Bootcamp for Novelist Online is a full featured online writing school structured to support both beginning and advanced novelists alike. The Basic Track starts with writing foundations such as character development, plot outlining, conflict and scene structure, leading into the study of more advanced techniques. The Polish Track starts out assuming the writer already has some basic skills, but the presentation of the courses follows the basic track in such a way that ambitious students can take both tracks at the same time. The philosophy of the Bootcamp is to provide the information, techniques, and inspiration that new writers need to get their book in motion while supporting more experienced and published authors in expanding their skills or even reinventing themselves.

Connie Flynn teaches the Basic Track and Linda Style teaches the Polish Track. Each course delivers a single but substantial weekly lesson. The lesson are followed by a Q&A day. Next is a quiz or writing exercise (depending on the material covered by the lesson) and that will be followed by the quiz answers or an overall assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the completed exercises. The week will end with another Q&A. Subsequent weeks will be structured basically the same. There may be slight differences between the way Linda and Connie handle their individual classes, but the basic formatting won't change much between the two of us.

We strive to give everyone at least one personal critique throughout the course and anyone who puts up an assignment will get comments. Keep in mind that these are public critiques, and while Linda and Connie are both encouraging critiquers, they don't shrink from the bad news. If you post, be prepared to learn your pitfalls along with your strenghts, and also keep in mind that you'll learn more this way.

Bootcamp for Novelists is a non-credit school and all participation is welcome. Lurkers (students who sign in and read the post but don't post themselves) can benefit from getting the lessons and reading instructor feedback to students who do post. Still, the student who fully participates gets the most out of these courses.

If you want to start at the beginning, you will first enroll in the Basic Track. The courses are aimed for novice writers, but often we find that students who want to fully master all areas of fiction writing want to start at the beginning to make sure important skills aren't missed. By the same token, the early Polish Track courses is quite accessible to beginners. More advanced writers may find some of the Basic courses a bit simplistic, but most of us benefit from review. One thing is definitely true— certain courses will depend on the knowledge from the previous course—so if you're a rank beginner, and you missed Character Development, you might not get as much from Dialogue as you hoped and definitely would have trouble with Deepening Characterization. Experienced writers however can pick and choose, but we assume you aren't the ones asking this question.

Regular Bootcamps are four weeks long and focus intently on a single writing topic. Clinics are six-weeks, sometimes more, and cover topics that include more elements than can be adequately covered in the four-week time span. There is more room for students to work independently in a Clinic and the assignments are more in-depth. Often pre-requisites are required.

Bootcamp for Novelists in delivered entirely on line through Yahoo Groups. You will receive an invitation from our Yahoo to join the Bootcamp group. You must do these things.

1. Accept the invitation or membership by clicking through all the screens until the message says your membership has been approved or accepted. This could be several clicks.
2. Make sure your computer is set to accept cookies and pop-up screens. Also check your spam filters. Anything that protects you from receiving certain emails must be turned off for the Yahoo Group email to come through.
3. Sign into the group and choose a user name and password.

When you're successfully enrolled in the course, you'll receive course lessons and correspondence, beginning the first scheduled day of the course.

You don't need to be a PayPal member to use their service for credit or debit card transactions, and we also accommodate registration by mail. If this is your preference, contact the appropriate instructor for directions on how to proceed.

Your PayPal confirmation is your first receipt, but within 5-10 days after it arrives, you'll also receive an email from your instructor telling you when to expect your Yahoo Groups invitation.

Contact your instructor if you haven't received your invitation by the day before the course start date or if you aren't getting emails within a few hours after accepting the invitation and confirming your acceptance. Reach Linda at Linda Style and Connie at Connie Flynn