Attention aspiring novelists, get your manuscripts (and your coffee!) ready for Novel Boot Camp! It’s a brand new writing course and workshop that will be offered for FREE throughout the month of July.
There will be lessons/lectures and a homework assignment every weekday. There will also be workshops where your fellow boot-campers and I will help polish your prose to perfection.
Unlike other online writing events, Novel Boot Camp focuses not on the writing process, but on editing a novel you have already written. It’s not about word counts or brainstorming, it’s about figuring out what’s NOT working with your novel so that you can make it stronger and more appealing to agents, publishers, and readers.
You don’t have to have a full novel to participate (though most of a first draft is ideal), and you do not have to participate in every assignment or workshop. This commitment is as big or as small as you want it to be.
The Schedule
June 23rd: A special “meet and greet” blog will be posted where you can use the comments to pick your friends, allies, and critique partners – the people who will help you through Novel Boot Camp madness!
June 30th: The Kickoff Party, which will include the start of our first workshop!
Workshop 1: The Genre Guessing Game (details to come). Prize: A free 1,000 word edit and critique!
First Week of July: The Beginning — Lessons will focus on what makes a beginning great, how to introduce your main character, and much more!
Workshop 2: First paragraph critique session. Prize: A free 1,000 word edit and critique!
Second Week of July: Conflict — It’s what makes the novel go round! Learn how to make it interesting, satisfying, and exciting.
Workshop 3: TBA – Suggestions/ideas in the comments would be welcome!
Third Week of July: The Middle – Learn what makes a middle great and how to avoid the dreaded “saggy middle.”
Workshop 4: TBA – Suggestions/ideas in the comments would be welcome!
Fourth Week of July: Nuts and Bolts – Lessons focus on replacing weak words with strong ones and learning when to tell and when to show.
Workshop 5: Query Letter Critique. Prize: A free query letter edit and critique.
Fifth Week of July: The Ending – Explore what makes an ending great and how to best tie up your story.
August 1st: Wrap Party/Closing Ceremony.
Workshop Info: The workshops will be posted on Sunday or Monday of each week and will last the entire week to give everyone a chance to participate. I will edit/critique/participate as much as possible, but I cannot possibly respond to every single comment. The goal of the workshops is to facilitate a fun and supportive learning environment for writers to critique each other.
**I am still looking for a couple more workshop ideas! If you have any ideas, please post in the comments! The workshops must be able to be performed in the comments section of this blog.
Sign Up
There is no official sign up for Novel Boot Camp. You can be notified of the lectures and workshops by following me on Twitter, following the blog, or signing up to the mailing list.
Spread the Word!
Please help me spread the word about Novel Boot Camp to all the writers who could benefit! Share this blog post wherever you can: Facebook, Twitter (#NovelBootCamp), Reddit, StumbleUpon, and beyond! My goal is to help as many writers as possible get closer to their publishing dreams.
About the Organizer
I (Ellen Brock) am a freelance novel editor and writing coach. I work with aspiring writers as well as traditionally and self-published authors. I offer a variety of editing services as well as mentoring/coaching. When not editing (which is rare), I enjoy geocaching, reading, and watching movies.
Ellen Brock 
Creating a section of ‘PRACTICAL TIPS’ might be helpful. I posted a blurb last week on your blog about how to get a list of names generated for a book [especially S/F & FANTASY which can be a pain], and I also created a short blurb on why avoiding 4 letter words might be an important consideration when preparing your mss. I’m sure the other kids could think of dozens more and help you create a TIPS section for your Blog that would be searchable. 😉
That’s a cool idea. Thanks!
This looks really interesting. Will there really be lessons every day though?(!)
Yes, every weekday. That’s the plan!
OK, well comes at a perfect time for me, so I will do my best to keep up! 🙂
Awesome! It’s no problem if you can’t keep up. I won’t be taking the lessons down, so you can work at your own pace. There aren’t deadlines or rules. It’s just meant to be fun and helpful.
I’ll be there. I’m on schedule to finish my manuscript in August (I have 3 chapters left to write), so the timing is just about perfect.
Possible workshop topics: #3 Plot Outline/Structure Review, #4 Character Arc Review. Also, Building/Maintaining Tension, Believable/Natural Dialogue, Strong Secondary Characters.
I thought about doing a plot outline/structure review but felt that most authors would be uncomfortable sharing that level of information about their novels.
