In Today’s Journal
* I’m Developing Mentorships
* Becoming a Fiction Writer Mentorship
* Craft of Fiction Writing Mentorships
* Of Interest
I’m Developing Mentorships
I’ve developed one overall low-cost mentorship—”Becoming a Fiction Writer”—and I’m in the process of developing several low-cost “Craft of Fiction Writing” mentorships
The Becoming a Fiction Writer mentorship is already up on the website and ready to go.
I recommend you go look even if you believe you don’t need that one. Maybe you’re still suffering from one or more of those topics.
Hey, we’ve all been there, and I’m no exception. So maybe go have a look just in case.
Even if you’re troubled by only one of those topics you’ll still get the entire mentorship (all topics) because they’re all interrelated and they build on each other.
Human beings are a strange bunch. We tend to attach value to monetary cost. So to make it seem valuable to you, I have to charge a fee.
The fee for the Becoming a Fiction Writer mentorship is $100.
HOWEVER, you’ll get your hundred bucks back in credits if you decide to take any of the Craft of Fiction Writing mentorships:
Craft of Fiction Writing Mentorships
Basic Topics
- Coming up with story ideas: They aren’t golden and they’re everywhere.
- The six-senses exercise: Yes, six. Not five.
- Writing openings: Includes 6 senses, grounding the reader, intro the character, etc. No technique will leap your craft ahead more quickly.
More Advanced Topics
- Writing cliffhangers and hooks: You need both, and they work in concert. Includes electric opening lines (hooks), the various types of cliffhangers (physical, emotional, mental, a combination)
- Writing into the dark and cycling: the rationale for understanding the source of the story and being unstuck in time as you present it.
- Taking your time and focusing down: The story is in the details. Includes cycling, a kind of passive revision with the creative subconscious.
- Trusting your characters: All Story begins with, hinges on, and is about characters, their actions and reactions.
- POV characters: And the importance of opinion
- Writing setting: Characters don’t exist in a vacuum.
- Writing the transitional scene: And why it exists and is necessary across the genres
- Writing the “rest” scene: And why it exists and is necessary across the genres
- Writing the high-tension or high-action scene: And why it exists and is necessary across the genres
- Writing dialogue: In the written word, dialogue equals action.
- Dialogue tags and brief descriptive narratives: The difference and their use
- Writing effective dialect: Less is more, how and why.
- Writing endings: The ending is probably not what you think.
- Developing and using the reverse outline: A valuable tool
- Writing in series: short stories, novellas, or novels
- Describing the indescribable: so called “deep POV,” “show don’t tell,” etc.
- Branding: You are your brand.
And probably a few others I haven’t thought of yet.
When I have them all pinned down I’ll add them to this page on the Journal website and announce here that they’re live.
Books
Where appropriate, I’ll provide free nonfiction books with some of the above topics.
Assignments
Where appropriate, I’ll provide assignments.
Of course, doing the assignments will not be mandatory, but I strongly recommend doing them. I will review and comment on every completed assignment.
Assignments might include
- writing various types of scenes (transitional, rest, high-tension/high-action);
- writing an opening to include character and setting;
- writing the end of a chapter or internal scene (i.e., not the opening) to include a cliffhanger and the attached hook;
- writing an ending;
- etc.
Fees and Enrollment Options
I haven’t set fees yet, but I doubt any of them will be above two figures. They will vary depending on the intensity and range of the subject matter.
- Each topic above is its own mentorship.
- You can mix and match or cherry pick from among the Craft of Fiction Writing mentorships according to what you need.
- Because various topics are interrelated, if you take more than one mentorship topic at the same time, I’ll reduce the price on each.
Mostly I just want to pass this stuff along to you.
A Coming Example
To give you an idea of the depth you’ll get from the Craft of Fiction Writing mentorships, I’ll be back in the next day or two with a free example of my instruction regarding grounding the reader in the setting by evoking the six senses as a POV character moves into, through, and out of a transitional scene.
For many of you, that example alone will leapfrog your craft ahead.
Trust me, you don’t want to miss that post.
And trust this also: It isn’t about “thinking” your way through a scene; it’s about opening yourself up to what the POV character experiences as he moves through a scene.
Talk with you again soon.