Maureen L. asked Steve Alcorn:

Mr. Alcorn, I am an attorney who writes lots of appeals and I want to begin generating an incme from writng; in the long term from a mystery novel, in the short term generating income writing either fiction of non-fiction. (ghost writing or promotional writing) With which course should I begin my journey of learning how to write successfully? Do you have any other suggestions.?

Steve Alcorn Hi Maureen! That's a great goal. It is much easier to generate income from non-fiction writing, but perhaps more recreational to write fiction. Fortunately you can do both. Plus, many fiction writing techniques can be applied to make your non-fiction livelier and more fun to read.

Your first decision is whether to take a video-based course or a written one. Written courses are more like a college environment, where a lot of material is covered, but it requires concentrated study time. Video courses have become very popular, and for those who learn best by listening, these are the way to go. Of course, you can supplement the video with a written text, which has the advantages of both.

In any event, the first course you take should be about story structure, because before you get to the details of manuscript writing, you need to have an excellent plan. This will save you a ton of time later on. Two examples are "Write Fiction Like a Pro" (a written course) and "Novel Writing Workshop" (a video course). Either could be supplemented with my book, "How to Fix Your Novel", which contains both story structuring and manuscript writing advice.

You can find descriptions of these and my other courses at writingacademy.com.

Thanks for asking and Happy Writing!

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