Based on the response I’ve been receiving from my interviews on FILM COURAGE (Take a look!), I started coaching one-on-one with motivated storytellers about managing their creative minds. One of them is a Story Merchant client, one a novelist contemplating her second novel, and one a complete stranger who’d seen one of my online interviews with Film Courage.

• One wants to learn how she can figure out point of view.

• One wants to know how important plot is to storytelling, and how improve his plotting.

• The third is having issues with what her story is about (the premise).

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But the first words I heard from all of them was, “Thank you for doing this,” which made me realize how much I missed my years in the classroom at Occidental College, UCLA, or the NYC Yale Club, when I could interact directly with students’ concerns and challenges—in courses like “Creating Character,” “Writing Your Novel in 2 Weeks,” “Strategies of Narrative,” “Finding Time to Write,” and many others.

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To anyone who invests in their careers by working with me personally this way, I say, “Thank YOU for giving yourself the support that you need to accomplish your dreams.”

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For novelists, screenwriters, nonfiction writers, here are some issues we deal with:

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• Writing a logline for my story.

• What to emphasize in a one-page pitch?

• Designing my story to become a film before I even start writing it.

• What makes a good character?

• How to differentiate between major and supporting characters.

• Writing a treatment that guides me through my first draft and identifies soft spots in my story.

• What is point of view and how do I master it?

• Secrets of the 3-act structure.

• How should I choose my next writing project?

• How do I come up with keywords that move my book toward the top?  

• How do I know if my story is ready for submission to the market?

• Calculating the odds of success.

• Managing time and work.

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If you’re wrestling with any of the above, or anything else to do with your writing, and you feel you could use some expert guidance, this new Master Coaching service may be perfect for you.

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Here’s how it works:

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• You sign up for interactive coaching for my four month 1-on-1 program.

• We send you a brief contract outlining the terms.

• Once you’re signed, you’ll be contacted to set up our first exploratory session. Here, we can discuss your goals, what you’re working on, and/or your current issues and challenges.

• We meet for a 30-45-minute session (by phone OR video) to understand where you are in your process, what challenges you’re facing, etc.

• I give you your first assignment.

• Once you deliver your first assignment, we schedule a 15-minute coaching session, in which you get your next assignment.

• For the four months, we meet for as many 15-minute sessions you need to achieve your goals, setting a new meeting each time you achieve your goal!

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If you’re wrestling with any of the above, or anything else to do with your writing, and you feel you could use some expert guidance, this four-month one-on-one Master Coaching service may be perfect for you.