Creative Writing Workbooks

Do you want to write a book, but you’re not sure where to begin? Kick your creative writing practice into high gear with a one-year subscription to the Guided Workbooks for Writers. Whether you’re writing your first short story, drafting your novel, or writing a memoir, the five workbooks in this innovative series will help you find your voice, and your vision, at your own pace. Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see how to gift this subscription.

HOW IT WORKS
  • Every two months, you will receive a personal password to download a new workbook.
  • Each workbook is packed with writing exercises, advice, and solid information about narrative craft gleaned from my twelve years as a teacher and working writer.
  • Each workbook will take you step-by-step through a specific area of your writing practice.
  • The Guided Workbooks for Writers cover topics such as finding your subject, creating complex characters, structuring your novel, revising for publication, and more.

THE WORKBOOKS

  1. Story Starters: Book One in the Guided Workbooks for Writers Series. A day-by-day progression to help you find your story. Craft-based exercises, free-flow exercises, and ten-minute prompts lead up to a series of flash fiction assignments. A Halfway There Self-Assessment helps your recognize your strengths and identify your subject. By the end of 50 days, you will have written several complete short-short stories, and will have planted the seeds for many other stories, a novel, or a memoir. 138 pages.
  2. The Complete Character: Making Complex Characters Come to Life. Every really good story is character-driven. But what makes a great character? Is it someone we can relate to, someone whose pain we feel deeply, someone whose voice mysteriously draws us in? The Complete Character, book 2 in the Guided Workbooks for Writers series, shows you how to create unforgettable characters capable of holding the reader’s interest and moving the story forward. 50 character-based exercises are combined with solid advice on craft to take you step-by-step through the process of developing your characters to their full potential.
  3. The Paperclip Method: The No-Outline Novel Workbook. Forget the outline. You don’t have to know where you’re going before you begin. With The Paperclip Method, create intriguing fragments and mini-stories, find meaningful connections among short pieces, and weave those pieces into a compelling and coherent narrative–all without an outline or a plan of attack.
  4. The Shape of the Story: Structuring Your Novel or Memoir. Every book demands its own structure. The Shape of the Story shows you how to apply principles of the narrative arc to your work. Learn how to use patterning to create suspense, how to build tension throughout the book, and how to bring your story to a surprising but logical conclusion.
  5. Next Draft: Tools for Revision. The fifth installment in the Guided Workbooks for Writers Series, Next Draft will help you identify larger issues in your work. Have you chosen the right point of view for your story? Can your characters be more complex? Where does the dramatic tension lag? How clear are motivations and consequences? Designed to build upon the work you’ve already done, Next Draft: Tools for Revision, will help you transform your first draft into a publication-ready manuscript.

Small investment, big pay-off

At a small fraction of the cost of a writing workshop, the Guided Workbooks for Writers will keep you motivated and inspired for a full year. And when you subscribe to the Guided Workbooks for Writers before December 31, 2012,the full price of your subscription will be deducted from any future manuscript consultation or private coaching package.

Subscribe now to instantly download the first workbook,

Story Starters: A Workbook for Writers.

LIMITED TIME PROMOTIONAL PRICE 

$49 

(Regularly $79. Promotional price ends 1/31/12)




When you subscribe, you will be charged only for the first month – $9.80. Every two months, you will be charged $9.80, for a total of 5 installments. That’s just $4.40 per month–the price of a latte with tip. YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT ANY TIME.

STOP DREAMING, START WRITING

Writing is a bit like dieting. It’s tempting to say, “I’ll start tomorrow.” But it’s better to begin today. Where do you want to be as a writer this time next year? Make the commitment today to a year of productive, goal-oriented writing practice.

Gift this subscription.

The Guided Workbooks for Writers Subscription makes a great gift for the aspiring writer in your life! When you purchase a $49 gift certificate, the gift certificate will be mailed directly to the recipient (or to you) along with a hard copy of Story Starters: A Workbook for Writers, along with your gift message. Please add $3.99 for shipping.