Many aspiring authors turn to book coaches when they’ve gotten stuck deep in the process of writing a manuscript; however, book coaches can also be helpful for those who haven’t yet typed a single character.
If you’ve always wanted to write a book but can’t seem to consolidate your ideas into a solid vision or need someone to help you get organized enough to make it through the writing process, it may be time for a coach.
The idea stage is when [Liz] Alexander contacted her book coach, Lisa Cron. They currently meet twice a month over Skype, and content is due before they talk. Regular deadlines help keep Alexander accountable, but the process unfolded differently than she expected. “I imagined at first I’d be like Stephen King — you know, get the first draft out in three months and then go back [to revise it].” Instead, Cron had Alexander write several scenes, and the two of them dissected the scenes over a call. “Lisa kept saying, ‘You haven’t gotten the emotion piece down yet,'” Alexander recalls. Alexander wrote the scenes over. And over. Her characters still came across as bloodless. When Cron coached Alexander through a mini breakdown, Alexander realized she was feeling the exact same emotion her character was experiencing, and she was able to draw on those feelings and express them on the page. She’s grateful now that Cron held her back from rushing forward with her story too quickly. To nail down the emotion and psychology of her characters made moving forward easier in the long run.
For more, including what book coaches say are the secrets to a book’s success, read: Why You Should Hire a Book Coach
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