Writing On

Seriously, is your progress still down at 0% - how do you sleep at night?

Module 1 Back to the plan
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 VIDEO: David Mitchell on the writing process  
Unit 3 Zoom: Welcome to Writing On  
Unit 4 Read like a writer: The Three little pigs  
Unit 5 Beat sheets  
Unit 6 Downloadable beat sheet template  
Unit 7 Exercise 1: checking the shape of a story  
Unit 8 Exercise 2: mapping the plot of your story  
Unit 9 Final exercise: your story in 8 paragraphs  
Unit 10 Quiz: Plotting and planning  
Unit 11 PODCAST: Sarah Dunant on... writing a thriller  
Unit 12 Author Judy Blume: "I Thought I Was Weird"  
Unit 13 You Write On  
Module 2 Other planning methods are available
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Quiz - Inciting Incidents  
Unit 3 Read like a writer: Memento Mori  
Unit 4 PODCAST: To Plot or Not? featuring Jean Hanff Korelitz  
Unit 5 Exercise One: Temperature check  
Unit 6 The Hero’s Journey- Writing A Compelling Story  
Unit 7 Examples that rely heavily on 'the heroes journey'  
Unit 8 The Bookend Method  
Unit 9 The Snowflake Method  
Unit 10 Snowflake Method template  
Unit 11 Freytag’s Pyramid: Understanding Dramatic Structure And Applying It To Your Own Narrative  
Unit 12 Freytag Pyramid Template  
Unit 13 Exercise two: Consider your protagonist. What does he/she want?  
Unit 14 Author Neil Gaiman talks about honesty in writing  
Unit 15 You Write On  
Module 3 The Act Two Wasteland
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Applying screenplay wisdom to novel writing  
Unit 3 PODCAST: 8 Sequence Story Structure  
Unit 4 Surviving The Wasteland of Act II  
Unit 5 Read like a writer: before I go to sleep  
Unit 6 Running into problems at one third in  
Unit 7 Exercise 1: Take a look at the first third of a novel you’ve enjoyed recently  
Unit 8 Structuring your Second Act, step by step  
Unit 9 Exercise 2: Questions to ask yourself about your first third  
Unit 10 Author Zadie Smith – Middle-of-the-Novel Magical Thinking  
Unit 11 You Write On  
Module 4 The saggy middle
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Beginnings, middles and ends  
Unit 3 Techniques to avoid a 'hammock' middle  
Unit 4 Arthur C. Clarke talks saggy middles  
Unit 5 Exercise 1: start a timeline  
Unit 6 Middles do not need to sag  
Unit 7 PODCAST: Novelist Jane Rogers talks about character building  
Unit 8 Exercise 2: check your character is who you think they are  
Unit 9 5 questions to get you through a sagging middle  
Unit 10 The Middle Is the Biggest Part of Your Novel: Keep it Lively  
Unit 11 Peter Benson tips on avoiding the muddy middle  
Unit 12 Character arcs  
Unit 13 Final exercise: Plotting your character arc  
Unit 14 Video: Writing advice from best selling authors  
Unit 15 You Write On  
Module 5 Picking up pace
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Why pacing matters so much  
Unit 3 Overwriting  
Unit 4 Tips to improve pacing and add forward momentum  
Unit 5 Exercise 1: check your line-by-line pacing  
Unit 6 What Is The Rising Action Of A Story?  
Unit 7 12 tips to add conflict to your story  
Unit 8 Exercise: Where’s the jeopardy in your novel?  
Unit 9 Building suspense  
Unit 10 Ways to build suspense  
Unit 11 Exercise: Write a scene and make it suspenseful  
Unit 12 Author Marian Keyes on pacing and dialogue  
Unit 13 You Write On  
Module 6 Midpoint crisis
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Exercise 1: make a list  
Unit 3 Exercise 2: check your scene is working  
Unit 4 Final exercise: edit your scene  
Unit 5 How To Write A Compelling Plot Twist  
Unit 6 Video: Fix your Act II by doing this to your midpoint  
Unit 7 James Scott Bell: The “Write From The Middle” Method  
Unit 8 Try this trick when your novel is stuck  
Unit 9 What Makes for a Good Plot Twist?  
Unit 10 A Conversation with Gail Honeyman  
Unit 11 You Write On  
Module 7 Blocked
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 12 Techniques for Getting Un-stuck  
Unit 3 Identifying a Loss of Momentum vs. Writer’s Block  
Unit 4 How to get over writer’s block  
Unit 5 Exercise one: Build on what you've got  
Unit 6 Exercise two: Positive Reinforcement  
Unit 7 John Grisham Shares His Secret to Avoiding Writer's Block and Reacts to Book Bans  
Unit 8 PODCAST: Andrew Cowan - Thoughts on creativity  
Unit 9 You Write On  
Module 8 Chapter and verse
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 What’s the perfect length for a book?  
Unit 3 3 Good Reasons to Keep Your Book Shorter than 80,000 Words  
Unit 4 How to organize a chapter  
Unit 5 How Long Should A Chapter Be?  
Unit 6 Kirsty Wark interviews author Donna Tartt about 'The Goldfinch'  
Unit 7 You Write On  
Module 9 The end is coming
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Stephen King can't write a good ending to save his life – and he knows It  
Unit 3 How to write a good climax in a novel  
Unit 4 The sense of an ending  
Unit 5 Exercise one: Lee Child's endings  
Unit 6 How To End A Story Perfectly  
Unit 7 What is a story resolution?  
Unit 8 PODCAST: Author Liz Jensen on structure, revision and theme  
Unit 9 VIDEO: Author Richard Osman on getting away with murder  
Unit 10 You Write On  
Module 10 Editing 101
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Check your viewpoint is working  
Unit 3 Anatomy of a Scene  
Unit 4 Quiz: how does show not tell feel?  
Unit 5 Check your own work for Show Not Tell  
Unit 6 Beefing it up  
Unit 7 Dialogue and Description Checklist  
Unit 8 Editing Cheat Sheet  
Unit 9 The Author and Editor Relationship: Professional Sparring Partners  
Unit 10 David Mitchell talks editing  
Unit 11 You Write On  
Module 11 Marketing 101
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 Book marketing and promotion basics  
Unit 3 How do you feel about marketing a book you've written?  
Unit 4 Why comp authors matter  
Unit 5 The Bridges To Your Island  
Unit 6 How To Build Your Author Platform  
Unit 7 A Simple Guide To Social Media For Authors  
Unit 8 Email marketing  
Unit 9 Building an author website  
Unit 10 Creating 'lead magnets'  
Unit 11 The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make With Your Marketing  
Unit 12 You Write On - one last time  
Module 12 How to Catch an Agent’s Eye
Unit 1 Introduction  
Unit 2 PODCAST: Agent Jonny Gellar on what a literary agent actually does  
Unit 3 Exercise 1: plan and log your research  
Unit 4 Agent search template  
Unit 5 Exercise 2: draft a pitch letter  
Unit 6 Final exercise: apply everything you have learned