Idea to First Draft

Anyone can dream up ideas for a novel; it takes a real writer to get those ideas on the page! This bundle of eight OnDemand webinars, two original Writer's Digest digital guides, and a bonus magazine issue is valued at $689.89; for a discount price of just $62.99, you can learn essential skills that will help you bring your concept to fruition. From planning (or lack thereof), to pacing and structure, to line-by-line editing, we've got you covered on every stage of creating a manuscript that you'll be proud to submit to agents and publishers.

Products included in the bundle:

Using Dialogue to Set Your Book Apart in the Marketplace

The OnDemand webinar provides tips and tricks for writing and self-editing dialogue but also utilizing tags and dialect to pack a punch for your readers and immerse them in the book's world. Dialogue is often the strongest link to character and voice and without it, the rest of the Jenga game of a book's story can fall apart. This OnDemand webinar will inspire writers to think about using dialogue to propel action forward and even replace descriptive words and plot points for a wholly immersive experience.

How to Keep the Pace in Your Novel

Mystery novelist C. Hope Clark hopes to enlighten you on maintaining pace in your novel. Any genre needs pace to remain entertaining, and the tricks range from big picture to small touches with the magic being that the reader doesn't see what you did. They just want to keep reading. From plotting to word choice, from narrative to dialogue, learn how to insert more energy in your story. This is an OnDemand webinar. 

Hooked: How to Make Your Novel Impossible to Ignore

Look, writing a novel is hard. If it were easy I would’ve finished that “sci-fi epic” I’ve been talking about since 1997. But selling a novel? That’s a whole different Olympic sport — and the judges are grumpy, over-caffeinated, and drowning in submissions. In this session, we’ll walk through how to find the shiny, irresistible idea at the center of your story that makes people say, “Okay, sounds great, I’ll read it.” We’ll break down your plot, characters, and conflict to uncover what truly makes your book stand out, then we will ask a series of questions designed to get to exactly what makes you and your book special. Whether you write dragons, detectives, doomed lovers, or deeply broken humans (my personal fave), you’ll leave with a pitch and hooks you can use for querying, marketing, and finally being able to answer “so what do you write?” easily and with focus. Come for the insight, stay for the existential crisis about why you started writing — and leave with the sentence that might actually sell your book. This is an OnDemand webinar. 

The Pocket Guide to Pantsing: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline

Pantsers: Do you want to ditch outlining forever but don't know how? Writing a novel without an outline is like solving a complex puzzle—daunting, but not impossible. Master this technique and you'll write stories that you never dreamed of--and readers will pay you for it. In this practical presentation, prolific writer Michael La Ronn will talk about the pantsing process he's followed to write over 20 novels without an outline. You'll discover: A tried-and-true structure for writing your book without an outline; how to win the war against self-doubt; what to do when you get stuck, and exactly what to write next; how to edit your novel as you go and produce a clean first and final draft. Once you write your first novel without an outline, the next one will be much easier. This is an OnDemand webinar. 

Building an Ending That Will Bring Readers Back

This workshop breaks down how to build an ending from the inside out—by shaping emotional arcs early, threading them through the narrative, and guiding them toward a deeply felt payoff. We’ll look at ways to craft a closing movement in a satisfying way,  from resolving central tensions to pacing the final rise and release. Finally, you’ll learn practical techniques for crafting a grace note—the quiet, powerful after-image that lets your story live in the reader long after the book is closed. This is an OnDemand webinar.

10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Editing Your Novel

Many writers know they should edit their work to make it better—even if they're not keen on the idea of editing. However, many authors don't know where to start once they've completed that first draft. In this session, Iris Yamashita leads writers through the process of editing novels by focusing on 10 questions to ask when going through this process. This is an OnDemand webinar. 

Finding Your Voice in Fiction

Before you can truly write the stories you want to tell, you need to know where you come from. Who are your literary influences, what do you enjoy, as far as television and film? And what genres are you writing? You need to be able to answer all of these questions, so that you can fully write in the genres, and ways that connect to your voice, mind, and heart. This is an OnDemand webinar.

Writer's Digest March/April 2026 Digital Edition

This March/April issue is dedicated to pacing in any and every interpretation of the word as it relates to both writing and publishing. That means, how to keep the pace going as you draft a novel or work on revising it, and how to build in pauses that force readers to stop and think about what they’ve read. It also means advice for indie authors on how to pace the release of their books and understanding traditional publishing timelines, and much more.  

Writer's Digest Guide to Better Writing: 50+ Grammar Rules and Practical Strategies for Strong Writing and Revising

Sometimes, the best way to improve your writing is to go back to basics, to revisit the things you should have been paying attention to in your high school English classes (we won’t tell!). Whether you’re writing freelance articles for publications, editing your novel draft, or trying to write more professional emails, the Writer’s Digest Guide to Better Writing offers more than 50 techniques, strategies, and grammar rules with practical, real-world examples to help improve your writing. Additionally, you’ll learn to tell the difference between the grammar rules that need to be followed for the sake of clarity, and those that can be broken or played with as you develop your writer’s voice.

The Writer’s Digest Guide to Plot: 126 Tropes, 125 Plot Twist Prompts, and Plot Advice From Award-Winning and Bestselling Authors

Regardless of whether you plan your plot in advance or write by the seat of your pants, at some point the plot of your story must come into focus. But that can be challenging, and sometimes, no matter how much you outline, your plot can go in directions you didn’t see coming. In this 230+ page PDF, you’ll get plotting advice from 22 award-winning and bestselling authors about everything from starting your story better to creating cliffhangers to plotting out a series, and so much more.

Plus, this digital guide contains 126 tropes for romance, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, and advice for how to use these tropes in exciting and unique ways, helping you to both give readers what they expect from the genre while also delighting and surprising them.

Finally, you’ll find 125 plot twist writing prompts that encourage you to get creative. Use them when you’re feeling stuck, as practice writing exercises, or to take your story in a whole new direction.