"When I was doing Lesson 6, I was surprised to see such a collection of fears, from 'small' ones like being too tall to the ultimate fear of not doing something significant with her life. Janey is more complicated than I first thought. Thanks for this exercise."
-- Joyce Handzo, author of Go Get Your Goals, and a forthcoming cozy mystery
** Want to write a novel but don't know where to begin?
** Want a short but sweet way to begin the process?
** Want to plan your novel, but not in the strictest sense?
Then check out our 7 Keys to Story Planning overview course!
In the 7 lesson mini-course, we will help you think and write through the steps to create your novel — from character development to plot structure to story themes and world building — so that you can start your novel prepared — for Nanowrimo or now.
This class is good for you:
This course is designed with the understanding that you have a busy life, full of commitments — family, job, second job, pets, friends, and oh yeah, sleep.
This course is also organic, designed to work for people who don't like to plan or outline. It's based on the premise that brainstorming feeds the muse.
Feed your muse with these 7 short lessons.
What our mini-course covers:
This course is being offered by experienced teachers and award-winning novelists, Beth Barany and Ezra Barany. Between the two of us, we've published in 20 books in 4 genres. We walk the talk and are passionate about helping other writers get their novels written, published, and into the hands of their readers.
We're offering this instruction at this low cost because:
Scroll down to the Class Curriculum list to listen to the two preview audios:
Enjoy!
I look forward to welcoming you into the course!
PS. If you're looking for the extended version of this course, over 30 lessons, go here.
“I want to thank Beth Barany and Ezra Barany for taking the time … Their encouragement helped to get me on the stick and get ready to write my novel.
— Carol Malone w/a Jill Tunny, Ladies Night, a Fight-Card Romance
“Beth & Ezra are super accessible… & they have great ideas for guiding an author's success. It's been fun to virtually meet other creative writers as well. The support is fabulous … a real community."
— Tricia Riel, author of the Zephrum Gates series
In this mini-course for aspiring authors and for those of you on the second (or third) time around, we will help get started in thinking through the steps to create your novel — from character development to plot structure to story themes and world building — so that you can start your novel prepared.
In this course, it is not my place to evaluate your story. You may be wondering whether or not your ideas are "any good." But we all have way too little information. This is a brainstorming class, after all.
I can judge a story once it's written, and do so all the time. But ideas judged too soon may never flower into a manuscript. I do give constructive feedback and ask questions to help you dig a little deeper or include information left out.
My goal is to help each of you actually do the assignment. If I notice holes, ways in which people skipped over a point in the exercise, I point them out.
The exercises are designed to help you think through the story before you write it. And as this is only an overview course, my feedback is lighter than if you were taking a more extensive class.
There is absolutely a place for judging your creative work, but if you do so too soon, especially at the beginning stages (and especially if you're a beginner), you're not being fair to your muse or your work. The story needs time to flower and mature into what it really is.
Let your judgement take a hike, a vacation, or give it something else to do.
Your job is to show up for the work. And that means putting pen to page or fingers to keyboard. Anything else is not the work. If you're having a hard time getting started, set a timer -- my favorite get-writing tool and one I (an experienced writer) use often.
“Just wanted to say thank-you to Beth and Ezra – I have really enjoyed your course. … I especially enjoyed the daily tasks, which allowed me to take time and really delve into my characters' motivations and conflicts."
— Triana Willard, author of Autumn Magic
Beth Barany is an award-winning novelist and a creativity coach and teacher for writers.
Her latest book for authors is Twitter for Authors: Social Media Book Marketing Strategies for Shy Writers, available on Amazon, iTunes, and Nook.
The author of the bestselling books, The Writer's Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book and Overcome Writer's Block, Beth helps authors create successful and sustainable careers. Beth is the award-winning novelist of the young adult epic fantasy, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, the first of a three-book series.
As a Master NLP Practitioner, Certified Creativity Coach, and experienced speaker and teacher, Beth Barany has helped authors get their books written, edited and published for over 15 years, as well as guided them in effectively marketing and selling their work. Five of her clients' books have been best-sellers. Sign up for her newsletter and receive her free Writer's Motivation Mini-Course at her blog for writers, Writer's Fun Zone.
Beth Barany lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, Ezra Barany, the bestselling author of The Torah Codes, and their cat, and over 1,000 books.