When we set out to write a story, we know we’ve got a good idea. No one sets out to write something they don’t even like (at least, I hope not…)
But an idea will only carry us so far.
When I was younger, I loved to wake up on a weekend and pen whatever story came into my head. I can still remember some of the great ideas that came to me: a boy who found a magical object in his attic, a child bestowed with fantastical bow-wielding abilities, a girl at a school for hardened warriors….
But, it took me until my late 20s to actually write a book that I was willing to let people read.
Well, firstly, few stories ever got finished.
Secondly, the ones that I did push myself to finish, and even edit, didn’t feel right. I knew, even as a kid, that I had forced them, and they had lost their magic spark.
Fast forward to now, when I write multiple books a year and publish them. (My pen name is actually in the process of launching a new series and I feel so great about all the positive feedback I’m getting from early readers!)
What changed?
Some might say simply that I got older. And that’s true, but the change is more about what I’ve learned.
Things like:
It’s the perfect trifecta: a repeatable step-by-step storytelling process, deep understanding of story, and author creative synergy.
Every great story starts with an inspiring idea. But the reason many authors never finish (or find their finished draft doesn’t meet the original excitement) is because they are missing one of these three core understandings.
Struggling artists value the pain of creation. They think that good art is produced from an unhappy brain. They see themselves as islands, a lone mountain of vision. They want to do it all themselves.
But WHY?
Just think, what could you achieve if you had someone who could
Write Now is a true mentorship. That means there are lessons, where I take you through my process for going from first idea to finished draft. We talk about building the foundation on story purpose and belief shift, expanding that foundation into our characters, setting, etc. making sure each element adds to the overall story, and I think, really uniquely to this program, spend a lot of time talking about how to work with your own creativity. How to tell a story that is yours. There’s no formula here. There’s structure, there’s step-by-step, there’s layers, but at the end of the day, the story that comes out is going to be the one that you truly want to tell, in the way you want to tell it.
I know that it can be tempting to turn down an opportunity like this. No writer wants a formula. We want to do it on our own. Our creative soul craves originality and authenticity.
And absolutely yes, we do. And I have such regard and respect for that fire. That determination means you’ve got what it takes to succeed.
But the thing with creativity, is it can go undirected. It can take you all over the place. A guide is imply there to help narrow the focus, to help move the needle forward in the right direction.
One of my biggest concerns when I was putting together this course, was how to avoid trampling over the authentic voice. What you don’t know is that I do very intuitive work, and there’s an entire section dedicated to actually connecting with and using that subconscious creative mind for faster, more authentic, more powerful fiction. So I love this dedication to being original.
But, everything I know tells me that humans crave a certain structure in their fiction. When it’s off, we feel it. You know, we’ve all read books that drag, or seem jarring, and what’s usually off is the structure or the connection to the belief shift that we talked about earlier.
And all great stories follow the same backbone. I call it universal story structure. It’s that colourful chart you saw earlier. And my whole goal is to give you a scaffold to jump off from. And when we follow universal story structure, we actually get to be more creative. We can take readers to wild and crazy places, and they’ll go with us, as long as the book doesn’t seem to drag or be jarring.
Let me tell you one thing about Universal Story Structure: it’s UNIVERSAL.
Story on a deep level is human. Human beings have an innate but usually subconscious understanding of story. I use this for stories across genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Contemporary Romance. I’ve also assessed Mystery stories, Thrillers, anything I can get my hands on.
In Write Now, I also share the concept of Reader Candy, which is what is it that draws readers to certain genres, what is it they want to experience.
With good Reader Candy, which I teach in Write now, we can take universal story structure, and build it into whatever genre we want it to be. We can even take elements from multiple genres and make them all work together. We can make our story do whatever we want it to do and still appeal to readers. And I show you exactly how to do this in Write Now.
Maybe investing in your fiction feels expensive. You know, the money’s not there, I’ll wait until I have some success to invest and improve my craft. We all know the picture of the starving artist.
I’ve seen, and taken, many writing courses with far less information and impact, that really didn’t go deep, that didn’t really understand or convey the true purpose of things or the connections that exist.
You know, the knowledge that I’m sharing with you, it didn’t come from a course or a book. It came from—I don’t really know where it came from—it came from looking and assessing these connections. That’s what my brain does, it thinks in connections and linear, convoluted paths.
So what I’m saying is, I think what’s in this mentorship is going to blow your mind. And I’ve seen a lot of courses with a lot less being offered for a lot more.
And I also want you to think of the cost of not having a guide. I spent ten years dabbling in fiction writing before I got serious. Think how many books I could have written in those ten years. We can always make more money, but we can’t make more time. So do you want to spend your time figuring out how to write books on your own, or actually writing the books that are in your soul.
Intro:
Your Hero’s Journey:
Story Elements:
The Main Plot:
Building Impact:
Advanced Plotting:
Ready To Write:
Live Plotting Demos:
Plus Topics Like:
The original 12-week from initial idea to finished novel course. Still great content, and lots of support to get your novel finished in the next 3 months.
Twice a month, we meet on Zoom for a brand new training plus lots of Q&A time. This is one of the easiest ways I know to work with a writing coach on your story, and meet other authors who are at the same place in the journey as you.
Earlier this year, we held 3 awesome 2-day workshops, and you get to attend through the recorded Zoom sessions. These are a great way to focus on and hone your Characters, World, or Plot.
6x 1:1 sessions with Charlotte to take a deep, uninterrupted dive into your story and manuscript. Overcome story blocks, build deep connections, and fine tune your personal author process.
A complete assessment of your manuscript, including developmental editing notes, and comments to improve overall readability. (Can be full manuscript assessment or partial, up to 80k words)
They don’t know what you and I know:
⇒ Successful writers have a plan, a system for creating good books quickly
⇒ They know how to weave multiple storylines together, while still keeping everything focused on a central theme
⇒ They know how to leverage their unique author voice to create compelling fiction
⇒ And they know how to build their story in a way that readers both crave and understand, taking them to brand new worlds
Join Write Now Today and Get Instant Access
Charlotte is an award-winning author of short stories and novels. She is also the creator of theWritable, a website dedicated to teaching and encouraging beginning storytellers to write deeply and fearlessly.
Her work has been featured on Amazon, Writer’s Digest, and various anthologies.
As an editor and story coach, Charlotte is focussed on helping authors share meaningful stories in compelling ways.
“I believe each of us has a story to tell, some insight that we can add to the fabric of human understanding. If we have the dream of being a writer, we have, not just the capacity to do it, but a kind of universal necessity. It’s one thing to have a story to share, that people need to hear, but we also need to know how to write it. What I do is take these stories, and help the authors see them to their full potential, in a way that will get readers to sit up and take notice.”