Novel Boot Camp 2016 – Starts July 1st!
The third annual Novel Boot Camp will be held this July. It will include lectures, discussion questions, and writing workshops. This year, for the first time, lectures will be done in video format. To join Novel Boot Camp 2016, you can follow the blog or my YouTube channel.
Novel Boot Camp 2015
The second annual Novel Boot Camp was held in August 2015.
Novel Boot Camp 2014
Novel Boot Camp was a lecture series and online workshop held in July of 2014. The posts are listed below for your convenience.
The Lectures
Lesson #1: The First Page Promise
Lesson #2: Introducing the Main Character
Lesson #3: How to Avoid Info Dumping
Lesson #4: Writing Believable Dialogue
Lesson #5: Character Motivation
Lesson #6: Internal and External Conflicts
Lesson #7: Be Ruthless
Lesson #8: Writing Believable Antagonists
Lesson #9: The Saggy Middle
Lesson #10: The Character Arc
Lesson #11: Developing Your Voice
Lesson #12: Writing a Series
Lesson #13: Handling Romance
Lesson #14: Strengthening the Setting
Lesson #15: The Climax
Lesson #16: Nailing the Denouement
Lesson #17: Dialogue Tags
Lesson #18: Identifying Your Novel’s Genre
Lesson #19: How to Self-Edit
Workshops
The workshops are closed, however you are welcome to view and learn from the old posts.
Workshop 1: The Genre Guessing Game
Workshop 2: First Page Critique Session
Workshop 3: Help Me, Help Me!
Workshop 4: Ask the Editor
Workshop 5: Query Letter & Blurb Critique
Connect with Other Novel Boot Camp Participants
Even if you missed Novel Boot Camp, you are more than welcome to join us on Twitter or Facebook.
Donate to Novel Boot Camp
This free online course is one of the most ambitious things I’ve ever taken on. My goal is for the course to be a wild success so that it can be repeated (with new content!) year after year. If possible, your donation would help support the huge time investment of Novel Boot Camp. If you can’t afford a donation, I totally understand! Please consider sharing my posts and writing positive reviews on your blog.
Any showing of support (in the comments or through a donation) is so greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Ellen Brock 
This is such a great idea! I can’t really submit what I write, as I write in spanish and my english is not good enough for a good quality novel. However I really enjoy your videos and I’m sure this will be as helpful or even more. Thank you so much for the time you invest in this. I feel like I already got a lot better since I’ve been following your tips.
My first draft is a mess, so I can hardly wait to start! I follow your blog by Feedly.
Awesome!
How cool is this! Thanks so much Ellen for helping out writers. I’m excited to participate!
So as not to clutter up the comment section for the genre-guessing game: One of my main problems with my novel is choosing between two beginnings, different enough that no one would know they’re alternate beginnings to the same book. Would it be acceptable to submit both of them?
Sure Ella, I have no problem with that at all. Thanks for asking!
Very excited and NERVOUS! I have a feeling there are many re-writes in my future but I know with your gracious help with this AWESOME camp, that my final will be STELLAR!! ❤ Thanks Ellen for all you do for us!!
My pleasure! Thanks for participating!
Hi Ellen
After the critique of my novel on First Page Friday, I’ll admit I am a bit nervous about this boot camp, but I know it will help me improve. Thank you so much for putting it together!
Suggestions for Workshops: Writing a good action scene, how to express emotion effectively in your characters, how to make your language vivid and memorable, how to create and keep suspense.
I know i’m probably too late but can I still submit my beginning? how do I do it? Thank you
I recently read an exercise in a book about removing all of your adjectives from your first chapter. Then read it aloud. If it sounds good without it, leave them out. Do you agree that too many adjectives turn agents and publishers off? I find it interesting because my favorite author, Diana Gabaldon has such rich descriptions and I’m never bored with her adjectives and adverbs. What do you think Ellen?
I have a couple of workshop suggestions… I would love to learn how to effectively outline. It may sound remedial but I have no clue whats the best way. I think it would save me so major editing/writing headaches later on. Also when working with a CP’s or editors notes what would be the best way to work through a complete novel edit. It gets really confusing when moving chapters and information around. I’m sure you are really familiar with this in being an editor but sometimes I feel like my head might explode. Obviously everything about my post gives away my biggest fault — I’m unorganized.
Hey Ellen,
I just wanted to let you know that I think this is a great initiative. I’ve found your posts to be very helpful thus far even though I don’t actively comment. I gave you a shout out on a blog post. Keep up the great work!
http://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/__great-editing-resource-ellen-brocks-novel-boot-camp/
Ermisenda