Can you believe this is the 5th year of our Resident Writing Coach program? It’s true! And today we introduce (and reintroduce) the wonderful experts who will be joining us for the Fall 2020-2021 season!
For those of you new to the blog, the RWC program is where we invite some of the best minds in our industry to share their knowledge of writing and publishing, bringing you a variety of voices and insights from all over the world.
Before I introduce our newest coaches, a heartfelt thank you goes to Sacha Black, Tamar Sloan, and Meg LaTorre for all the wisdom they’ve shared during their time in our RWC program. We wish you well on all your projects to come!
Now! The wonderful new coaches joining us are…
Alli Sinclair is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. In 2019, Burning Fields—a novel set in Australia post-WWII—was voted #13 in the Top 100 Australian novels of all time. Alli’s books have been published around the world in numerous languages.
Alli loves interviewing, researching, archives and adding rich historical detail into her books: Luna Tango; Under the Spanish Stars; Beneath the Parisian Skies; Burning Fields and The Cinema at Starlight Creek. Her sixth book, The Codebreakers—a novel about Australia’s unknown female codebreakers in WWII—will be released in March 2021 and is the inspiration behind The Secret Lives of Australia’s Signals and Intelligence documentary. She also works on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.
Alli has lived in Argentina, Peru and Canada, climbed some of the world’s highest mountains and worked as a tour guide in South and Central America. She enjoys immersing herself in exotic destinations, cultures and languages. Alli’s books explore history, culture, love and grief, and relationships between family, friends and lovers. She captures the romance and thrill of discovering old and new worlds, and loves taking readers on a journey of discovery.
Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine. Find out more about Alli here.
Marissa Graff has been a freelance editor and reader for literary agent Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency for over five years. In conjunction with Angelella Editorial, she offers developmental editing, author coaching, and more. She specializes in middle-grade and young-adult fiction, but also works with adult fiction. Marissa feels if she’s done her job well, a client should probably never need her help again because she’s given them a crash-course MFA via deep editorial support and/or coaching. Find out more about Marissa here.
Colleen M. Story inspires writers to overcome modern-day challenges and find creative fulfillment in their work. Her latest release, Writer Get Noticed!, was a gold-medal winner in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards and Reader Views Literary Awards. Overwhelmed Writer Rescue was named Book by Book Publicity’s Best Writing/Publishing Book in 2018 and was an Amazon best seller. Her novel, Loreena’s Gift, was a Foreword Reviews’ INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, among others.
Colleen frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Her first course, “How to Finish the Creative Projects You Start,” is available on Teachable. Find out more about Colleen here.
We’re pretty jacked about all the things we’re sure to learn from these newest coaches. They will be a spectacular fit with returning RWC masterminds:
Lucy V. Hay aka Bang2write is a script editor, author and blogger who helps writers. Lucy is the script editor and advisor on numerous UK features and shorts. She has also been a script reader for over 15 years, providing coverage for indie prodcos, investors, screen agencies, producers, directors and individual writers.
Publishing as LV Hay, Lucy’s debut crime novel, The Other Twin, is out now and is being adapted by Agatha Raisin producers Free@Last TV. Her second crime novel, Do No Harm, was a finalist in the 2019 Dead Good Book Readers’ Awards. Her next title is Never Have I Ever for Hodder Books. You can find out more about Lucy here.
Christina Delay is the hostess of Cruising Writers and an award-winning psychological suspense author. She also writes award-winning supernatural suspense for young adult and adult readers under the name Kris Faryn. Fun fact: Faryn means ‘to wander or travel.’ Since that’s exactly what she loves to do, you’ll find juicy tidbits on exotic and interesting places in all her books! Find out more about Christina here.
James Scott Bell is a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award and author of the #1 bestseller for writers, Plot & Structure. Among his numerous thrillers are Romeo’s Rules, Romeo’s Way, Romeo’s Hammer, Try Dying, and Don’t Leave Me. In addition to his traditional novels, Jim has self-published in a variety of genres. His popular books on fiction craft can be found here. His thrillers have been called “heart-whamming” (Publishers Weekly) and can be browsed here. Discover more about Jim here.
Jami Gold, after muttering writing advice in tongues, decided to become a writer and put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fueled by chocolate, she shares writing tools, presents workshops, and offers insights on her blog about the craft, business, and life of writing. Jami is the winner of the 2015 National Readers’ Choice Award in Paranormal Romance for the novel Ironclad Devotion in her Mythos Legacy series. Read more about Jami here.
September C. Fawkes can scare people with her enthusiasm for writing and reading. She worked as an assistant to a New York Times bestselling author and writing instructor, and now does freelance editing at FawkesEditing.com. She has edited manuscripts of bestselling and beginning writers. She has published poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction articles, and her award-winning writing tips have appeared in classrooms, conferences, and on Grammar Girl.
She holds an English degree, has served as the managing editor of The Southern Quill literary journal, and had the pleasure of writing her thesis on the worldwide appeal of Harry Potter. Read more about September here.
Lisa Hall-Wilson is a writing teacher and award-winning writer and author. She’s the author of Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point Of View Using Emotional Layers. Her blog Beyond Basics For Writers explores all facets of the popular writing style deep point of view and offers practical tips for writers. She is also the founder of the Deep Dive Author Club which offers a five-week online masterclass on writing in deep point of view and an ongoing membership class with critiques and support.
Lisa writes adult noblebright fantasy and her award-winning debut novel The Last Seers is available. Find out more about Lisa here.
Another incredible year of Resident Writing Coach posts is about to begin. Is there a topic you’d like to see covered? Just leave us a comment below!
Happy writing,
Angela & Becca
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
I’ve enjoyed all your writing coaches and look forward to the new ones too, but I’m particularly glad to see Jami, James, and Lisa returning.
So glad to welcome our new coaches and see so many of the old guard returning. I learn a ton from your posts, and I’m sure out readers do, too.
What a wonderful group of writing experts! Thank you for sharing!