Services and Pricing
I enjoy working with fiction writers across multiple stages of the creative process. Whether you’re in need of professional feedback on a specific aspect of your work, ongoing coaching, or anything in-between, below are the services I offer.
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Full manuscript analysis and diagnosis
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Partial manuscript diagnosis
3. Excavating your story--planning your novel from idea to outline
4. Getting started--from idea to major narrative elements
5. Plotting your story--getting to an outline
If you’re looking for one-on-one writing coaching to help you finish a draft or improve your writing
6. Monthly coaching
7. The Mini MFA course
8. Office hours packs
If you’re looking for help with a fiction piece you’ve already written:
#1 Full Manuscript Analysis and Diagnosis:
If you’ve finished a manuscript, but aren’t sure how to take it to the next level, this is the perfect service for you.
You’ll tell me about your story, what you’re hoping to accomplish, and will then send me your manuscript. I’ll do a full scene-by-scene story momentum analysis and assess the manuscript from its structural and thematic integrity all the way to its prose. You will receive an editorial letter from me. To avoid overwhelm, I will highlight the two highest priority elements for you to work on. We will then have another meeting to talk through any questions you have and so you can be set up for success with the next concrete steps.
Includes: A scene-by-scene momentum measure spreadsheet of your manuscript (for novels and novellas only, not for short stories), an editorial letter, and one (for short stories) to two (for novellas and novels) hours worth of video meetings (that can be divided into multiple 30min meetings depending on scheduling and agenda needs)
Pricing: For novels and novellas, $600 flat fee plus a $0.02 per word reading fee (e.g. if you’ve a 70,000 word manuscript, the total cost would be $2,000). For short stories, $100 flat fee plus the $0.02 per word reading fee. The payments can be made in four monthly installments.
#2 Partial Manuscript Diagnosis:
Whether you don’t have a full manuscript finished or you do, but want input on a smaller section of it, this service is ideal for you.
We’ll ensure I have all necessary context for your story, especially if the excerpt isn’t from the beginning. You’ll send me your manuscript and I’ll analyze it to assess what elements are and aren’t working. I’ll provide you with an editorial letter and we’ll have a debrief meeting for any questions. Please note that diagnosing a part of a manuscript, while helpful, might not necessarily address bigger thematic or structural issues with your story as a whole. For this reason, there will be limits on the big picture “next steps” I can provide.
Includes: An editorial letter and 1.5 hours worth of video meetings (that can be divided into 3, 30min meetings depending on scheduling and agenda needs)
Pricing: $250 flat fee plus a $0.02 per word reading fee (e.g. if your excerpt is 10,000 words, the total cost would be $450). Half the payment would be due at kick off and half upon delivery of the editorial letter.
If you’re looking to develop a novel or novella you haven’t yet written or have only partially written:
#3 Excavating Your Story—planning your novel from idea to outline:
You have the seed of an idea, but just don’t know how to get going shaping it into a novella or novel-length story. This offering is made for you. I’ll work closely with you to help you uncover what story you want to tell and how to best structure it so that by the end you’ll be ready to begin writing your first draft.
Includes: 4 hours worth of video meetings (often in 30min increments, but this depends on the complexity of the discussion), a series of personalized exercises and feedback designed to guide you through the planning and outlining stages of the Story Excavator structure.
Pricing: $1,500. The payments can be made in three monthly installments.
#4 Getting Started—from idea to major narrative elements:
If you are interested in just clarifying your novel or novella idea so you can outline on your own, this is the service for you.
I’ll work closely with you to pin down the major narrative elements of your story: theme, character, context/setting, and consequence/stakes, as well as their interplay.
Includes: 2 hours worth of video meetings (often in 30min increments), a series of personalized exercises and feedback designed to guide you through the planning stages of the Story Excavator structure.
Pricing: $1,000. The payments can be made in two monthly installments.
#5 Plotting Your Story—getting to an outline:
You already intimately understand and can communicate what story you want to tell and the elements at its root. What you’d like help with is the actual plotting of your novel or novella. Then this service is for you. I’ll work closely with you to develop the main story questions and the subplot story questions along with the key decision points in your novel so that by the end you’ll be ready to begin writing your first draft.
Includes: 2 hours worth of video meetings (often in 30min increments), a series of personalized exercises and feedback designed to guide you through the outlining stages of the Story Excavator structure.
Pricing: $1,000. The payments can be made in two monthly installments.
If you’re looking for one-on-one writing coaching to help you finish a draft or improve your writing:
#6 Monthly Coaching:
If you’re looking for a coach to help you finish your novel or novella through a mix of accountability, feedback, writing coaching, and encouragement, monthly coaching may be the right option for you. This offering is ideal if you’d like ongoing support for a project until you finish it, no matter how long it takes.
Includes: Depends on what your needs are. A full service would include an accountability buddy for writing, feedback on your work, lessons for craft elements you’re struggling with, in-depth conversations about the inevitable and ongoing changes your story will undergo as you draft, and unceasing encouragement.
stages of the Story Excavator structure.
Pricing: Depends on the agreed upon service. Typically it ranges from $200-$500 a month and is paid monthly.
#7 The Mini MFA Course:
Would you love to take a rigorous writing class, or did you once upon a time, and you miss it? When I was teaching writing to undergrads and grads, I realized that students made the most progress with one-on-one attention in a tutoring setting. It’s one of my great nerdly pleasures and eminent expertise to create bespoke curricula to meet your specific craft lesson requests. Do you once and for all want to have “show, don’t tell” demystified for you? Would you like to strengthen your grasp on the underlying principles of story structure? Or would you prefer to dive deeply into the effects of rhetorical flourishes? If ever you wanted to go ask a professor to give you a graduate-level crash course on an element of fiction writing, this is the service for you.
Includes: Customized lessons on a craft topic of your choice (mutually agreed upon). As this is a course, you will be expected to do reading and writing to fulfill the assignments in service of your learning. Depending on the topic, the course will run between 2-5 weeks with weekly live video meetings.
Pricing: Depends on the topic and duration. It ranges from $500 for simpler two-week long courses up to $1500 for five-week long courses. Note, a small-group format is available for this service for up to 4 people with only $50 more per person.
#8 Office Hours Packs:
You’d just like access to a fiction expert on occasion, whether you’d like to discuss your writing routine, barriers to productivity, where you’re stuck on your project, confusion about writing advice, or any other writing topic. You can purchase some hours of my time for video meetings with you where you set the agenda.
Pricing:
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1 hour, $80
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2 hours pack, $150 (to be used within 2 months of purchase)
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4 hours, $280 (to be used within 4 months of purchase)
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8 hours, $520 (to be used within 8 months of purchase)
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Any writing of yours that you’d like me to read in preparation for the meetings would also include a $0.02 per word reading fee.
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Contact
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