FIRST-TIME FEMALE FICTION
A 12-month Creative Writing Programme
Do you devour novels? Do you love stories? Do you get deeply involved with characters, and absorbed in different times and places? Do you get hooked by a twisty plot and excited by unexpected reversals? Do you feel a sense of loss when you finish a really good book? Does fiction speak to you in a way that nothing else does?
If you’re a sucker for reading fiction – and especially if you’ve written your own non-fiction book – I’ll bet you’ve thought about having a go at creative writing for yourself…
… wondered whether you could devise a gripping storyline; paint word portraits of loveable/hateable characters; transpose a part of your life, a story you’ve heard, a message you want to get out into gripping, readable fiction.
Maybe you’ve started to write a novel or short story and got stuck or given up. Or perhaps your burning idea or intriguing hero has been rattling around your head for some time, but you’re not sure where or how to start getting them onto the page.
If this is you, and you’re looking for a new, exciting, creative kind of self-development – or a side hustle or even career – I would love to help you get started on your first piece of fiction.
As the author of three novels and a book on How To Write Fiction Without The Fuss, I’m starting a 12-month programme for a group of aspiring female fiction-writers to take you through both the initial creative process and the nuts and bolts of fiction writing. We’ll find out where your inspiration lies, decide on your subject and define your genre; we’ll crystalise your central characters and focus your location and setting. Then we’ll plan your structure in as much or as little detail as you want (discovering whether you’re a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’. And then we’ll write…
I’m not promising your first attempt at fiction will be a work of genius, a best-seller or even published – most people’s aren’t. But who knows…?
But I do promise that you will learn to look at the world in ways you never have before; learn things about yourself you’ve never seen before; learn to unleash your creative side in a way that will impact every aspect of your life and work; and find out if telling unique and characterful stories is something you have a hidden talent and love for that could change everything.
So why don’t you do something really special for yourself? Something that takes you outside your business and develops a whole new area of expertise and creativity for you?
This is not just your typical 6-week creative writing course. ABOO First-time Female Fiction gives you a year of support through conceiving your idea, creating your story bible, structuring your plot, and then writing and editing your three-act work of fiction. I have mentored hundreds of authors through writing their books – many of them non-fiction business books, but also run programmes for and personally coached and edited many fiction writers too. Above all, fiction is my not-at-all-guilty pleasure.
Join me and a group of wonderful like-minded women who are also ready to learn new skills, make themselves vulnerable and share their stories – personal as well as fictional.
First-Time Female Fiction (max 20 participants)
12-MONTH GROUP PROGRAMME starting February 2023
Membership of interactive Facebook Group where you can share progress and also writing
A copy of HOW TO WRITE FICTION WITHOUT THE FUSS and two Lucy McCarraher novels
MONTH 1 – 3 CREATING YOUR STORY BIBLE
Month 1 – 2 x 90-minute weekly live group calls (teach and workshop).
1. GETTING STARTED: Inspiration, Format and Genre
2. CHARACTERS Heroes, Anti-heroes and Main Characters
Month 2 – 2 x 90-minute group calls (teach and workshop)
3. TIME & PLACE – Location, Setting & Period, real and imagined worlds
4. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT – Theme, Plot and Subplot.
Month 3 – 2 x 90-minute sessions – teach and workshop:
5. PLANNING YOUR STRUCTURE Story Arc and Hero’s Journey
6. STARTING TO WRITE – Finding Your Voice and Hooking Your Reader- including Q&A with a professional author
MONTHS 4 – 6 WRITING YOUR FIRST ‘ACT’
Month 4 – 2 x 90-minute calls –
7. Show don’t Tell
8. Writing Dialogue
Month 5 – 2 x 90-minute calls
9. Writing A Scene
10. Q&A with Professional Author + Catch Up
Month 6 – 2 x 90-minute calls
11. Editing Your work
12. Reviewing Your First Act
MONTHS 7 – 9 WRITING YOUR SECOND ACT
Month 7 – 1 x 90-minute call
13. Starting Act 2
Month 8 – 1 x 90-minute call
14. Q&A with Professional Author and review
Month 9 – 1 x 90-minute call
15. Starting Act 3
MONTHS 10 – 12 EDITING & ENDING
Month 10 1 x 90-minute call
16. Drawing to a close – tying up loose ends
Month 11 1 x 90-minute call
17. Editing your work
Month 12 1 x 90-minute call
18. Final draft and options for publishing
Option to join three-day writing retreat (not included in price)
Option to contribute short story to anthology of women’s short stories (not included in price).
PAYPAL LINKS
£749 for 12 months
Or
6 x monthly instalments of £129
Reviews of HOW TO WRITE FICTION WITHOUT THE FUSS
‘A must read for anyone contemplating writing a novel. How To Write Fiction guides you through all of the stages involved in becoming an author, helping with plot, structure and grammar through to approaching agents and publishers, and all written in an easy to read, yet informative style. With so many handy tips on offer, I defy even the most seasoned of author not to find something of use within this book’s pages.’
– Keri Beevis, award-winning and best-selling author of 10 crime novels
‘This book does exactly what it says in the title: it gives you the tools to write fiction, from the first word to sending out your manuscript. This book is just what I’ve been looking for when teaching Creative Writing. Its clear, no-nonsense approach urges the reader to get writing, as it is coupled with very practical exercises, has inspirational quotes to keep you going, and is sufficiently comprehensive to get you to the end of your novel. The book is useful for those starting out on their novel-writing journey and the checklists are a suitable aide memoire for more experienced writers. One of the best ‘How to’ books on writing I’ve come across.’
– Amanda Addison, author of Laura’s Handmade Life, An Amsterdam Affair and Lost for Words
‘In How To Write Fiction, Lucy McCarraher has distilled all her common sense, wisdom and experience into a concise, readable and practical guide to anyone embarking on the daunting and terrifying task of writing a novel. Not only do I appreciate the book as a novelist, but am also inclined to steal her ideas wholesale as a Creative Writing teacher!’
– Sarah Bower, author of The Needle In The Blood, The Book of Love and the international bestseller, Sins of the House of Borgia.
‘A book of great wisdom and great practicality. Here are the things we need to know, possibly think we know and, when we need them most, realise we don’t. Lucy points out that, of course, in writing fiction inspiration and creativity are vital, but necessarily in tandem with a thorough understanding of structure, storyline, grammar and punctuation. This she provides in an easily accessible and enjoyable text. She takes her own advice, for example, in showing more than telling: each point is aptly illustrated from a wide range of novels. We all need reminders of the way to go, and here are the essential indicators. I found one good and true thing after another. A book to go back to over and over, and gain from each time.’
– James Ferron Anderson, award-winning author of The River And The Sea
(PAYPAL LINKS)
£749 for 12 months
Or
6 x monthly instalments of £129
