Story Sensei

My wrists are feeling pretty good, so I'm going to be open to scheduling some one-on-one email coaching services. However, because of book deadlines, I won't be able to start any coaching until October. If you know you want to take some coaching from me and you're okay starting later this year, let me know so I can schedule you. In addition to Synopsis one-on-one coaching ($35) and Characterization one-on-one coaching ($35), I am also adding Deep Point of View one-on-one email coaching for $45 and Self-Editing one-on-one email coaching for $45. All my one-on-one coaching lasts four weeks, which gives you a bit more time to get in your homework for the lessons and revise them and resubmit them for additional feedback if you desire. The structure of my one-on-one coaching is the same as my worksheets, but with the addition of my personalized feedback on your specific manuscript. Only one manuscript/character per coaching session, please. Again, I will not be schedul...

NEW SELF-EDITING WORKSHEET! After Katie commented on my author blog about my Self-Editing class, I realized that I could just offer a self-editing worksheet for those of you who wanted to take my online class but couldn't because of timing or cost. So here it is! Self-Editing Worksheet $20 You've finished your novel! How do you make sure you have a good character arc, strong story structure, good pacing? How can you smooth over rough writing patches, eliminate episodic writing, or increase emotional intensity? My Self-Editing worksheet combines a variety of techniques that I have taught in online workshops into one place, with tips to help you refine and polish your manuscript. By the end of the worksheet you'll have: 1) A good large-scale view of your story structure and character arc, and knowledge about how to fix any problems in that area 2) Tips for how to revise more emotion into your writing 3) Tools for solving pacing issues 4) A deeper look at tech...

Online classes in August My wrists are starting to feel better, so I’ve decided to hold four online classes in August for anyone who’s interested: Synopsis writing online class ($30) August 1 - 15 Characterization online class ($30) August 1 - 15 Self-Editing online class ($40) August 15 - 30 Deep Point of View online class ($40) August 15 - 30 Each class (except for Self-Editing) is essentially the same as my worksheets, but in the class, I’ll be giving individual feedback on your homework. Many people have taken my classes multiple times, each time using a different manuscript, because they found the personalized feedback more helpful than just using my worksheets. At the bottom of the post is more information on each of the classes. Pitch Coaching For those of you going to RWA conference at the end of this month or perhaps ACFW conference in September, I am now offering pitch coaching to help you write your pitch and even practice it if you’d like. You will email...

It seems like this happens for every single book I write. I’m in the first quarter of the book, struggling to get the words down. It feels like slogging through New England clam chowder. Then I suddenly remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just write crap. Edit later. Somehow I always forget this. It has happened at some point in every single manuscript I’ve completed. I have to remind myself to just get the words down, no matter how awful they are. The first couple thousand words really ARE crap, but then after that, my right brain creative side takes over and suddenly I’m writing words that are actually rather good. Or at least, words I wouldn’t shudder to read aloud to my mother, the English teacher. :) So if you’re in the first quarter or third of your book--or no matter where you are in it--just remind yourself to get the words down, no matter how execrable they are. Just power through it, don’t cringe at the triteness of your phrases and the cliches popping up like we...

Hey guys, If you've bought and used my worksheets and want to write an endorsement for me, please email me at storysensei {at] gmail [dot} com. I'll post your endorsement on my Endorsements page and also include your name and website if you want, just let me know. Thanks! Camy

I recently had a question on Facebook about passive voice, and Heather let me answer the question on my blog. Thanks Heather! Mrs. Tang, can you recommend resources for overcoming passive voice. PV keeps sneaking it's way into my story! I didn't see a entry about PV on your Story Sensei blog. Any advice? Camy: When a writer mentions “passive voice,” there are actually two different things they could mean. (Or sometimes, they mean both!) 1) passive sentences, meaning sentences with passive verbs instead of active verbs Or 2) a passive writer’s voice, meaning the writing itself is rather stale rather than active and vibrant PASSIVE SENTENCES: Passive verbs like “was” and “were” are small and almost unnoticeable, but they tend to distance the reader from the story. By replacing passive verbs with strong action verbs, you can improve the prose dramatically. For passive sentences, I have a quick and dirty solution that I use all the time. First, I write the manusc...

I got the below message from Michael, who graciously agreed to let me answer his questions on the blog in case some of his questions are those some of you are curious about, too. Hi Camy, Do you have any tutorials, suggestions, tips on how to ‘hear’ a character’s voice? It is a problem that continually vexes me. I have some evil dudes and their voice, the sound of their voice, is not something I’ve been able to hear in my head. I’ve searched on you tube for evil voices, experimented with voice altering software and tried to imagine it. And sometimes, when I imagine the voice, I can hear how I want it to sound, but I can’t retain the memory of so lose it for the future. To hear the character’s voice, or at least a close approximation, would do so much for writing their dialog. What do you do? Do you have that problem? Any solutions out there for aspiring writers? Camy: That's a good question! I often have to resort to different measures to be able to write different ch...

Hey guys! I have a new worksheet available for download! I have had a lot of requests for my Deep Point of View online workshop, but I haven't been able to hold it because of time and because I've been trying to cut back on my Story Sensei stuff due to my sore wrists. So instead of holding my Deep Point of View workshop, I've made my notes and workshop into a .pdf worksheet that you can download for less than the cost of the online workshop. Those of you who have been hoping to take my Deep POV class can now download the worksheet and get all my tips and tricks. Deep Point of View Worksheet $15 Want to rivet your reader to the page? Want to make your writing richer emotionally? Want your characters to be more vivid? Learn ways to draw the reader into the mind, body, and soul of your characters through deep point of view techniques. By the end of the worksheet you’ll have: 1) Ways to strengthen the emotional writing and draw the reader deeper into the character’s ...

Thanks to suggestions from Meredith Efken and Randy Ingermanson , I now have a new blog design for the Story Sensei blog! How do you like?