Because this is an individualized process, the fees below are just examples. Your sessions can be adapted to fit your particular situation. To book a session, contact Alicia at
writingcoach@aliciarasleybooks.com
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Story Starting: $400 session
- Do you have an idea but not a plot?
- Do you have a plot but not a story?
- Do you have a story but not a blueprint or outline?
- Are you starting a new book, revising an existing story, reinventing an old plot?
- Whatever your story needs….
Well, Alicia can help with all that.
“No one brainstorms like Alicia,” a former client writes. In just a few hours, you can go to feeling confused and inadequate to knowing exactly where you’re going in the story. Most of all, due to Alicia’s affirmative and insightful approach, you’ll reveal more depth and coherence in your story than you thought was there– and you’ll finish feeling excited about the story’s potential and confident of your ability to achieve that.
First, you’ll prepare something– whatever you have figured out, whether a story outline, a character study, or just a paragraph story nugget– for Alicia to review (up to two hours). Alicia will work with whatever you come up with, so there’s no need to come up with homework here. She just would like to review some basics before the consultation.
Then, you will have a phone consultation (up to two hours) with Alicia. In this back-and-forth exchange, you’ll discuss the events, the characters, and your sense of the story. Together you can explore:
- the overall story arc
- the “feel” or emotional content of the story
- the main characters and the protagonists
- the major conflicts in the story: external, internal, and interactional
- the desired plot structure (such as three acts or four acts)
- where the story should start
- how it might end
- the main turning points in between
This will all be done with respect for you as the author and your story, through questions both simple and profound, and with an “almost uncanny” understanding of the deep meaning of your idea, and the organic shape of your plot.
Character Channeling Session $300 (up to four hours)
- Do you have a story but not full-fledged characters?
- Do you have a character but not a plot?
- Do you have character relationships that aren’t quite working?
- Is your character too nice, too passive, or too perfect?
In this intensive but focused coaching session, Alicia will guide you into the depths of your own characters, helping you to understand what you have created and what they can become in your story.
- the important relationships
- the character journey
- the main characters’ strengths, values, and conflicts, and how they will affect the plot
- the overall theme
- potential motifs or patterns to connect them to the plot
Breaking through Writer’s Block: $200
It happens to all of us, that grinding uncertainty, the decrease in confidence, the slow apathy. With Alicia’s help, however, you can work towards identifying the cause, whether it’s within the writer or the story. Then with guided exercises and goalsetting, Alicia will help you work through the block and get back the joy of writing.
Story Deepening: $200 a session
Here’s your chance to get to know the story within—with the sensitive and insightful guidance of a master story-guide. Whether you have just a “story-start” of a plot or character idea, or a full plot, Alicia can help you discover what’s inside, including:
- Patterns, Themes, and Motifs to glue your plot events together
- Culturally significant “echoes” that will connect your story to more readers
- Internal resonances that will make your story more coherent and satisfying
- Character depth and conflict to chart your characters’ journeys
- Pacing improvement to make your story more intense
- Scene design that will keep your readers involved
- Story re-invention to make an old book more appropriate for today’s market
- Story salvation so that you won’t give up a good story that isn’t working yet
- And any other story element that might additional depth or resonance
Chronic Coaching: $75 for a monthly or weekly session (for a period you choose)
If you’d like Alicia’s affirmative and expert advice on plotting, characterization, style, and/or your writing progress, you can sign up for “Chronic Coaching,” a monthly or weekly check-in. During this phone session, you will be able to discuss your current writing, plan the next stage, and get guidance on story and prose elements.
Contract Editing: Fee Negotiable, starting at 7 cents/word
If you have a completed manuscript (or most of it), and you’re satisfied with the major story elements, you might be interested in the editing option to prepare this for publication. This can include any or all of the editing tasks:
- Main editing (rearranging of scene elements as needed, paragraphing revision, logic-checking)
- Copy editing (improving grammar and sentences, enhancing the voice)
- Proofreading (fixing typos, punctuation)
The fee is negotiable depending on the length of the manuscript and the depth of your expectations, but will start at 7 cents a word. Because this is the most expensive option, Alicia will work with you to determine if editing is indeed what you need, or if the problem is on the story level and one of the story-doctoring consultations might be more useful. Also, as a cost-effective option, she can edit a sample chapter at 7 cents a word to provide guidance on how you can self-edit the rest.
Group Coaching: $500 minimum (plus expenses if in-person)
Alicia is experienced at working with groups of writers, including organizations, chapters, and critique groups. This group coaching can be done in-person, through email or chat, or on the phone—your choice. The topic or focus (such as “brainstorming plots” or “revising scenes”) will also be your choice.
This can include lectures, group discussions, brainstorming, story-advancing exercises, and critiques.
If your group would benefit from insightful, affirmative coaching, Alicia is available for both in-person and remote sessions.
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