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  • writing classes
    • The 90-Day Novel®
    • The 90-Day Memoir®
    • The 90-Day Screenplay™
    • The Rewrite Master Class
    • The 30-Day Outline
    • Siren Tales: A Women’s Writing Workshop
    • Story Day
    • Class Calendar
  • writing resources
    • 1-on-1 coaching
    • editing services
    • books
    • videos
    • audio
    • writing challenge
    • envision
    • write on thursdays
    • other free resources
  • retreats
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    • Solo Retreats
  • blog
    • How to Outline a Book
    • How to Write a Memoir
    • How to Write a Novel
    • How to Write a Screenplay
    • Story Structure
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    • How to Publish a Book
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Blog, Novel / Fiction, Resources

How to Plan a Novel

Learn how to plan a novel by balancing creative intuition with a structured 90-day schedule, from initial inquiry to finishing your first draft.

Alan WattApril 10, 2026
Blog, First-Time Novelist, General, Novel / Fiction, Resources

How to Publish a Book

Master the path to publication. Learn how to polish your manuscript, query literary agents, handle rejection, and weigh the pros of self-publishing.

Alan WattApril 7, 2026
Blog, Novel / Fiction, Outline, Resources

How to Plot a Novel

Balance your character's wants and needs if you want to learn how to plot a novel by using a central dilemma to turn events into a fleshed out story.

Alan WattApril 5, 2026
Blog, Novel / Fiction, Outline, Resources, Rewriting

Book Outline: Where Do I Start?

Transform your draft with a book outline. Learn 5 proven methods to map your character’s journey, master story structure, and beat the blank page today.

Alan WattApril 4, 2026
Blog, Memoir, Novel / Fiction, Rewriting

Beta Readers: Finding Trusted Insight for Your Work

Beta readers help writers feel safe to fall deeper into their work. Balance the proximity that your beta readers might have to you and your work and articulate the right framework to get what you and your work need most from them.

Alan WattApril 1, 2026
Blog, Free, Inspiration, Novel / Fiction, Resources, Screenwriting

Satire: Turning Humor into Insight

Understand satire, a technique that allows you to smuggle truth into critiques of power by critical construction of context and story.

Alan WattMarch 29, 2026
Blog, Dilemma, General, Memoir, Novel / Fiction, Resources

Types of Conflict in Literature

The types of conflict in literature serve to force protagonists to confront their deepest fear and reveal a story's soul through the resolution of dilemma.

Alan WattMarch 28, 2026
Blog, First-Time Novelist, Free, Novel / Fiction, Resources

A Guide to Pen Names

Create a powerful tool to protect your personhood and work with a pen name, but establish it intentionally and early in your career in order to use this device of authorship cleverly.

Alan WattMarch 27, 2026
Blog, First-Time Novelist, Inspiration, Novel / Fiction

Follow the Dog: On Persistence and Self-Trust

Tess Callahan details her journey through authorship and publishing her manuscripts--the difficulty of not feeling enough as a writer and ultimately getting the break she owed herself.

Tess CallahanMarch 25, 2026
Blog, First-Time Novelist, Novel / Fiction, Resources

How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?

"How long does it take to write a book" is a question of daily schedule. A solid outline and forward movement allows any writer to finish on time.

Alan WattMarch 20, 2026
Blog, First-Time Novelist, Novel / Fiction, Outline, Resources

The Pantser Method: Writing Without an Outline

Learn how to hone your strengths as a "pantser." Discovery-based writers often succeed with creative freedom and spontaneity, but successful narratives still require an underlying structure of character transformation to avoid losing direction.

Alan WattMarch 19, 2026
Blog, Novel / Fiction, Outline, Resources, Screenwriting

The 5 Core Stages of Freytag’s Pyramid

In this article, I explore story structure with Freytag’s Pyramid, who structures a story into five main components that allow stories to succeed.

Alan WattMarch 18, 2026
Blog, Inspiration, Memoir, Novel / Fiction

Authoring – and Other Writerly Pursuits

Maida Korte explores 5 critical tenets to help writer's prove their authorship and create unabashedly in a piece on her background and work.

Maida KorteMarch 17, 2026
Blog, Novel / Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized

How to Write a Logline

A strong logline can determine whether anyone reads your screenplay. Learn how to craft a one-sentence pitch that highlights your protagonist, conflict, and stakes.

Alan WattMarch 13, 2026
Blog, Memoir, Novel / Fiction, Screenwriting

Paradox in Writing: Revealing Truth Through Contradiction

“The way of paradoxes is the way of truth. To test reality we must see it on the tight-rope.”– Oscar Wilde The […]

Alan WattMarch 12, 2026
Blog, Memoir, Novel / Fiction, Screenwriting

What is Creative Writing? How to Shape Ideas into Art

Creative writing invites writers to move beyond facts and formulas, using imagination and craft to shape ideas into compelling stories. Even though […]

Alan WattMarch 9, 2026
Blog, Memoir, Novel / Fiction, Screenwriting

How to Outline a Dramatic Opening

Structurally, a dramatic opening functions as a hook. Emotionally, it needs to do more than just attract attention. When an opening scene […]

Alan WattMarch 4, 2026
Blog, Novel / Fiction

How to Write a Novel: Step by Step

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” – W. Somerset Maugham There may be […]

Alan WattMarch 2, 2026
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Workshops

  • the 90-day novel®
  • the 90-day memoir®
  • the 90-day screenplay™
  • story day
  • rewrite master class
  • 30-day outline
  • siren tales: a women’s writing workshop
  • Tuscany writing retreat
  • envision: creative goal setting
  • writing challenge
  • solo/couples retreat
  • the 90-day novel®
  • the 90-day memoir®
  • the 90-day screenplay™
  • story day
  • rewrite master class
  • 30-day outline
  • siren tales: a women’s writing workshop
  • Tuscany writing retreat
  • envision: creative goal setting
  • writing challenge
  • solo/couples retreat

Creativity is your birthright. Your sole purpose is to build a body of work.

The written signature of Alan Watt, writing teacher

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alanwatt.com
  • writing classes
    • The 90-Day Novel®
    • The 90-Day Memoir®
    • The 90-Day Screenplay™
    • The Rewrite Master Class
    • The 30-Day Outline
    • Siren Tales: A Women’s Writing Workshop
    • Story Day
    • Class Calendar
  • writing resources
    • 1-on-1 coaching
    • editing services
    • books
    • videos
    • audio
    • writing challenge
    • envision
    • write on thursdays
    • other free resources
  • retreats
    • Tuscany Retreat
    • Solo Retreats
  • blog
    • How to Outline a Book
    • How to Write a Memoir
    • How to Write a Novel
    • How to Write a Screenplay
    • Story Structure
    • Character Development
    • The Writing Process
    • Writing Techniques
    • Writing Resources & Tools
    • Book Editing
    • How to Publish a Book
    • Writers on Writing
  • meet Alan
  • contact
  • log In
  • log out
  • Join Free
  • ⠀