Something about a character arc might be fun. I will have to think about how it could work.
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I’m in. I like your work so far Ellen.
One idea that may have some value, is a listing of books on writing itself. Barring dictionaries and rhetorics, what books have helped us become better writers? Let me get it started; For single best book I nominate ON WRITING by Stephen King. Your blogees then vote yea or nay and you get a veto.
Cool idea! Thanks Robert!
I’d also recommend ‘techniques of the Selling Writer’ by Dwight Swain
Reblogged this on Romance Isn't Dead and commented:
A great opportunity for all writers out there…
Hi Ellen Thanks for all the great tips and the invaluable insight into the industry. I as many more really appreciate it.
I´m hoping ill be able to keep up with the “Novel Boot Camp” thought I´m only about a quarter way in to my novel.
I would find it very useful if you put in a workshop focusing on character dialog, especially how to show each characters personality in there corresponding dialog, as I have quite a lot of dialog dew to the fact I am following several characters and not just one main character.
Thank you once more.
Good luck to all and don’t stop righting 😉
That’s a good idea. Thanks!
I do plan on hosting other workshops and lessons after boot camp is over, so any ideas that don’t get used during boot camp, I will try to use later on.
Thanks again!
I’ll second Coley – that’s the biggest headache I’m having editing my [260K] novel. I didn’t realize until I was finished that all the characters sound exactly the same. D’oh! Considering one of my characters is a Scottish doughboy from 1914, I had a hard time finding his ‘voice’, now I have to back and redo all of his dialogue. Ugh. A little direction here would be awesome [unless one of your cool videos already addresses that!].
No, dialogue is not something I’ve delved into very much on my blog or in my videos. Looks like I need to! I will definitely think about adding that in somewhere. I’m making a note of it now. If it doesn’t fit into the course, I’ll post it shortly after. Thanks!
I agree with Traz , dialog and voice of characters would be a great addition.
Okay, great! I might swap out one of the other lessons for that. I don’t think it would make a very good workshop since I’m not sure how we could interact in the comments. I want the workshops to provide opportunities to have your work critiqued. But if you have any ideas of how to do a dialogue workshop, let me know!
This sounds great. Count me in!
A question: How exactly does one “win” the prize in Workshop 2?
The prize will go to the most helpful critiquer. More details will be posted later. Thanks!
I’m almost done with writing my first book. So the timing is perfect. I will try to keep up with everything. Thanks for this great opportunity.
I also think knowing more about writing a great and not boring dialogue would be really helpful. :))
Awesome! I look forward to hearing more from you throughout the boot camp. (:
How to write great cliffhangers would be good to learn. 🙂
I’d make a suggestion for the later July sessions, but I truly feel like I don’t know what I don’t know.
I saw a tweet the other day from Jon Acuff that said, ” ‘This same book has already been written by a million people who are smarter than me.’ What every writer thinks about their book.”
That is how I feel about what I am writing. I’m not sure if this is a self-confidence issue or just the pangs of yet-to-be-published. Perhaps there is something in this vein that others can understand and for which you might be able to provide insight.
Hi Pam, writing something completely original is basically impossible as we all get inspiration from everything that surrounds us there for being influenced by the same things, but there are some easy ways to help keep your story as original as possible: Try to stay away from stereo types but some times they are good to use as the reader will automatically relate to it or expect them in order to fit the genre, but if you use a stereo type then make shore you put a spin on it taking it away from the typical and making your story new and refreshing. If your novel has a similar storyline as a famous book, film… then try to change yours as not to follow the same sequence, maybe by giving it a twist no one would expect, I would advise if you are in the early stages to completely change your plot if it is too similar as a famous novel as the reader will think you have just copied it, or you could leave that characters storyline but make them a secondary character instead of the main, making a different character the main focus like for example focusing on the sidekick and how they see and feel about everything that the other character does. If your novel feels like lots of different scene from lots of other things just stuck together then put some odd twists in that you weren’t expecting, a good way to get an unexpected scene is by asking a friend to give you a random emotion or action, and then try to put that in the scene, as they don’t know the scene and you were not expecting “X” to happen then nether will the reader and it can really enrich the scene, but do be worn this can completely change the direction a character will take in a novel as the characters should be seen as real, therefor all experiences will influence there decision making.
Hope this will help some one if not just pass over it
Good luck to all and don’t stop writhing ^_^”