Maybe you’ve been working on your project diligently, but how do you know if it’s actually working? Today we’ll discuss how to figure out if your book is working as-is, discover what we might need to do/change from the start, and make a plan to fix it. Plus, everyone will get to share where they’re stuck and hear possible solutions in realtime from Amy and Donna. NOTE: Our first class is 90-minute class to allow time for intros. All other classes are 60- minutes

Every story needs to keep readers hooked. This week you’ll learn how to find the drama in your story and how to raise the stakes (but first, we’ll make sure you’ve got some stakes!). We’ll help you determine whether yours are there or if they need a bit more oomph—and we’ll help you to find it.

The opening of your book not only must be compelling to readers, but it’s what will make or break whether an agent is willing to read at all, and eventually editors, too. We’ll look at great first lines and chapters from favorite books and help you to work on your first lines in the process. Then we'll walk through what all chapters need to succeed. Do you know where to break a chapter and how to do it? What about how long your chapters should be? How about when (and how) to use a section break? Are you using your chapter titles and headings effectively? You’ll leave class with some winning first lines and ideas for solid chapters that you can use for your story.

No, this isn’t only for fantasy and sci-fi writers! Whether you are writing a romance novel, YA, something uber literary, a memoir, you name it, you need to give your reader a place to stand and a world to see around your character or you. We often don’t realize how important these indicators are, and also simple ways to get that world-building done without dragging down the pacing to zilch. We’ll help you think about this in your own project, and where and when to do it. Plus, we’ll guide you through making a list of world-building ideas that you can implement right away.

Flashbacks can be necessary but they can also be a disaster for your book. Do you know how to use a flashback? Do you even notice when you’re using a flashback? What about how long to make them? What about whether you even really need one and how to tell when they’re essential? Tricks for making them, well, less of a downer for the reader? Unspooling information slowly? We’ll discuss the very important art of the skill of getting background info out onto the page, essential for a writer, yet often a skill that writers never really learn (at least not well). We’ll help you turn that flashback into something to look forward to, instead of dread.

It’s that super-annoying phrase you’ve heard a million times but may not know what it really means. We’ll discuss, we’ll practice, and we’ll talk about how learning to show as opposed to tell can transform all the writing you do, be it fiction or nonfiction. By the end of this week, you’ll finally really “get” what this phrase means and become a showing pro!

Making sure to always locate the reader in the world of the book—and then locate her again, and again—is essential. We’ll discuss tricks for how to do this, as well as how to toggle back and forth between the internal of a character and (of you) with what is happening on the page (and we’ll make sure stuff is actually happening on your pages!).

Layering, layering, and more layering of feeling. We want your book to have layers and so do your readers. But how do you do that? And what do you do when what you’re writing about brings up your own strong feelings? This week we’re focusing on how to get deal with emotions – both in yourself and in your stories. Not only will it make your book better, but it might just bring you some healing, too.

These are three of the most important aspects of a book—and we often don’t pay attention to them or don’t know how to. We’ll discuss the key to getting those pages turning, and how to use all the prior skills you’ve learned toward this end. We’ll also make sure you know how to tell when the pacing needs fixing or the momentum isn’t right. And of course, how to fix it!

Yippee! We made it through Boot Camp! You now have the skills to whip your book into shape and you’re ready to revise, edit, and polish to perfection.