Coaching is for everyone! (Except puppies. I don’t think puppies would enjoy story coaching very much.)

It’s for new writers.

It’s for ‘intermediate’ writers mastering the fundamentals of the craft, or ready to take their storytelling to the next level.

It’s for veteran authors who’ve been up & down the publishing highway since before the highway was built.

For new writers, it provides an intensive crash course in fiction craft & structure. It’s one thing to read about a concept or strategy: it’s quite another to put it into practice.

For experienced writers, it’s an opportunity to do a deep-dive into the craft, refresh old skills, and get excited about storytelling again. Whether you do a one month ‘shot in the arm’ or an extended recharge, coaching will get you back on track & reignite your love of what you do.

Step One

An initial 1:1 online meeting.

We break down your story—your vision for it, as well as the current structure, plot, and character arcs if you have them. If not, we’ll talk about what might work, clarify potential problems, & brainstorm through them.

If you need weekly goals, we’ll set them up.

Step Two

You go write!

Step Three

You send me manuscript pages, up to 5K words/week.

Step Four

I review the pages  & return them. Usually one-week turnaround.

Step Five

We have weekly or biweekly meetings to discuss your pages & any problems, successes, or breakthroughs. We brainstorm and problem-solve, breaking down Story to come up with a plan for the coming weeks.

Step Six

Repeat.

Step Always

If you get stuck, drop me a line.

Coaching is set up on a monthly basis. It can run anywhere from 1 month to…however long you want!

There is a 25% discount for those who book & pay for 6 months in advance.

I’m at your disposal!

I can review up to 5K words/week in manuscript form, but at our meetings, we can talk about any stories you want.

Some clients want help planning a series. Some people need help with the romance turning points of one story, but want help developing conflict in another.

I follow your lead. That said…it’s often better to focus, especially if we’re doing 3 months of coaching or less.

Yep!

We’ll still dive into the core concepts of writing & storytelling: structure, turning points, tension, pace, conflict, characterization, backstory, world-building… You name it, we’ll do it.

For romance stories, we add in that ‘romance special’ angle–romantic conflict; intertwining all other elements with the romance; shaping character arcs around the romance; and honing romantic turning points.

The cost of a single month’s coaching ($999), with 20K words, comes out to $0.049/word. So, just under five cents. If you book & pay 6 months in advance, it comes out to less than $0.04/word (.0375), or about three and three-quarter cents a word. Compare this to other developmental editing rates.

But Story Coaching also includes up to 4 hours of live, 1:1 video meetings, as well as support/troubleshooting emails & discussion as often as you need, each month.

It’s actually a really good deal!

If it helps to know when considering the price of a service…self-employed freelance professionals in the U.S. pay 35% of all income in taxes/SS, as well as their own health insurance, retirement (and no leave time!) I mention it in case you’re like me, and think about these sorts of things when deciding where & how to spend your money.