My first masterclass session!

So, I joined the [redacted] last month. Out of all the writing groups I found online, the [redacted] is the only one with actual connections to industry professionals, and the club itself is run by two literary agents, one of whom was an editorial director for Harper Collins. They host various talks with agents and publishers every month to offer guidance and help for aspiring authors.

The [redacted] Masterclass is another initiative they offer. We regularly meet with [redacted], agent and co-founder, and discuss our novels with her. She facilitates exercises from her book, [redacted too], which has helped me to re-shape Domino in a big way. At the end of the course, we will pitch to an agent from the Blair Partnership, who also represents J K Rowling.

One of the first things [redacted] made me do is tell her the whole synopsis of Domino, and as soon as I started speaking, I noticed a major problem with the story, one that I was trying to push to the back of my head for a little while…

My story has no plot.

But I was so inspired. After offering some suggestions, she left me for a few weeks to sort it out. And now I have a totally different novel from before. I literally had to split my laptop view in half, with the old manuscript on one side, and a blank page on the other, copying and pasting chunks of the old text, and writing entirely knew chapters and passages in the new one. After a month of re-writing, I can confidently trace a full beginning, middle, and end of Domino, one which helps to show the true struggles and achievements of my two protagonists. I'm so happy with it!

Of course, I need to do another read from top to bottom, but I am so confident for my second session next week. By the time this quarantine is over, I'll be well on my way to getting that agent!