How does this program work?

Navigating the Content

The Story Doctoring program is made up of three core lessons. Each lesson contains steps, and each step contains topics.

At the top of the image below, we see the name of the first lesson, which is “LESSON 1: CHARACTERS IN THE HOT SEAT”. Then in the first row we see the name of the first step: “How well do you know your protagonist?” Below that is an indication of how many topics the step contains; in this case, there are four topics. By expanding the step using the toggle on the right-hand side, you’ll see the list of topics appear below “Step Content”.

Triage

Your first task in this program is to complete a detailed questionnaire about your story so I can perform triage and diagnose the issues that are keeping your manuscript from reaching its full potential. In other words, I’ll analyse the major elements of your story in an effort to detect whether any developmental issues exist.

When you submit your questionnaire, you’ll also schedule an appointment for our first coaching call. Meanwhile, I’ll prepare and return your diagnostic feedback via our shared Google folder. We’ll then discuss that feedback during our call.

A Specially Constructed Curriculum

The Story Doctoring treatment plan consists of three lessons: Characters in the Hot Seat, Pack a Punch with the Inciting Incident, and Step Back to See the Bigger Picture. The learning experiences, tasks and submissions in this treatment plan have been carefully scaffolded to ensure you rebuild your story in a logical way — one that will give it a strong foundation.

For this reason, you cannot skip forward in the program. Each topic and step must be marked as complete, and the tasks must be carried out in the order they are presented to you. I recommend you complete each task immediately after reviewing the content leading up to it; that way, everything is fresh in your mind. Alternatively, you may choose to work your way through the content in each lesson before heading back to the beginning to review it and complete all the tasks.

The work you complete in these tasks will be submitted at the end of each lesson. You will be asked to schedule a coaching call after each submission. I will then review your work and return feedback to you prior to our call. At that point, we will discuss your work and the steps you need to take moving forward.

Due to the nature of the curriculum, you will not be able to progress through the content or carry out subsequent tasks until you have received feedback following each submission.

Communication Channels

If at any point you experience technical difficulties with the course, please email me immediately so I can resolve the issue and get you back on track within 24 hours.

If you have a pressing or urgent question about the course content or your story, feel free to email me. However, if it requires an in-depth response and will take me more than ten minutes to answer via email, we’ll instead discuss it during our next coaching call.

We can discuss your feedback during our 45-minute coaching calls, as well as the next steps you should, and you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions during this time.