📚Three Reasons Why You Should Hire A Coach
Have you ever sat and stared at a blank Word doc or one with words that seemed in the wrong order and wished you could get help?
Or maybe you’re a third of the way through your manuscript and now you’re asking yourself, Am I on the right track?
You are SO not alone!
Here are three reasons
for hiring a coach:
Encouragement. Even though the goal of a coach is to make you and your writing better, we authors love positive feedback when we write something that we love. A good coach will include positive feedback in each review.
Guidance. A coach can brainstorm ideas and even the next handful of chapters. This will keep you on the right path with your story or message.
Accountability. Meeting on a regular basis will keep you moving forward. It’s easy to
write when we’re motivated, but being accountable to someone else will push you forward quicker to finish your project.
How Can a Coach Help You? Let Me Count The Ways.
Here’s how a coach can help you:
Fiction
I'm including memoir with fiction because memoir is a blend of journalism (the facts of who, what, when, where) and fiction (all the techniques used in order for the reader to ‘live’ the story).
Believable Dialogue. Your dialogue must be believable. In contemporary fiction, all characters must sound like their age group (a female teenager shouldn’t speak like me—a sixty-year-old male).
Likewise, in historical fiction, characters cannot use
contemporary language. In most historical fiction, the dialogue needs to match the language of the era.
Also, a coach can help with stilted dialogue, tone before dialogue (very important so the dialogue is read in the intended tone), and dialogue tags, to name a few.
Appropriate Setting. The right coach will help you anchor the characters in the scene. Each character needs to be anchored so they don’t feel like they float around in space or appear out of thin air.
Optimal Descriptions. Too much description can
bog down the reader with unnecessary details. Too little can keep them from ‘seeing’ the person or scene.
Memorable Character Arcs. The right coach will show you techniques to strengthen your characters into memorable ‘people’ your readers won’t soon forget. Think Jack and Rose from Titanic. And Darth Vader.
Story Flow & Pacing. Confirm that the story flows at the right pace so the readers doesn’t get bored or worn out. This applies Mark Twain's words, "A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out."
Unnecessary details or information may cause the reader to lose interest.
Beautiful Beginning. Mickey Rooney said years ago, “The beginning of your book sells that book. The ending sells your next
book.”
READ. THAT. AGAIN!
This also pertains to the beginning of each scene or chapter. Some coaches will spend a session or two on just the beginnings of scenes or chapters, as well as the ending of each.
Strong Finish. Does each scene or chapter end in a manner that will make the reader want to keep reading? If not, the reader may have found a convenient stopping point, something novelists never want to happen.
Nonfiction
Compelling Story. Your coach will make sure each chapter starts with a short—sometimes personal—story that hooks the reader and draws them into the teaching point.
Concise Point. You know those books that drone on and on, and they never make a point? Unless the author is a relative, I guarantee you didn't finish the book.
Your coach helps you present a clear and easy-to-understand point in language that is familiar to the
reader. And it gets to the point! Your coach will also flag insider language that bores your readers.
Vivid Illustration. Your illustrations must be clear, concise, and compelling. An unclear illustration only confuses the reader.
When I was in grad school, my preaching professor used to say, “A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.” We could change this to say, “A mist at your computer is a fog in your reader.”
Tangible Takeaway. Your readers need a strong takeaway that includes a call-to-action
or reflective questions.
So how do you find a coach? You can ask for referrals or ask around at writers conferences.
But let me warn you: the writing community is rife with wannabes who print
business cards and offer shoddy services. They’re not scammers—they just don’t know that they don’t know.
You want a coach with experience and success. Our coaches have traditional publishing experience with millions of books sold.
If you’re struggling with knowing whether or not to enlist the services of a book, you can always schedule time with me.
Interested? Click below and let's talk.
