Write Your First Novel!
FIRST STEP: A Series of Online Workshops over 12-Months Guiding Beginning or
Unpublished Writers through Planning and Writing Book Length Fiction from Start to Finish!
Also available at a faster paced 6-Month Program with a Steampunk theme beginning in
March 2011
Unpublished Writers through Planning and Writing Book Length Fiction from Start to Finish!
Also available at a faster paced 6-Month Program with a Steampunk theme beginning in
March 2011
| The 2011/2012 Season |
There’s a story in you just waiting to get out, to find its way to the computer screen, to becoming a stack of paper, and on to appearing in
book form. There’s just one problem: You aren’t sure how to get from having the idea to finishing the first draft, much less getting your
manuscript into shape for submission.
Never fear! We’re here to help with a series of workshops specifically crafted to take you from hovering at Page One to working up your
courage to put a proposal in the mail to an editor or agent.
Our voyages of discovery and creation begin: 6-Month program is March 2011 through August 2011; 12-Month program is Sepember
2011 through August 2012. There will be breaks along the way to give you breathing time (the 6-month version has fewer breaks with
workshops compacted into less than the four week per workshop module set up noted below), but here’s how the program is set up:
Workshop #1: PAGE ONE: TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT, THAT IS THE QUESTION
Will you be hearing the starter’s pistol go off or will you be knee deep in research? Well, this workshop will help you sort all that out. With
lectures posted on Mondays and Wednesdays and Challenges (assignments/homework) given for posting on Friday, we’ll sort out exactly
what YOU need to get started and why “training” for a marathon session of writing is important if you don’t want to lose your momentum.
As the title of the workshop shows, we’ll focus on plotting for those who are comfortable with a structure and ways that non-plotters
(Pantsers) can gather what they will need before keying in that first word. For any assignments posted by midnight Friday (no matter what
time zone), comments and suggestions from the instructor will be posted prior to the Monday lecture.
A Full Week Break for 12-month Session
Workshop #2: NOW STARRING IN: DESIGNING THE PERFECT CAST OF CHARACTERS
The second workshop in the series will focus on main characters, secondary characters, even characters with walk-on parts. How to have
well rounded main characters with interior and exterior goals and problems, how to mesh the second rung characters into the mix and not
let them overshadow your principles, and what is this thing called POV? are just a few of the topics we’ll deal with in this 4-week
workshop. Lectures will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays with Challenges to be posted by participants on Friday. Comments
returned prior to the Monday lecture posting.
A Full Week Break for 12-month Session
Workshop #3: SETTING THE SCENE: WHAT WORLD IS THIS ANYWAY?
We’ve got some ideas of what will happen in the story and we’ve got a cast of characters, but they need a stage upon which to play out
events. That’s what we’re building during this 4-week workshop. You’ve probably heard of World Building and thought, “but I’m not writing
fantasy or sci-fi.” But are your characters living in the REAL world? No! They’re living in the town you created, have friends that you
invented, deal with situations that you landed them in. So let’s find out what this world they live in is like – or should be like – and build
what we need as we set the stage for our players. Challenges will expand the dimensions of description, and for postings on Friday,
comments will be supplied prior to the Monday, when the first of two lectures every week goes up.
