TRANSFORM YOUR FAVORITE NOVEL INTO YOUR PERSONAL WRITING COACH Have you ever run up against a story problem that made you want to beat your head against a wall, wishing for a way to correctly diagnose and treat it? Is a manuscript lying paralyzed in a desk drawer somewhere, waiting for a broken conflict to be mended? Do you long to line your characters up in front of an X-ray machine so you can peer inside them? Maybe it's time to call in a consulting team of "specialists," experts in their field who've been there, done that, and have the published novels (and reader fan base) to prove it....

CRAFT AN EMOTIONALLY CHARGED STORY THAT KEEPS READERS TURNING PAGES Have you ever started writing a story, feeling full of inspiration and enthusiasm, only to lose direction somewhere in the middle? Grab hold of a bright lifeline for writers trekking across their novel's swampy middle. Like Ariadne's thread guiding Theseus through the treacherous labyrinth, there exists a scarlet cord to help successfully navigate from beginning to end. Much more than a "plot point" to energize pacing, the Midpoint is the central nervous system controlling the entire story. Mastering the Midpoint helps...

SET READERS FREE TO FEEL YOUR STORY Remember the favorite stories on your "keeper shelf," and more than likely the first thing that pops vividly to mind are the characters. That's because truly great stories make readers feel, and standout characters are the primary key to unlocking those emotions. To lose themselves in a story, readers need to be given rooting interests in the characters they're spending time and money on. Rooting interests are developed from specific physical, moral, and psychological traits that emotionally bond readers to the character. Spicing page after page with these...