My Book Therapy's From Here to There Storycrafting & Coaching for Writers

From Here to There –
Going from raw idea to a drawn-out plot

How do you take your ideas and turn them into a story?
How do you know if your idea will sell?
Where do you start?

This working storytellers retreat, set just outside of Minneapolis during the beautiful fall season is designed for a writer who has an idea…but needs help putting it together into a plot.

Come with your idea, leave with a game plan. We’ll teach you story structure, and then go step by step in the character creation and plotting process, explaining how to determine each step, and then show you how to apply it to
your story.

We’ll brainstorm your ideas with you, share essential secrets of storytelling, and finally, you'll take home a filled-out workbook that will act as a map as you write your novel.

For beginners to advanced writers who just want a guide along the way, the From Here to There Storycrafter's Retreat will jumpstart your novel further down the road to publication.

Storycrafting & Coaching Retreat for Writers
Friday, October 23, 2009 1:00 pm -
Sunday, October 25, 2009 11:00 am (Central Time)

Riverwood Inn & Conference Center
10990 95th St. NE
Otsego, MN 55362

For more information, visit here for more information.
(Here’s the link to hyperlink as I have: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=755009 Delete the information in parenthesis before posting.)




1. On My Book Therapy, you had a lot of people giving their insight on what a hero/heroine should be, setting etc. The decision was made based on a poll. What if the end result was a hero/heroine/setting you were not excited about. How would you garner enough interest in this story to make it a saleable book, and readers would love it?

LOL! Well, I can probably find a reason to love all characters and stories – but I’d do that by putting into the story something commercial – a relavent element to the storyline, and a story structure that people expect from a romantic suspense (commerciality of a story is all about expectations – if you are writing a romantic suspense, it needs to have the constructs of a romantic suspense, etc). I would also make the hero/heroine loveable by giving them something sympathetic in their lives that I relate to (like Luke, and his aging father, the feeling of regret). Finally, I would make sure it has the three elements of a great book (wanna know what they are? I’ll give you two…you’ll have to guess the third – Heroism, Sacrifice and….?)


2. How do you decide where the best part of story is to begin is at? I know - a changing moment - so, say if hero was arriving in a new area, and this is a romance, the best start to begin would be meeting the heroine, right? Or slightly before that?

You want to have a small amount of home world (either right before or right after the inciting incident) and then you want to start the story at the point closest to the inciting incident for the reader to be engaged, and yet not confused. So…some inciting incidents for my books:

A lawyer walks into a café, and the hero knows his father has died.
A homeland security agent is running through the woods AFTER being beat up, knowing his partner’s identity has been betrayed.
A cowgirl’s horse dies, and an actor is unable to unbutton his shirt (betraying that he has a disease).
A woman signs a deed on a house she can’t afford.
At her sister’s wedding, my heroine finds out that her childhood sweetheart is marrying someone else.
A man’s brother is shot and dies in his arms in a forest in Alaska.
A drunk and grieving cowboy drives his truck through the front doors of a fancy NYC hotel.
My heroine breaks up with her boyfriend on a beach in Fla, and discovers her mother has been in an accident.

So – just think, where can I start the story that will have the most impact in drawing my reader in?


3. Can you tell me more about the retreat you are planning? What do you hope to accomplish?

I love stories, and I LOVE teaching people how to write stories. I often teach a basic storytelling course at conferences around the nation – but it always seems like there is so much more I could teach them. I long to go further, to help writers really apply the elements of a great story to their own story ideas. So I envisioned a conference where we could really go deep, brainstorm and apply story elements to each writer’s idea. The Here to There Storycrafter’s conference does just that – we learn the basics, but then we go further and actually take our ideas and turn them into a story map. Writers will return home with a plan of action to write their novel.







GET a FREE COPY!

The first 10 registrants for the Storycrafter Weekend will receive a FREE copy of from the Inside...Out:discover, create and publish the novel in you!

(Susie's How to Write Worktext!)



I hope you'll join us for this fun, empowering and inspirational weekend!

Susan May Warren, owner, My Book Therapy

Isn't it time for you to continue your journey?