Write a Novel that Wins Over Readers and Publishers – With Support from Experts and Industry Professionals

Plotting, Planning, and Drafting Your Novel gives you the tools and guidance you need to write a novel that wins over readers and meets the needs of publishers – all while honoring your vision as an author.

You are invited to participate in the first-ever session of Plotting, Planning, and Drafting Your Novel. The course is co-taught by New York Times bestselling author Emily Colin and acclaimed book coach Julie Artz.

The course includes easy to follow lessons designed to give you the tools and knowledge you need to write a stellar novel. 

Even more importantly: Julie and Emily will give you in-depth personalized feedback on your work, with a focus on helping you write a story that wins over readers and publishers.

During the course, Emily and Julie will help you:

  • Write polished opening pages that grab agents’ and editors’ attention
  • Craft effective “back cover” copy, which will form the heart of your query letter (which is vital to landing a publishing contract)
  • Identify your manuscript’s genre, proposed market-savvy title, and recent “comps” (so you won’t have to make make major changes when it comes time to submit your work)
  • Write powerful, attention-grabbing scenes with clear goals and vibrant emotions
  • Ensure that your story has a clear “why” that shines from every page
  • Understand how the “why” of your story relates to character, plot, and world-building
  • Create engaging, three-dimensional characters that readers will love
  • Build a vivid world for those characters to inhabit
  • Construct a plot that drives readers to turn the page, desperate to know what happens next

You’ll be doing all of this with the personal support and guidance of Emily Colin and Julie Artz. Every week of the course, they’ll be giving you personalized feedback on one aspect of your story, including feedback on the first ten pages of your manuscript, back-cover copy, "tent-pole scene outline," and more. This personal attention is why we’re strictly limiting enrollment in the course.

Plus, you’ll get the chance to meet a renowned literary agent, who will give you even more insight and guidance on the process of writing a novel. (More details on that below.)

You’ll learn what every author should know when plotting, planning, and drafting a novel – if they want to land a publishing contract. And you’ll be doing this with the in-depth personal guidance of professionals who have found success, both as an author and a writing coach.

The course officially starts on October 16th and ends on November 10th. Everything is held online, via our course platform. For those who need extra time, you’ll have until the end of the year to complete the course and submit your work for feedback from the instructor. 

Please note, due to the in-depth level of feedback, enrollment in this course is strictly limited. For those interested in enrolling, you are encouraged to do so right away.

Meet with Literary Agent Eric Smith

Literary agent Eric Smith will be visiting the class to share his top tips for writing attention grabbing opening pages, as well as answering your questions.

Eric Smith is a Young Adult author and literary agent with P.S. Literary living in Philadelphia. He’s worked with New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors across genres and categories.

Eric will be visiting the class on November 1st at 3pm ET. There will be plenty of time reserved to answer your questions. You're also encouraged to send your questions in ahead of time. The event will be recorded for those who can't attend live.

Guest Speaker: Author and Book Coach Nicole Meier

Overcome the three most common roadblocks to writing a successful manuscript

Established author and book coach Nicole Meier will be visiting the class to share her top strategies for confidently making real progress on your manuscript.

Nicole's books have been published by major publishers, and have made "best of" lists from publications such as Popsugar, Refinery29, and Bookbub.

This is a unique chance to meet a successful author and book coach.

Nicole will be visiting the class on October 25th at 1pm ET. You're encouraged to send your questions in ahead of time. The event will be recorded for those who can't make it.

Meet Your Instructors

Emily Colin and Julie Artz will be there every day of the course, to answer your questions, give you personal feedback on your work, help you overcome roadblocks, and much more.

They have extensive experience helping authors get published, in addition to their own incredible success as authors. Keep reading to learn more about what they've accomplished...

New York Times Bestselling Author, Emily Colin

New York Times bestselling author Emily Colin will be there for you throughout the entire course. She'll be answering questions via our course platforms, providing in-depth personal feedback on participant work, hosting live office hours, and much more.