Three Week Holiday Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #4: WITH QUILL IN HAND, FIGURATIVELY: WRITING THE FIRST CHAPTER
Just when you thought we’d never get to it, we start the new year off with a BANG! Finally, at long last, you’ll be working your way through
that first chapter. The Pantsers among us might have already begun, but that doesn’t mean Chapter One is all that it could be. This 4-
weeks we’ll see what can be done, what NEEDS to be done, and strive to get it done. Lectures as usual on Monday and Wednesday with
Challenges tied entirely to writing the first chapter. Posting of work and feedback will involve the entire workshop now, as feedback from
many different quarters is an important element. We need to know what works and what doesn’t work!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #5: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: CHAPTER TWO AND THREE
When an editor or agent asks to see a proposal, what they want on their desk is a synopsis and the first three chapters. That means
those first three chapters have got to sell the manuscript. They’ve got to so enchant a reader – be they editor, agent, or the customer
who picks up a copy at the bookstore, grocery, or through an online retailer or e-book merchant – that they want more! So for this 4-
weeks, that’s our goal. Lectures Monday and Wednesday to guide you along the process with postings open to everyone in the workshop
to supply feedback on the story you’re spinning. You’ll note we’re moving along much faster now. We’ll be doubling the word output!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #6: THE GREAT PLAINS: SCENES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK
Once past the first three chapters things often get bogged down. But we’re not going to let that happen. There are plenty of ways to
maneuver around and out of box canyons, privet hedges, and whatever other mental manifestations of Writer’s Block might arise. Even
with a plot that maps out what you plan to do, there will be spots where you feel you’re in the Doldrums with no wind to fill your writing
sails and move the story forward. Of course there will be lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays to nudge you onward to the week’s
posting. And there will be your fellow writers in the workshop to offer suggestions and sympathy during the 4-weeks, naturally. But think
how far you’ll be progressing this month! Word count champs, every one!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; also a week off for 6-Month Session
After the Break, 12-Month Session Begin One-on-One Sessions while continuing to write
Workshop #7: XXOO: LOVE SCENES
You knew we’d come to them, didn’t you? And you don’t have to be writing romance to need love scenes. No, I’m not talking sex scenes,
although some types of storylines will require them, I’m talking tenderness, caring, concern. Nearly every novel on the market has some
romance element in it, the exception perhaps being action/adventure centering on battlefields. Heck, even Jason Bourne had a girl and
James Bond without one…well, wouldn’t be Bond, would he? Are these breaks in the action or the action itself in your book? Where
should they figure in the plot, how long should they be, how detailed, how frequent? So many choices! Hopefully the Monday and
Wednesday lectures will aid and abet you in the fictional clinch and you’ll welcome comments or moan over glitches to other class
members on Friday when it comes time to post and give feedback. Whether you love reading and thus writing love scenes or cringe over
the whole idea, it’s only a 4-week workshop and it will move you closer to the page where you key in “The End.”
6-Month Sessions now moves to focusing on Description, Action, Dialogue and Writer's Block at this point
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
One-on-One Sessions begin after the break for 6-Month Session as they continue writing
Workshop #8: DOWN THE BACKSTRETCH: THE SLALOM TO THE FINAL PAGE
It’s been nearly five full months since you began this journey from page one. If you’ve kept pace with the workshops, the end should be in
sight. But the finish line has its own set of challenges and this 4-weeks is where we address them and work toward that last page of the
manuscript. Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays with class feedback on Fridays to help along the way. There are threads to tie up,
elements to cover, perhaps a mystery to solve, a treasure to be discovered or lost once more, and perhaps a walk down the aisle to plan
or work towards. It all comes together during these 4-weeks!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
Workshop #9: APPLYING ELBOW GREASE: THE HARDEST PARTS OF THE JOB -- POLISHING/EDITING/ADDING/DELETING
If you thought having a completed first draft in hand meant all the toil and trouble was behind you, think again. Does an athlete take a
Gold Medal at an event without working to perfect his or her form or abilities? Heck, no! Does an actor just memorize the script and wing
it? Not unless it’s to prove they are already a master of their art – and it took a long time to hone the rough spots from their
performances. Same thing with musicians and painters. All artists – and that’s what we writers are – work hard at their crafts. We’re going
to see what can be done in just 4-weeks with a manuscript that took six months to write and even longer to dream up from start to finish.
Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays to guide you along, and postings to moan, groan, and ask for feedback from everyone in the
workshop. This is where you REALLY learn your craft.
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
Workshop #10 – The FINAL ONE! – HOVERING ON THE BRINK: SYNOPSIS/QUERY/PROPOSAL/SUBMISSION
At the close of these 4-weeks, if you kept pace with the workshop schedule, you could well be ready to begin the terrifying process of
submitting your manuscript to editors and agents. There’s a format to follow, of course, and that’s what these final weeks deal with. We’ll
be writing three types of synopses, query letters, and find where to submit and who to submit to. It’s about goals and ways to reach those
goals now. Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays with feedback from the entire group to aid and abet everyone in landing their newly
finished, polished, and glowing manuscript on the best desk for success.
And we’ll have done it all within 6-months or, alternately, one year!
Instructor’s Bio:
Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well.
She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-
books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a
publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up
by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her
fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology from Dragon Moon Press.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing.
Five of her former Novel class students are now published.
Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format. These have been historical romantic adventures (6), romantic
comedies (10), romantic-suspense (3), and young adult romantic comedy (7). Her titles have appeared in 12 different languages in over
20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts and collaborated with another RWA member on a
contemporary/fantasy/romantic adventure. She also ventured into self-publishing to keep her out-of-print backlist in print.
book form. There’s just one problem: You aren’t sure how to get from having the idea to finishing the first draft, much less getting your
manuscript into shape for submission.
Never fear! We’re here to help with a series of workshops specifically crafted to take you from hovering at Page One to working up your
courage to put a proposal in the mail to an editor or agent.
Our voyages of discovery and creation begin: 6-Month program is March 2011 through August 2011; 12-Month program is Sepember
2011 through August 2012. There will be breaks along the way to give you breathing time (the 6-month version has fewer breaks with
workshops compacted into less than the four week per workshop module set up noted below), but here’s how the program is set up:
Workshop #1: PAGE ONE: TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT, THAT IS THE QUESTION
Will you be hearing the starter’s pistol go off or will you be knee deep in research? Well, this workshop will help you sort all that out. With
lectures posted on Mondays and Wednesdays and Challenges (assignments/homework) given for posting on Friday, we’ll sort out exactly
what YOU need to get started and why “training” for a marathon session of writing is important if you don’t want to lose your momentum.
As the title of the workshop shows, we’ll focus on plotting for those who are comfortable with a structure and ways that non-plotters
(Pantsers) can gather what they will need before keying in that first word. For any assignments posted by midnight Friday (no matter what
time zone), comments and suggestions from the instructor will be posted prior to the Monday lecture.
A Full Week Break for 12-month Session
Workshop #2: NOW STARRING IN: DESIGNING THE PERFECT CAST OF CHARACTERS
The second workshop in the series will focus on main characters, secondary characters, even characters with walk-on parts. How to have
well rounded main characters with interior and exterior goals and problems, how to mesh the second rung characters into the mix and not
let them overshadow your principles, and what is this thing called POV? are just a few of the topics we’ll deal with in this 4-week
workshop. Lectures will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays with Challenges to be posted by participants on Friday. Comments
returned prior to the Monday lecture posting.
A Full Week Break for 12-month Session
Workshop #3: SETTING THE SCENE: WHAT WORLD IS THIS ANYWAY?
We’ve got some ideas of what will happen in the story and we’ve got a cast of characters, but they need a stage upon which to play out
events. That’s what we’re building during this 4-week workshop. You’ve probably heard of World Building and thought, “but I’m not writing
fantasy or sci-fi.” But are your characters living in the REAL world? No! They’re living in the town you created, have friends that you
invented, deal with situations that you landed them in. So let’s find out what this world they live in is like – or should be like – and build
what we need as we set the stage for our players. Challenges will expand the dimensions of description, and for postings on Friday,
comments will be supplied prior to the Monday, when the first of two lectures every week goes up.
Three Week Holiday Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #4: WITH QUILL IN HAND, FIGURATIVELY: WRITING THE FIRST CHAPTER
Just when you thought we’d never get to it, we start the new year off with a BANG! Finally, at long last, you’ll be working your way through
that first chapter. The Pantsers among us might have already begun, but that doesn’t mean Chapter One is all that it could be. This 4-
weeks we’ll see what can be done, what NEEDS to be done, and strive to get it done. Lectures as usual on Monday and Wednesday with
Challenges tied entirely to writing the first chapter. Posting of work and feedback will involve the entire workshop now, as feedback from
many different quarters is an important element. We need to know what works and what doesn’t work!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #5: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: CHAPTER TWO AND THREE
When an editor or agent asks to see a proposal, what they want on their desk is a synopsis and the first three chapters. That means
those first three chapters have got to sell the manuscript. They’ve got to so enchant a reader – be they editor, agent, or the customer
who picks up a copy at the bookstore, grocery, or through an online retailer or e-book merchant – that they want more! So for this 4-
weeks, that’s our goal. Lectures Monday and Wednesday to guide you along the process with postings open to everyone in the workshop
to supply feedback on the story you’re spinning. You’ll note we’re moving along much faster now. We’ll be doubling the word output!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session
Workshop #6: THE GREAT PLAINS: SCENES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK
Once past the first three chapters things often get bogged down. But we’re not going to let that happen. There are plenty of ways to
maneuver around and out of box canyons, privet hedges, and whatever other mental manifestations of Writer’s Block might arise. Even
