Have You Always Wanted to Write a Novel?
I work with only one or two beginning novelists at a time—people who are ready to make a serious, year-long commitment to learning how to develop, draft, evaluate, and revise their first novel.
This is not a general writing-coaching service.
I do not offer one-time manuscript critiques, occasional coaching calls, short-term packages, or developmental editing for established writers.
The program is for someone who has thought for years, Someday I’m going to write a novel, and has decided that someday has arrived.
You do not need to arrive with a finished outline, a polished idea, or experience writing fiction.
You do need to be willing to learn, work consistently, make decisions, revise those decisions when necessary, and stay with a large creative project long enough to finish it.
Why Write a Novel?
Before asking how to write a novel, there is another question worth considering:
Why write one at all?
A novel asks a great deal of the person writing it—time, attention, patience, uncertainty, and sustained work.
But the process can also change the writer.
You learn to pay closer attention. You learn to imagine lives different from your own. You learn to live with uncertainty, make decisions without guarantees, return to unfinished work, and stay with a difficult project after the first excitement has passed.
And somewhere along the way, you may discover that the person who finishes the novel is not quite the same person who began it.
I have written more about why stories matter—and what writing a novel can do for the writer herself—here:
Why I’m Offering This Now
I have spent years writing novels and, more recently, studying story structure and the craft of fiction in a much more deliberate way.
Becoming a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editor has deepened that work and changed how I think about developing, drafting, evaluating, and revising a novel.
It has also made me increasingly interested in helping beginning writers do something they may have dreamed about for years: actually write a first novel.
I want to make room for a small number of serious beginners who are ready to spend a year learning the process, doing the work, and taking a first novel from its earliest idea through a full draft and into meaningful revision.
That is why I am beginning this program now.
The Year-Long Guided First-Novel Program
The program is built around one simple idea:
The writer does the work. I teach, guide, question, and coach the process.
We begin with discovery and story development, then move through outlining and drafting. Once a full draft exists, I teach you how to evaluate the manuscript using the Fictionary approach and how to make informed revision decisions.
The goal is not merely to help you get through one book.
The goal is for you to learn a process you can use again.
Months 1–2: Discover the Story
We begin with what you already have.
That may be a situation, a character, a question, a setting, an image, a personal concern, or simply the persistent feeling that there is a story you want to tell.
We explore possibilities without demanding that you know the whole novel in advance.
During this stage, we begin identifying the central character, the story problem, what may be at stake, the questions beneath the story, and the possibilities that seem worth pursuing.
The purpose is not to rush into drafting.
It is to discover enough of the story to begin making deliberate choices.
Months 2–3: Build the Outline
Once the story begins to take shape, we start building the outline.
Using the Fictionary approach I was trained and certified to use, we work through character, plot, major turning points, conflict, stakes, and the developing structure of the novel.
The outline is not a contract.
It is a working map.
You remain free to change it as the story develops.
Months 3–8: Draft the Novel
Then you write.
This is where most of the hours belong.
You work through the manuscript scene by scene while learning how character, conflict, setting, story movement, and reader experience operate on the page.
Our coaching sessions help you think through problems, make decisions, and keep moving.
But the drafting itself is yours.
The program is designed to help you become increasingly capable of working independently rather than increasingly dependent on a coach.
Months 8–10: Learn to Evaluate the Draft
Once a first draft exists as a whole, the focus shifts from drafting to learning how to evaluate what you have written.
Using the Fictionary approach, you learn to examine the novel at the story, character, and scene levels.
We discuss structural questions, character development, conflict, pacing, stakes, scene purpose, continuity, and the reader’s experience.
I help you understand what to look for and how to make revision decisions.
The evaluation itself remains part of your work as the novelist.
Months 10–12: Revise and Strengthen the Novel
The final months are devoted to applying what you have learned.
You may rewrite scenes, remove material that no longer serves the story, strengthen characters or conflict, repair continuity problems, and make another pass through the manuscript.
I continue to coach you through that process, discuss problems as they arise, and review selected material when useful.
The goal is not a professionally edited, publication-ready manuscript.
The goal is that you finish the year having written a full novel draft and having learned how to evaluate and revise your own work.
Some stories need more time in discovery and outlining. Others move more quickly into drafting. We adjust the pace to the novel while continuing to move steadily forward.
What the Program Includes—and What It Does Not
This is a story-coaching and novel-development program.