Emily's debut novel, The Memory Thief was a New York Times bestseller and a Target Emerging Authors Pick; she followed it up with The Dream Keeper's Daughter which Publisher’s Weekly called “a splendid mix of time travel, romantic yearning, and moving on after grief.” Dissent, the 2022 romance anthology to which she contributed a short story, hit the USA Today bestseller list the week of its release.

Emily is also the author of the award-winning young adult, romantic dystopian-fantasy series, The Seven Sins. Sword of the Seven Sins, the first book, was a Foreword INDIES Award finalist, won the YA fiction award of the North Carolina Indie Author Project, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy. The second novel of the series, Siege of the Seven Sins was a 2021 silver IPPY Award winner and Foreword INDIES finalist.

In addition to her writing career, Emily works as an editor and book coach.

Developmental Editor & Book Coach Julie Artz

Julie Artz has worked on books that ended up being published by Simon & Schuster, Knopf, Macmillan, Scholastic and many other publishers.

Author María José Fitzgerald (Turtles of the Midnight Moon, Knopf, 2023) says: "Julie helped me take the first draft of my manuscript to a polished, well executed novel that got me an agent and my first book deal."

Julie is a gifted writing instructor with a deep understanding of the publishing business, as well as the craft of novel writing. An active member of the writing community, she has volunteered for SCBWI, TeenPit, and Pitch Wars and is a member of EFA, the Authors Guild, and AWP.

Julie will be there every day to answer your questions and help you quickly overcome roadblocks. She'll also be giving in-depth feedback on participant work and answering questions in the discussion platform and Zoom meetings.

Enroll Now

Early bird tuition is available until October 9th.
Please note, space in this workshop is strictly limited.

Julie and Emily will be hosting a four week revisions workshop in January, designed as a follow up to this course. For those who want to participate in both courses, you are encouraged to sign up for the "Revisions & Plot Course Bundle." The bundle includes a 10% discount on the second course, in addition to the early bird discount.

Praise for Our Workshops

5 star rating

Excellent instruction and feedback on assignments

Dianne Beck

Emily Colin's Plot to Publication was a wealth of information on how to build and strengthen a YA novel and how to get it out into the world. Emily has a clear and welcoming instructional style, and she provides extremely detailed and helpful fe...

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Emily Colin's Plot to Publication was a wealth of information on how to build and strengthen a YA novel and how to get it out into the world. Emily has a clear and welcoming instructional style, and she provides extremely detailed and helpful feedback on assignments. This is truly one of the best writing classes I've taken, and I highly recommend it to writers of all levels.

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5 star rating

Emily Colin’s Class Was Amazing

Pamela Salmon

I learned more about how to write a YA novel from her class than any other class I’ve taken (conferences included.) My writing improved in leaps and bounds. And I loved every minute of it! Emily is the best!!!!

I learned more about how to write a YA novel from her class than any other class I’ve taken (conferences included.) My writing improved in leaps and bounds. And I loved every minute of it! Emily is the best!!!!

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5 star rating

Thank you

Anuradha Dev

Emily Colin is a hard-working instructor. Instead of skimming through my work, she would dissect it bit by bit and ask me questions that I haven't been asked before. It helped me to look at my story from a different perspective. Since she concentr...

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Emily Colin is a hard-working instructor. Instead of skimming through my work, she would dissect it bit by bit and ask me questions that I haven't been asked before. It helped me to look at my story from a different perspective. Since she concentrated on this being a YA story instead of a romance, she gave me feedback to make my story work for the YA market. I am really glad I took this course.

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5 star rating

I feel more on track toward my goal of being a traditionally published author

Deborah Richardson

Emily was wonderful about feedback that has really helped me to focus. Attempting to become a published author is serious work. She was great with her guidance. She offered a path where before I was zigzagging, trying to do too much and accomplish...

