Mary Carroll Moore | Artist, Author, Teacher

How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book

Organically Grown: A Writer's Weekly Workout

Contact Mary: mary(at)
marycarrollmoore
(dot)com

The classes I have taken with you have helped clear the path for my voice to reveal itself through my novel. When I began, I had no idea what an adventure this would be. Your calm wisdom and clear direction has brought me through many challenging times. Had I not found you and your class I would not be experiencing the joy and pleasure I now receive from my writing. — Elisabeth Tyler, NY

Mary taught me to listen and to sense the movement or stasis of my own words. I learned to step outside myself and see if a section carried me or dragged behind me. At first I wanted to protect the leaden parts because I had poured myself into them. But once I pick-axed and the pace quickened, everything felt lighter and better—my work as well as me.
—Carrie Barron, M.D., nonfiction writer

Thank you so much for generously sharing your hard-won knowledge! Your concepts and practical strategies helped me go forward on organizing the material I've been amassing for a book, as well as figuring out what still needs to be written. I have a long way to go but now don't feel quite as overwhelmed.
— Loft Student

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If you believe you have a book inside you just waiting to come out, here is a guide that will ensure your book’s arrival in the world. In clear, accessible prose, Mary Carroll Moore leads the aspiring author through every step of the challenging, rewarding process of developing and completing a full-length book. — Rebecca McClanahan, author of Word Painting

What you teach [in the book workshop] should be in EVERY High School freshman English class! I keep saying, “If I had only known, I would not have struggled so."
— Annette Walters, Minnesota

I was a student at the Loft Literary Center when I lived in Minneapolis. I do miss your classes since moving to France. I just recently discovered your blog and have been re-inspired! After a long period trying to ignore that nagging voice... I am beginning again! Thank you so much! — Karen Eberle

Your ideas are hugely valuable.
— S.B., Orinda, CA, novelist

If I could implement all I've learned from you, I'd have a best-seller!
— S.T., Westchester, NY

Need one-on-one help from a knowledgeable author? Coaching or editing for your manuscript-in- progress? Click here for more information on Mary's coaching for writers: manuscript review, editing, and personal accountability for your writing.

Photo credit: Lucas Schulze

How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book
Whether you're a nonfiction author, memoirist, or novelist, and whether you have a book almost finished or merely a concept for one, this class will help you get to know your book - what it is about, how to structure it, how to finish it! You'll learn a step-by-step plan (including timetables, chapter grids, story-boarding, and other techniques) and ways to flow chapters, find holes in your material that need filling, organize research and concepts, and construct plots. You'll also learn how to package your book for agents and publishers and gain essential tips on editing and evaluating your book at all stages.

Grub Street Writing School, Boston, One-Day Workshop
September 12, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., $95

Loft.org (Loft Literary Center) Twelve-Week Online Class
September 13 - December 6, (skips Thanksgiving week) $420.

Hudson Valley Writers' Center, New York, Six-Week Class
Wednesday mornings, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., September 22 - November 3 (skips October 27), $355

Southern New Hampshire University, Two-Day Workshop, November 6-7, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $200 (Nonmembers $250)

Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, Two-Day Workshop
December 3-4, Friday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $146

Organically Grown: A Writer's Weekly Workout
Build your toolbox of writing skills for a book project or other writing-in-progress. Each week topics switch, from how to write vivid characters to techniques for strong dialogue, to pacing and backstory. A fast-paced, hands-on class to fill your creative well and refine your writing from draft to revision. For all genres and skill levels.

Hudson Valley Writers' Center, New York, Six-Week Class
September 20 - November 8 (skips October 11 & 25), Mondays, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m., $60 per class or $340 for all six

Self-Editing for Book Writers
A fast-paced, hands-on workshop to explore how to edit your own work, refining it from draft to final revision. We'll cover the art of pacing, line and structural editing, substantive editing (filling holes), and much more. You'll leave with a new perspective on your work and a toolbox full of techniques for preparing a manuscript for publication or submission to agents and publishers. Bring 2 double-spaced pages of your manuscript to use in the exercises. For all genres and skill levels.

Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop
December 5, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., $76

Writing through Healing, Healing through Writing
Writing can be an essential healing tool during any transition—from starting a new job to ending a relationship, from serious illness to the loss of a parent. It will give you tools for telling your personal story and serve others by creating fiction, memoir, articles, or poems for the growing inspirational publishing market. Exercises and discussion focus on the qualities of healing and how writing heals on multiple levels. Explore, through writing, the profound and everyday experiences that reveal how precious life is. Includes excerpts from well-known authors writing about loss, illness, and recovery. Bring a bag lunch.

Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop
November 12, Friday, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $76

Writing Your Life: Plan, Write, Develop a Memoir
Whether you are trying to write the story of your life for publication or as a family legacy, this workshop by the author of two memoirs will show you how to organize your stories into a readable, interesting work. You will be introduced to a simple formula that successful authors use to plan, organize, and write a book, and you will learn book-writing techniques such as the value of themes and how action and reflection balance one another in memoir and creative nonfiction. Exercises will help you put your learning into practice immediately.

Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop
November 13, Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $85

Writer's Wheel of Ten:Memoir and Fiction Come Alive
Spend a lively day exploring the ins and outs of ten essential writing tools professional writers never leave home without. Bring new vibrancy to a not-quite-there-yet memoir, short story, or novel. Fun exercises, short readings, discussion will help us see new levels of these basic tools—how to use them, how they influence voice and the success of a piece, and why they must be considered for good storytelling. Bring a bag lunch and short draft of writing to use during the exercises or start something new in class. All skill levels.

Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop
November 14, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., $76