with a plot that maps out what you plan to do, there will be spots where you feel you’re in the Doldrums with no wind to fill your writing
sails and move the story forward. Of course there will be lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays to nudge you onward to the week’s
posting. And there will be your fellow writers in the workshop to offer suggestions and sympathy during the 4-weeks, naturally. But think
how far you’ll be progressing this month! Word count champs, every one!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; also a week off for 6-Month Session
After the Break, 12-Month Session Begin One-on-One Sessions while continuing to write
Workshop #7: XXOO: LOVE SCENES
You knew we’d come to them, didn’t you? And you don’t have to be writing romance to need love scenes. No, I’m not talking sex scenes,
although some types of storylines will require them, I’m talking tenderness, caring, concern. Nearly every novel on the market has some
romance element in it, the exception perhaps being action/adventure centering on battlefields. Heck, even Jason Bourne had a girl and
James Bond without one…well, wouldn’t be Bond, would he? Are these breaks in the action or the action itself in your book? Where
should they figure in the plot, how long should they be, how detailed, how frequent? So many choices! Hopefully the Monday and
Wednesday lectures will aid and abet you in the fictional clinch and you’ll welcome comments or moan over glitches to other class
members on Friday when it comes time to post and give feedback. Whether you love reading and thus writing love scenes or cringe over
the whole idea, it’s only a 4-week workshop and it will move you closer to the page where you key in “The End.”
6-Month Sessions now moves to focusing on Description, Action, Dialogue and Writer's Block at this point
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
One-on-One Sessions begin after the break for 6-Month Session as they continue writing
Workshop #8: DOWN THE BACKSTRETCH: THE SLALOM TO THE FINAL PAGE
It’s been nearly five full months since you began this journey from page one. If you’ve kept pace with the workshops, the end should be in
sight. But the finish line has its own set of challenges and this 4-weeks is where we address them and work toward that last page of the
manuscript. Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays with class feedback on Fridays to help along the way. There are threads to tie up,
elements to cover, perhaps a mystery to solve, a treasure to be discovered or lost once more, and perhaps a walk down the aisle to plan
or work towards. It all comes together during these 4-weeks!
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
Workshop #9: APPLYING ELBOW GREASE: THE HARDEST PARTS OF THE JOB -- POLISHING/EDITING/ADDING/DELETING
If you thought having a completed first draft in hand meant all the toil and trouble was behind you, think again. Does an athlete take a
Gold Medal at an event without working to perfect his or her form or abilities? Heck, no! Does an actor just memorize the script and wing
it? Not unless it’s to prove they are already a master of their art – and it took a long time to hone the rough spots from their
performances. Same thing with musicians and painters. All artists – and that’s what we writers are – work hard at their crafts. We’re going
to see what can be done in just 4-weeks with a manuscript that took six months to write and even longer to dream up from start to finish.
Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays to guide you along, and postings to moan, groan, and ask for feedback from everyone in the
workshop. This is where you REALLY learn your craft.
A Full Week Break for 12-Month Session; 4-Day Break for 6-Month Session
Workshop #10 – The FINAL ONE! – HOVERING ON THE BRINK: SYNOPSIS/QUERY/PROPOSAL/SUBMISSION
At the close of these 4-weeks, if you kept pace with the workshop schedule, you could well be ready to begin the terrifying process of
submitting your manuscript to editors and agents. There’s a format to follow, of course, and that’s what these final weeks deal with. We’ll
be writing three types of synopses, query letters, and find where to submit and who to submit to. It’s about goals and ways to reach those
goals now. Lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays with feedback from the entire group to aid and abet everyone in landing their newly
finished, polished, and glowing manuscript on the best desk for success.
And we’ll have done it all within 6-months or, alternately, one year!
Instructor’s Bio:
Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well.
She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-
books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a
publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up
by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her
fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology from Dragon Moon Press.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing.
Five of her former Novel class students are now published.
Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format. These have been historical romantic adventures (6), romantic
comedies (10), romantic-suspense (3), and young adult romantic comedy (7). Her titles have appeared in 12 different languages in over
20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts and collaborated with another RWA member on a
contemporary/fantasy/romantic adventure. She also ventured into self-publishing to keep her out-of-print backlist in print.
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