It includes instruction, regularly scheduled individual coaching, discussion of your developing story, guidance through the outlining and drafting process, and review of selected scenes and story materials.
It does not include a developmental edit of the manuscript as a whole.
It also does not include line editing, copyediting, proofreading, formatting, cover design, publication preparation, or marketing services.
Those kinds of services may become appropriate later, but they are separate from this program.
The distinction matters.
My role is not to take your manuscript away and fix it for you.
My role is to help you learn how to make better story decisions yourself.
Centered at West Hollow Writing Studio
The program is built around regular, in-person work at West Hollow Writing Studio near Boaz, Alabama.
West Hollow is intentionally simple.
There is no Wi-Fi, no television, and no household activity competing for your attention.
There is a desk, a place to read, a porch, woods, and room to stay with a difficult problem long enough for something to happen.
Nearby, The Library provides electricity, Wi-Fi, and a place for research when needed.
The Meadow offers room to walk and think.
The outdoor kitchen and fire area provide a place to step away from the desk, prepare something to eat, and let the mind work differently for a while.
Explore West Hollow Writing Studio →
A Serious Weekly Writing Practice
A typical participant will come to West Hollow at least three days each week, usually for at least four hours at a time, with many writing days extending longer.
Most of that time is independent writing and story work.
Regular coaching sessions are scheduled within that larger writing routine. Some weeks may require more discussion. Others, particularly during sustained drafting, may require less.
The important thing is consistency.
A novel is too large a project to depend on occasional inspiration or whatever free time happens to appear.
You need regular contact with the work.
West Hollow is intended to provide that.
The Writer’s Responsibility
The program works only if you do the work.
I can help you think.
I can ask questions.
I can teach story principles, help you recognize problems, discuss possibilities, and keep the larger process in view.
But I cannot write the novel for you.
You make the decisions.
You write the scenes.
You complete the assignments.
You return to the manuscript when the work becomes difficult.
And eventually, you learn to trust your own judgment more than you did when you began.
That increasing independence is part of the point.
Why I Keep It Small
My own novel writing remains my primary work.
I do not want to build a large coaching practice.
I want enough room in my writing life to work seriously with one or two beginning novelists who are equally serious about writing theirs.
The relationship is personal.
The work is sustained.
And the commitment matters.
Cost
The Guided First-Novel Program is $6,000, payable as $500 per month for twelve months.
The cost includes the year-long instructional and story-coaching process, regularly scheduled individual coaching, and regular use of West Hollow Writing Studio as part of the program.
It does not purchase unlimited access to me, nor does it include full-manuscript editing or publication services.
A More Intensive Option
For one beginning novelist at a time, I may also consider a more intensive year-long mentorship involving closer and more frequent work together throughout the process of developing, drafting, and revising a first novel.
Because that arrangement is highly individualized, I discuss its structure, availability, and cost privately with writers for whom it may be a good fit.
Ask About Intensive Mentorship →
Who the Guided First-Novel Program Is For
This may be a good fit if you:
- have long wanted to write a novel;
- are writing your first novel rather than looking for advanced editorial services;
- are willing to commit a year to the work;
- can spend substantial regular time writing;
- are willing to work in person near Boaz, Alabama;
- want to learn a repeatable process rather than have someone else make the story decisions for you.
It may not be a good fit if you are looking for someone to edit an existing manuscript, fix a novel for you, provide occasional feedback without a sustained commitment, or prepare a book for publication.
At the End of the Year
The aim of the program is not simply for you to learn about novel writing.
It is for you to write a novel.
If you do the work consistently, you should finish the year with a full, coherent first novel that you have developed, drafted, evaluated, and revised yourself, with guidance throughout the process.
That does not necessarily mean the manuscript is ready to upload to Amazon or send to an agent the next morning. It may still benefit from further revision, professional editing, copyediting, proofreading, or publication preparation.
But you should not leave the year with only an idea, an outline, or an unfinished draft.
You should leave with a novel.
And just as important, you should understand your own manuscript well enough to know what it may still need and how to continue improving it.
If You Think This May Be for You
You do not need to arrive with a polished pitch.
A simple note is enough.
Tell me a little about yourself, why you want to write a novel, and what you currently have—whether that is an idea, a character, a few pages, or simply the determination to begin.
A place to begin.
A place to write.
A year to learn how to turn the dream into a novel.