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Emily was wonderful about feedback that has really helped me to focus. Attempting to become a published author is serious work. She was great with her guidance. She offered a path where before I was zigzagging, trying to do too much and accomplishing little.

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5 star rating

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop!

Steven Rose

I know it's a cliche (bad, bad, Steven!), but it was invaluable to have the direct access to and feedback on my writing from from a New York Times bestselling author. I LOVED this workshop. It was also great to receive feedback from the other ...

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I know it's a cliche (bad, bad, Steven!), but it was invaluable to have the direct access to and feedback on my writing from from a New York Times bestselling author. I LOVED this workshop. It was also great to receive feedback from the other students on the assignments I submitted, and the first chapter of my manuscript that I submitted. This workshop has helped my writing, and my hopeful career as a published author immensely. There is so much value in getting help from someone who's been there and done what you're trying to do; getting direct feedback that's based on real, successful experience . . . the kind of success that I want. I learned a long time ago to "be careful whose advice you take, as you may end up with their results." Well, I want Emily Colin's success as a published author of YA fiction. Thank you, Emily!

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5 star rating

So useful!

Jennifer Mitchell

Emily's course was very well laid out and included a lot of useful information. While some of it was familiar, it was useful to understand her take on it. It also helped confirm previous research I had done on several topics, which was a relief! E...

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Emily's course was very well laid out and included a lot of useful information. While some of it was familiar, it was useful to understand her take on it. It also helped confirm previous research I had done on several topics, which was a relief! Emily's feedback was always helpful, insightful and thought provoking. She really went above and beyond what was promised. Sometimes an 'online' format can end up being detached and mechanical, but not this one!

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5 star rating

Plot to Publication YA with Emily Colin

Lucy Wilson

An excellent course, well put together with lots of insight, extra information and thought from Emily Colin. I really enjoyed doing the daily lessons and the homework exercises, which helped me to think about aspects of writing and structure that ...

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An excellent course, well put together with lots of insight, extra information and thought from Emily Colin. I really enjoyed doing the daily lessons and the homework exercises, which helped me to think about aspects of writing and structure that I had not considered before. The price of the course was well worth it for the content. Emily gave us personal feedback on submitted pieces of work and was very encouraging of ideas and thought processes, which I really appreciated. Asking us to consider how our own favourite writers (in published YA novels) tackle certain barriers such as plotting, stakes, etc, was a useful tool to apply to our own work. Overall, a fantastic course for anyone serious about writing, even if they don't plan to write or publish YA.

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FAQ

  • What is the course schedule?

    The course starts on Monday, October 16th and ends on Friday, November 10th. The course comes with daily lessons you can study on your own time, and personal feedback on your work from Emily Colin and Julie Artz.

    The course is designed to be flexible. Each week, we release five lessons you can do on your own time. Some participants choose to do each week's lessons in just one or two days, while others spend a little bit of time each day on the lessons.

    Each week, you also have the opportunity to submit work for feedback from Emily or Julie. Note, that you have until the end of the year to complete the course and submit your work for feedback.

    You will also get ongoing access to live office hours at no additional cost, so you can continue to get answers to your questions, even after the course has ended.

  • How much time will the course require?

    Expect to spend around 30 minutes a day on the course. Some days will require less work, some days will require more. Daily lessons can be done on your own time. The meetings with Emily & Julie will be scheduled to best work for the entire class.

  • Why are you limiting enrollment in the course?

    Emily and Julie are planning on providing in-depth personal feedback to every participant in the course. They take great care with their feedback, and want to develop personal relationships with all of the students in the course. This is only possible by limiting the number of students enrolled.

  • I haven't yet started my novel. Is this course right for me?

    This course gives you a solid foundation for writing a novel that meets the needs of publishers. If you are just starting a manuscript, or in the process of writing one, this course guides you through the process of making sure your novel fits the needs of publishers. There are often simple decisions that have a big impact on a book's chances to get published. Emily & Julie will guide you through these simple decisions, so you can maximize your chance of publication.