Your readers won’t settle for an “OK” story—neither should you.
Get the story planning support you need to captivate your audience from the first page to your final chapter.
As book coaches, we work with all kinds of books—big books, little books, books about cats. But do you want to know what makes a book great?
These three foundational elements:
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A core theme – whether your novel is set in Wisconsin or Westeros, a strong theme resonates deeply with your reader, propelling them to keep reading
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A solid character arc– readers can sniff out insincerity from a mile away, let’s round out those flat characters
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A dynamic plot– keep readers connected to a narrative that makes sense (even if your plot jumps through time, space, and parallel dimensions)
Our book coaches offer hands-on guidance for crafting your Foundational principle, Internal desire, Route, and Manuscript in our FIRM Up Your Novel coaching packages... whether you're working on a standalone novel or a several-book series.
Planning Your Series
If you think planning out what happens in book 1 of your series is important, don't overlook the extreme importance of planning out the series as a whole! Our FIRM Up Your Series coaching package will help you do just that.
FIRM Up Your Series
A 4-deadline package focused on coherency and character development throughout your several-book series.
- 4 coaching calls (three 2-hour calls and one 1-hour call—7 hours of live coaching total!)
- Research-based workbook exercises to organize your story’s core elements
- A series outline with defined book breaks and long-term character goals
- One-on-one coaching for big picture analysis and collaboration
- Weekly (or bimonthly) project support and constructive feedback
- An objective analysis of your plot and book/series length
- Big picture story outlining for increased coherency and structure
This package costs $1350 USD. Need a payment plan? Let us know!
This coaching package is also available as an 8-hour VIP Day for $2300 USD.
Let's Do It!"I had such a great experience working on my series planning with Andrew. I was so grateful for the support, encouragement, and challenge of every step of this process, and feel that my series plan is stronger than ever. I was in a bit of a slump with it, but after meeting with Andrew I feel inspired and refreshed, and can’t wait to move forward with the other books I have planned for my series!"
K. A. Earnest, Fantasy Writer
Planning Your Novel
If you think planning out what happens in book 1 of your series is important, don't overlook the extreme importance of planning out the series as a whole! Our FIRM Up Your Novel for Drafting coaching package will help you do just that.
FIRM Up Your Novel for Drafting
A 5-deadline package focused on making sure the foundation of your story is FIRM by addressing the Foundational principle, Internal desire, Route, and Manuscript. Creating a compelling story depends on fully fleshing out these crucial elements and weaving them together in a cohesive way.
During this coaching package you will:
- Define your goals and vision for the story.
- Clearly define the story you want to tell.
- Define what we call a “story guiding principle” as your North Star for this project.
- Further develop your characters and their arcs.
- Develop your plot arc to support your characters’ arcs.
- Create a comprehensive outline to guide you as you write.
This package includes:
- Research-based workbook exercises designed to deepen your understanding of storytelling as you work on your manuscript.
- Written feedback from your coach on each set of submitted exercises.
- 7 hours of one-on-one coaching (via phone or video conferencing) to give you feedback, guidance, and support during each step. The coaching time is broken into two 2-hour calls and three 1-hour calls.
By the end of the package, you will have:
- A deeper understanding of storytelling generally and in relation to this manuscript.
- A clear and comprehensive outline to follow to bring your vision for the story to life.
This package costs $1,750 USD, which can be broken into 3 or 4 monthly payments depending on the pace you’d like to progress through the curriculum.
This coaching package is also available as an 8-hour VIP Day for $2,300 USD.
Start the FIRM Up Your Novel Package Now
"This was all around an extremely powerful tool for my story. The way it transformed so much of my story for the better just blew my mind! The process works. It made the hard calls/ killing of a darling or two for the sake of the story not so heartbreaking and discovering new story layers ( including finally finding out how this baby ends- woohoo!) that much more enjoyable with someone to navigate it all with! I still have a lot of work to do but I’m so grateful for this experience!!"
Heather Ensign, Science Fiction Writer
"After completing FIRM, I felt more confident to press forward, with a better outline in place to keep up my momentum and increase my writing output. It’s always difficult for me to judge my own writing quality, but I have noted a stark difference in clarity and consistency since completing FIRM, in large part due to how the program made me pay closer attention to certain story, character and plot dynamics as I actively draft and write."
Ryder Hamilton, Speculative Fiction Writer
Meet Our Story Planning Coaches
Andrew is a book coach and World-Building Consultant. He loves reading, anime, Dungeons and Dragons, and nerding out with writers over their books. If you like piña coladas, getting caught in the rain, and developing complex fantasy worlds that transport readers to another dimension, you two will get along just fine.
Andrew coaches clients of all genres in the FIRM for Series program and clients who are writing speculative fiction in the FIRM Up Your Novel for Drafting coaching program.
“Having a service like this for a story like mine informed every other dynamic of my story. I so appreciated how [Andrew] showed a commitment to my story that rivaled mine.”
Heather Ensign, Science Fiction Writer
Katie is a writer, book coach, and lover of stories, words, and grammar (yes, really!). She has over a decade of experience working with writers and is certified through the Author Accelerator Book Coaching Program. She is known for her meticulous eye for revision and undying enthusiasm for brilliant plot twists.
Katie coaches all genres in the FIRM Up Your Novel coaching program, though typically speculative fiction writers who have done world-building work with Andrew choose to continue working with him.
"I highly recommend working with Katie on building the outline for your next project. Her collaborative approach was a total joy to work with when hashing through the muck of possibility, and her suggestions were always on point and thought-provoking. The end result is a very tight and crisp outline where scenes flow from one to the next organically with clear direction and story arc; everything you need to get successfully started writing!"
Nola S., Historical Fiction Writer
