Deep content and developmental editing as well as plot analyses, structural builds, and one-on-one skills mastery in show not tell, point of view, and scene and sequel.

Want to write a novel set in Scotland? A New York Times bestseller?? How about a series? Scottish stories are wildly popular after the successful novels of Diana Gabaldon: Outlander, Fly in Amber, Voyager, followed by six more huge books which tell the adventures and trials of Jamie Fraser and Claire.

What made Highlanders so attractive to readers all over the world? Welsh people wonder. After all they too speak a Celtic language. Just because Highlandmen wear kilts? Yes! However, the kilt is not an ancient garment. Want to know more?

July 1-31 Tags Class Digital Organization

In this 30-day course, you’ll learn insider secrets the purists don’t know about ghostwriting—its jaw-dropping prevalence, its capacity to elevate writing skills in record time, its ability to deliver writers from the 1001 hats we’re told we must wear to make money in this industry. And you’ll learn why ghostwriting might just be the best writing decision you’ll ever make.

Are you an author of a book that you'd like to turn into a movie?

Do you have an idea for the next big movie, but you don't know where to start?

If you're interested in learning the art of how to write a screenplay, you're in the right place.

Wally and Betty will teach YOU what they wish someone had taught them before they ever sat down to write their first screenplays!

Click in and read what you'll learn each week of this 6-week class.

This course will teach writers how to find and use character-themed words specific to their heroes, heroines, and even villains. Every word in your novel should serve two purposes: to move the plot forward and give greater insight into the characters.

Using character-themed words will grab your reader’s attention and hold it throughout the novel. Readers remember real characters. Characters that are so fully-developed, they walk off the page and into our hearts.

This intensive, hands-on, two week class offers you the most important opportunity: feedback.  We will revise, fine-tune, and re-work your pitches and blurbs, all while working to maintain emotion and your voice in a hooky, can’t-wait-to-read pitch/blurb.

Yes, it’s possible. You can do it! Distill your story to a pitch/blurb that will hook agents and editors and make them want to read more.

Sign up and learn how to create a potent pitch and brilliant blurb.

The two week Stacking the Stakes intensive workshop will help you discover ways to get your readers caring on page one and keep them caring to the very end.

Full easy to read lectures, hands on assignments, and plenty of opportunities for class and instructor interaction, Stacking the Stakes will take a languishing story from plodding to powerful.

A mini-version of the longer month-long Revision class. Online only class that offers hands-on help revising a manuscript. We will work on chunks at a time, with feedback and critiquing from New York Times bestselling author Shirley Jump. The class covers plot, character, and show, not tell, but offers less homework and feedback than the month-long class. Students work on shorter segments for homework. Students will gain the tools they need to write stronger and revise better.

Characters are like people. Each of us has "good" traits, like courage and resilience and intelligence, but we also have traits that get us into trouble like foolhardiness, stubbornness, and too smart for our own good. Same with our characters. We create strong traits, on both sides of the spectrum, and watch as our characters stumble through the story.

But they don't need to stumble! We can harness those traits and direct them into strong, cohesive plots. Actually, nailing all those plot points and inciting incidents and black moments in the perfect place is like trying to scratch that hard-to-reach place on your back. But, once you know how it works, it's easy-peasy.

Whether you're starting a new book or editing an existing one, this course can help you put the "punch" in exactly the right place.

Have you ever thought of writing flash fiction, but didn’t, because you didn’t know where to start? Writing short can be tricky – you have to make every word count to convey a compelling, complete story in 100-1500 words.

Laura will teach you how, helping you decide what to write about, how to develop standout characters in situations that will have readers on the edge of their seats.

You’ll craft a story in class, and we’ll pore over every word to make them shine! But wait, there’s more! You’ll learn advanced wordsmith skills that will help with all your writing, short or long!

Are you looking for guidance and direction for your writing career? Have you written your book, but don’t know what to do next? Not sure how to promote your books with social media? Interested in self-publishing, but aren’t sure where to start or how much it costs? Julie’s Author Mentoring Intensive is for you!

How to Write Dialogue with a Psychological Punch

A proven way to improve any manuscript. 

Learn how to craft dialogue that carries power!

What if you could have a website that would meet your needs whether you're a beginner or a NYT best selling author?

What if it could be affordable and easy to maintain?

What if you could have someone hold your hand and walk you through the entire process?

Welcome to the Crazy Easy Awesome Author Website taught by Lisa Norman (Heart Ally Books and Deleyna's Dynamic Designs -- also Margie Lawson's web designer).

10 People. 20 Pages. Deep Developmental Edits.

Editing your manuscript to get it ready for an agent or editor requires more than just crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s.

That’s where a developmental editor comes in.

Developmental editing is the first stage in preparing your manuscript for professional eyes. It helps you to build complex characters, checks that your pacing is not boring the reader, and makes sure you’ve plugged all those pesky plot holes.

In Dazzling Developmental edits, you will work one-on-one with a professional editor who will help you learn the difference between a developmental edit and a copy edit, how to accept criticism when it stings, and learn what to expect from your very first developmental edit.

During our time together we will developmental edit the first two chapters of your work in progress.

Want to make your writing soar? Do you want to add airplanes and aviation to your writing, but can’t tell the difference between a Cessna 172 and a Boeing 747? Do you want to learn about classic aviation stories and their plots, characters, and settings?

Come join historian and airplane geek Hugh Gordon as he explains how to incorporate the world of airplanes in your writing. You will explore the thrilling history of human flight and how great (and not so great) fiction has emerged from it.