The Ten Month Novel and Script First Draft ONLINE Course A practical step-by-step process that will enable you to find your story, work with your own private tutor and write the first draft of your novel or screenplay within ten months.

Aim of the Course The aim of the Ten Month Novel and Script First Draft course is to enable you to write a story that has readers wanting to know what happens next while taking your main character on an emotional and spiritual journey of change.

Length of Online Course The course is designed for people working full time, so if you write, on average, five scenes a week, you will finish your first draft in ten months. As an online writer,you have the flexibility to work through the course at your own pace. If you want to work on it full time, you can finish in around 4 months. But you do need to finish the process within ten months of starting.

You Must Develop a Writing Habit The key to the whole course is to develop a writing habit. You need to steal back thirty minutes a day from your life to write. If you don’t make your writing time a priority, your novel or screenplay will remain a dream. The magic is always on the page.

Finding your Story You do not have to come to the course with a clear idea for a story. In fact, 90% of writers who do this course do not have a clear idea of the story they want to write about. This course will provide a process and structure to extract the story from within you. You just need to work through it one step at a time.

The Purpose of Structure The whole point of structure is to find the actions that put pressure on your main character to take them on an emotional and spiritual journey of change. Action reveals character. Structure stretches your imagination and grounds your writing. Writing a first draft is a dance between structure and imagination. As David Mamet says, ‘The purpose of structure is to free your imagination.’

The Course is a Two Part Process 1.Part One: Finding, exploring and clarifying your characters and story.This is where you identify the broad spine of your story. 2.Part Two: Going back to the beginning and writing your first draft one scene at a time.

Part One - Finding your Story In the first part of the process, you do a series of exercises, answer questions and write scenes to explore and develop your characters and story. At the end of the process you will come up with a broad Ten-Step Outline for your tutor to check. This will ensure you have found the story you truly want to write and your story has all the necessary structural elements.

The Key to Part One The key to the first part of the process is to move through it quickly. We suggest around 4 to 6 weeks. There is no point getting bogged down finding the perfect Ten-Step Outline. It is just a guide to help you write your first draft.

Part Two - Writing Your First Draft When your online tutor has approved your Ten- Step Outline, you will go back to the beginning of your story, start with the first scene and work through the structural steps and exploratory questions, one step, one scene at a time. In Part Two you will also be invited to join Roland and your tutor in regular teleconferencing calls.

Exploring and Planning Before writing your scenes, you will do a series of exercises to explore, develop and focus the structure of your story. You will break your story into manageable chunks to ensure your story is working, on track and realising its dramatic potential. You will work with your online tutor every week to ensure your story is on track and be encouraged to post one scene a week for feedback.

If you do the work and complete the process, you will have: 1. Found the story your want to write. 2. Developed your understanding of how story structure works at a practical level and applied it to your story. 3. Dramatically improved the quality of your writing and story telling ability. 4. Completed your first draft within ten months. A huge achievement. 5. Taken yourself and your main character on a profound and dramatic journey.

You will also feel the joy of completing your first draft - a lifetime dream for many people