The Topic Workbooks

Many of you have taken my workshops. Some of you haven’t been able to take them, for a variety of reasons, but are still interested in some of the material.

Since I’m cutting back my teaching schedule, I’m offering some of the most popular materials as Topic Workbooks. They don’t have the line-by-line interaction on your story that attending one of my workshops does (you get an extraordinary amount of individual attention there on your work), but it does give you lectures, ideas, and exercises you can work on at your own pace — whereas, in a workshop, you work at MY pace! 😉

Hope you enjoy them. Check back often, because I’ll be releasing a spate of these throughout the year.

SETTING UP YOUR SUBMISSIONS SYSTEM, Third Edition. How long does it take you to put together a submissions package on a finished book, story, or article? Hours? Days? It CAN take minutes, if you have an efficient system set up to enhance your productivity. Learn how to assemble the pieces of a submission package ahead of time. That way, when an opportunity lands on your desk, you put together the pieces and tweak them to the individual guidelines quickly and smoothly. Become the go-to writer, known for reliability AS WELL AS excellent storytelling.
The new edition is in process, and will release shortly with new buy links on Aug. 3.

THE SERIES BIBLE: CREATION AND MAINTENANCE
If you’re working on a series of novels or a series of linked stories, you need to keep track of the details: how does a character like his coffee? what color eyes does she have? Where is the house in relation to the town? These are things readers will catch, even if, working through multiple drafts, you miss something. The Series Bible helps you keep details consistent, so that deviations are choices driving plot and revealing character, rather than mistakes.
$2.99 from Smashwords

THE GRAVEYARD OF ABANDONED PROJECTS

Unfinished projects drain creative energy. This Topic Workbook, based on Devon Ellington’s popular workshop, will take you step-by-step through each unfinished project and decide if it’s worth reviving, putting in stasis, or laying to rest, once and for all. Complete strong work, solve problems that got you stuck in the first place and turn it into something workable, and let go of projects that have outlived their purpose. Learn how to work revived projects into the schedule, and how to revisit shelved projects in the future to see if they are worth reviving. The workbook contains exercises and resources for writers at every level of their careers, and can be used again and again.
$2.99 from Smashwords.

ORGANIZE YOUR WRITING LIFE
There’s no such thing as “no time to write”. Learn how to analyze your blocks of time and manage them wisely to get your writing done while still having a quality of life. Topics, exercises, and resources, based on Devon Ellington’s popular workshops.
$2.99 on Smashwords

THE COMPLEX ANTAGONIST: CREATE AN EXCITING FOE
This Topic Workbook will help you create exciting antagonists that truly challenge the protagonists in your work, creating interesting, exciting, complex characters. Learn how to create the antagonist’s circle and develop the antagonist as a fully-developed individual, not an idea or a cipher. Combination of topics, exercises, and examples that you can re-visit with every story.
$1.99 on Smashwords

CREATIVE STIMULUS
Kick-start your creativity with short stories, found inspirations, sensory detail, and rituals. Includes updated versions of 5 in 10, Sensory Perceptions, Writing Rituals, the Infamous Tip Sheets, and more.

Some days we feel about as creative as wilted lettuce. When that’s the case, turn to Creative Stimulus and work your way through the various exercises. The shorter form of the exercise will help boost your creativity in long work and refresh your creative experience. Learn to go deeper into found inspirations and use the senses to create fuller, more complex, interesting, and detailed words for your readers. Find fresh focus with rituals designed to center and stimulate your creative impulses. Refer to the Tip Sheets for ideas on dialogue, tags, paragraph structure, transitions, how to make internal cuts, and more.
$3.99 from Smashwords

30 TIPS FOR 30 DAYS: Kick Start Your Novel and Get Out of Your Own Way. A Guidebook for Nano and Beyond. 3rd Edition

Need help getting into the rhythm of writing? This small booklet was developed as daily emails encouraging Nano participants to see through writing 30 days and beyond. It can be used beyond the traditional Nano structure, to help get you into the daily writing habit, and to get out of your own way during a first draft. While not technically a Topic Workbook, it is a guide to help writers create.

Free on multiple channels here.