Freelance-Zone.com is pleased to welcome our newest regular contributor, Diane Holmes of Pitch University. She has some valuable insights for fiction writers and we’re happy to give fiction some more love on FZ by way of her work. She has already submitted several entries in a series on fiction, but now she joins us with a new ongoing column–please join us in a hearty welcome for Diane as she kicks off  Fiction-Zone:  Leaps in Fiction Mastery.

Fiction is not a career where there is an entry-level position.  There is no internship. No junior associate.  No level 1 or part-time helper.  And certainly no training wheels.

You enter the career of fiction writing only after you’ve reached the skill and mastery of the published authors who have been writing for years.  To get a slot in a publisher’s schedule or win the hearts of readers, you have to be at least as good at the writers they already work with and read.  Those writers have already have built audiences and delighted fans.  You have to be *that* good.

Yes, I see your hand raised, yes you in the back row.  You want to know, “How do I get there? How to I go from newbie writer to master craftsman?  Or, more importantly, how do I go from “I’m really good but can’t sell,” to “I’m running with the Big Dogs.”  And over there…. Ah, speak up. You want to know “How do I know my novel is ready for me to self-publish?  How do I know it’s good enough to send to an agent?”

Usually you’re taught something step-by-step, but sometimes, magic happens, and you make a leap in understanding, flying over 10 or 20 steps in a single instant.   It’s like a flash of story inspiration, but for your craft of writing skills.  I call this Making the Leap.

Let’s do that.  Let’s make leaps together.

I’ll talk with some of my favorite writers, explore the missing pieces, and answer your questions in ways that catch you off guard.

There are 1,000 websites and blogs devoted to the craft of fiction.  (I’m I’m pretty sure I love them all.) But none of those sites are focused on the magic of Leap Making.

So, this is my challenge to you:  think of your writing friends, the one whose brains seems to catch fire when the explore craft, the one who light up when they learn something new. Lure them here with cookies and lattes. There’s something amazing that happens when like-minded writers come together, poised on the brink of learning.

Yes, Leap Mojo.

(Oh, this *so* deserves to be on a t-shirt.)

It’s a lightning strike for your writer’s brain.