{"id":128165,"date":"2024-09-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/?p=128165"},"modified":"2024-09-06T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T09:00:00","slug":"good-to-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/good-to-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Good to Great"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a sweet sadness about early September, isn\u2019t there? The leaves aren\u2019t quite turning, but they\u2019re thinking about it. It isn\u2019t quite cold enough for socks again, but my morning toes aren\u2019t always so sure about that. The kids go off to school again, bravely, marking off their little transitions towards adulthood. And holiday mess is either put away, or lying around in piles, eyeing us balefully, awaiting disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mostly like the season \u2013 I just don\u2019t want the kids to get a day older, really. I\u2019d happily glue them into some groundhog present, where school always involves projects on the Vikings, and science classes revolve around magnets and things dangling on string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as for you? Ah me and oh my gosh \u2013 you\u2019re to go back to school too, my hearties, and starting RIGHT NOW. Because, this week, we have a new course out, and it\u2019s a goodie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, we know that most readers of this email are reasonably seasoned writers. Few of you are hesitating over the very first pages of your very first manuscript. Far more of you are deep into your first novel, or working on your second or third. You\u2019ve mostly wrestled not just with writing a book, but with editing it too. Plenty of you have made a serious assault on Planet Agent, and are planning further raids with some sober expectation of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This course is for you: the serious, competent, experienced writer. We call it Good To Great<\/a>, because that\u2019s the hurdle you now need to clear. You need to go from acceptable competence to writing something so compelling that an agent (or editor, or reader) can\u2019t refuse the proposition you offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a big ask. I\u2019d say that plenty of people \u2013 if they\u2019re serious, competent and committed \u2013 can end up putting together a decent novel. Something shipshape and watertight. A novel that feels tight and well-fashioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But none of that is enough. The competition writers face is heinous. If you\u2019re a debut athlete, you work your way through multiple lower-level competitions until you\u2019re expected to face an Olympic final. If you\u2019re a debut writer? You get no kindness at all. No mercy. You are sent in to compete, immediately, against the most famous writers of the day. Your books are sold at the exact same price. And those other writers have a vast advantage in terms of sales footprint and brand recognition and marketing oomph. So, yeah, good luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This course is my best attempt to give you that luck<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our aim is to help you, the competent writer, bring your book to the point at which an agent has to<\/em> take it seriously. Yes, personal tastes and market movements will always play their part, but quality is still the most important factor in what gets bought and sold. Quality is the thing that kicks open doors, that arrests the flow of an acquisitions committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first lesson in the course is free to all and I honestly think it\u2019s one of the most useful teaching tools I\u2019ve ever produced. The lesson is entitled \u2018Pitch, Theme, Character\u2019, but really it\u2019s about how to lay out the foundations of your novel so that saleability is built in from the very start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people (the merely competent authors) write the book that they want to write then consider their pitch as a kind of marketing sticker to be glued on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You, my fine furry friend, are not aiming at the merely competent. Your pitch is not going to be glued on; it\u2019s going to be foundational. And it\u2019s not just the story idea that matters here. We\u2019re want to ensure that absolutely everything lines up behind a stellar pitch: plot, character, themes, settings \u2013 everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can do that \u2013 find a compelling pitch, and centre every aspect of your novel on fully delivering that basic promise \u2013 then the only remaining challenge is one of execution. And, OK, execution is a challenge, but it\u2019s a doable one (and one which other lessons in the course will attack in plenty of detail.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first lesson is, as I say, free. You can find out about it here<\/a>. The whole course is available to Premium Members<\/a> and I\u2019d just love it if you took the whole lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feedback Friday this week is going to pick up on the task in that first video, so do please get stuck in. With any practical accomplishment, it\u2019s never enough to read, or listen to, theory. You have to put it into practice. Actually shaping the words on a page or screen IS part of the learning activity. And when you team that up with Feedback Friday \u2013 where lots of intelligent and constructive writers in the same basic place as you offer a ton of thoughtful feedback \u2013 well, the learning impact is doubled, or trebled, I\u2019m certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaves are on the turn. It\u2019s back to school time. Your toes are cold. Let\u2019s up and at em.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: PITCH, THEME, CHARACTER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to register for the course here<\/a> to get your first lesson free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch that video; the assignment won\u2019t really make sense without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, I want:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of about 300 words that comprises your:<\/p>\n\n\n\n