This post is the first in an occasional series of recommendations for writing tools I’ve found useful. This first installment is for writers who are considering book-length storytelling, in prose or verse. It’s a group of tools I learned from writer, editor, and book coach Julie Artz.

As of today, I’m completing a seven-week Intensive Revision online course with her, in a cohort of 12 students. In seven weeks, we learned the tools to revise successfully. Now the hard work of actual revision begins. I am ending the class with confidence, direction, and momentum.

Through the course, we followed steps from the big picture down to how to keep track of details, from the forest to the trees. We drafted jacket copy to make sure our big picture included plot, character, and stakes. We learned four different ways to approach post-draft outlining to create a synopsis and to see our story structure more clearly. (See the resources page on her website for the Five-Step Query Letter Audit and the Tent Pole Scenes Outline.)

Book Recommendations

We learned about character motivation based on Lisa Cron’s work in Story Genius. We learned about story structure and how to align the plot with the character arc. This section was a synthesis of several methods including Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and my favorite, Story Engineering by Larry Brooks.

This fall, Julie will be offering a year-long community-based workshop designed to take a cohort of 30 writers from book concept to finished draft. If you’re interested, I recommend you sign up for her newsletter “Wyrd Words.” Downloading one of the tools on the Resource Page will get you onto her list. If you’re writing fiction or creative nonfiction, don’t miss this chance to connect with a gifted teacher, writer, editor, and book coach.