No one is BORN a writer (just as no one is BORN a lawyer). We all have to learn the SAME skills. But no matter where you're starting... Even if you have NO story ideas, NO characters, and NO experience, you can finish a complete working plot outline in just SEVEN tiny lessons. If you have ever labored to come up with a GOOD way to start a story...If you have ever stumbled, lost and frustrated, through the MIDDLE of your book...If you have ever wondered,"How do I find an idea worth writing?..". Stop Struggling. Help Is Here. Start with Section One, where I'll give you each step to creating a quick, professional plot outline. I'll do a demonstration, and then, because writers write---they don't just read about writing---you'll do the exercise in which you'll take what I've demonstrated and use it to start building your working plot outline. Step by step, you will: * Figure out your character. You'll decide on the few points about him or her that really matter-but enough to give you a place to start your story, and not so much that you get bogged down in background and never get to your writing. * Decide on your central idea. You'll figure out what actually counts in your story, so you avoid getting bogged down writing details that don't. * Write your opener. You'll learn how to give yourself and your readers a GREAT first look at your character doing something fascinating. * Create your ending. You'll discover one method of planning out a great conclusion. * And rough in your middle... You know...all those pages that used to bog you down when you couldn't figure out what happened next? Not anymore. But That's Just Section One. My Professional Plot Outline Mini-Course also includes seven sequential plot-and-conflict lessons-to make sure you create a story that is tight, fascinating, compelling... ...And as fun for you to write as it will be for your readers to read. Lesson One: What Is NOT A Plot Discover a secret about plots that even most professionals don't know-a secret that has led way too many writers, including countless full-time novelists, in circles trying to figure out why their story is going wrong. Lesson Two: Mix 'N' Match Conflict Even if you have no idea what you want to write about, you can build a solid foundation for a good story in just minutes. Lesson Three: Questions And Answers Once you have conflict under control, you'll find out one technique for giving your story and characters depth, and makig your story unbelievably richer and more interesting. Lesson Four: Candy Bar Scenes You'll discover and apply one critical technique for keeping your story flowing and keeping your interest high from beginning, through treacherous story middle, to gripping ending. Lesson Five: Ordering Scenes For Conflict Learn how to experiment with structure to discover how you can best present your story to your reader. Lesson Six: Filling In The Blanks Now you'll hunt down empty spaces between your candy bar scenes, and fill them with story that MATTERS-not with pointless wandering, characters who sit around thinking, or dialogues that go nowhere. Lesson Seven: Plotting As You Go Stories change as you write them. In your final week of class, you'll learn how to adapt your plot outline to bend with the changes-without breaking your story. I KNOW you can create something amazing, even if you never have before. Why? Because more than ten thousand students just like you have already taken this course. And I hear back from a LOT of them, letting me know they've finished a story, or they've sold their work, or they've published it themselves. You CAN do this. Cheerfully, Holly Lisle