 2) Anti protagonist: In this lesson we cover what an antagonist should represent in your story, and all the types of antagonists you might encounter in your writing journey (even if they aren't people).
📖 3) Motivation and backstory: We begin to add some depth and complexity by finding the reason behind your antagonist's evil-doings, and it might not always be as obvious as you think.
💪 4) Strengths and weaknesses: Let's take the complexity of your antagonist one step further by digging out both their strengths and weaknesses. If you want a good story, they'll have to be stronger and smarter than your protagonist.
🥲 5) Relatability and empathy: In this lesson, we build some connections around your antagonist and make them more realistic and morally grey!
😎 6) Internal conflict, negative arc and redemption: Every antagonist should have an internal conflict! It's up to you whether you are kind enough to resolve it and give them a fighting chance at redemption.
📊 1) The plot grid: Learn the basic structure of the 1-page outline we'll be using to plot our stories in this course. This entire module will show you the guiding questions for each plot beat, as well as build out both of our sample stories alongside it (King of the New World & Our Chained Wrists).
🌱 2) Act 1: The beginnings of your story have a hard job; capturing your reader's attention quickly while providing an immersive look into your story world.
🌿 3) Act 2A Your story truly kicks off with challenges for your protagonist(s) in the second act, so we'll learn how to keep the momentum and action rising towards the midpoint reversal.
🪴 4) Act 2B Once you've reached the reversal, things get difficult for your story heroes. You'll learn how to plot out second half of the second act for maximum impact and deliver the gut punch to your readers, until they have no idea how your characters could get out of the mess they created.
🌳 5) Act 3: This act needs to deliver a satisfying resolution to your readers, so you'll learn how to tie up your lose ends and make sure that your story message lands.
🧚♀️ 6) Subplots For more complex projects, we'll look at bulking out the story by adding in relevant subplots that lift up the main narrative.
This module is a bonus update , added in from the Pro at Prose curriculum at the request of previous students.
🤗 1) Choosing narrators and tenses: In this lesson we will talk all about how to choose the correct narrator and tense for your project as well as whether you should use multiple perspectives or different narrative devices.
😈 2) Unreliable narrators: All of your close narrators will be unreliable to some extent, but how far will you take them?
🥸 3) First and second person narrators: In this lesson we are covering the four main first and second person perspectives! We'll cover filters and narrative distance, do a stream of consciousness exercise, and look at examples for each of the four narrative positions, as well as their best uses.
😽 4) Third person narrators: In this lesson, we cover the three types of third person narrators, when to use each of them and how they differ in distance from the reader. We'll read through examples for each of the three perspectives.
🤩 5) Gripping introspection and narrative voices: Learn how to grip your reader's hearts with effective narration by choosing the correct narrative position and developing a unique narrative voice in prose.
🌴 1) Psychogeography, immersion and tone: Learn how to handle realistic world-building with psychogeographical exercises!
🦄 2) Fantasy or dystopian worlds: All the basics that make up a world, and the categories for you to think about if you're building a new world from scratch.
📡 3) Magic, technology and rules: Let's sprinkle in a little conflict and constriction into your fantasy or sci-fi world, so that your setting doesn't fall flat or feel unrewarding for your readers.
🎯 1) Chapters, scenes and beats: Learn the differences between chapters, scenes and beats and how you can properly structure a chapter!
📑 2) Chapter treatment:Learn how to create a comprehensive chapter treatment for your project to keep track of narrators, plot beats, notes, changes and more. This is a document you can refer to easily for a bird's eye overview of your work, which will help you immensely once you start your second and third drafts.
📙 3) Prologues, epilogues and creative books structure: Learn about all the different narrative devices you could use in your novel to get more creative and curate an immersive experience for your readers.
⏳ 4) Non-linear storytelling: Maybe your story doesn't go from point A to point B... That's okay! Let's see what other complex narratives you can create.
🧐 1) When should I start writing?: We answer the age old question. At what point in your outlining process should you actually put pen to paper and write down those first few words of your novel?
📘 2) The first draft: The best method to approach drafting your story for the first time. We'll talk about what your focus areas should be and how you can reach the end efficiently while keeping up your momentum.
📕 3)The second draft: Hurray! If you've written your first draft already, I'll take you through the steps you can take to tackle your second draft or even a potential rewrite. You'll learn some basic self-editing techniques.
✏️ 4) Next steps: Ready to get your project out in the world? I'll take you through a proposed timeline and step-by-step process of getting beta readers, preparing non-disclosure contracts for them(you get an easy template for this), working with an editor and deciding on your publishing path.
Course Workbook + 2 Bonus booklets: Idea Vault & Character Namebank
Digital templates (editable & printable versions)
Peek inside the workspace...
What's inside the workspace?
Writer's Homepage
Project Hub
Character Gallery
Reading Tracker & Inspiration Vault
Knowledge Library
Self-Care & Habits Life Planner
Got questions?
I don't have an idea or any writing experience. Should I still join?
Would this work for someone writing in a different language?
How long do I have access to the course?
What if I had your Soft Plotting live program?
What if I'm busy and don't have a lot of time?
Do you offer refunds?
Does this work for screenplays, graphic novels or short stories?
Can I buy one course and upgrade to the bundle later?
Still got questions?
Email me on [email protected]
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