Services
One Card Tarot Reading
Are you feeling confused, stuck or in need of a bit of clarity?
A one tarot card reading for your current question can help bring clarity.
How it works:
- purchase a $20 AUD one tarot card reading
- write an open ended question
- within 24 to 48 hours you'll receive an email outlining the card that answered your question, and insights for your to consider in response.
Terms and conditions:
- 1 card per 1 open ended question per reading
- Once paid and reading email has been sent to you, the transaction is complete and no refunds will be given.
Why ask an open ended question:
Open ended questions help you to get to the heart of your question.
Instead of asking a yes/no question, like:
Will I ever be good enough to write my novel? which is a Yes/No question.
We rephrase the question to something like:
What is blocking me from being able to write the book of my heart?
or
How can I build my self-confidence as a fiction writer?
Book now: $20 AUD
Tarot Reading for Character & Story Development
Transform your writing blocks with insight from the tarot! Overcome writing block with a tailored-to-you tarot reading, and an action step to help you integrate what you've discovered.
Alternatively, explore your character's internal and external goals, motivations and conflicts, and their story arc with a tailored tarot spread.
Readings are interactive between the author and the coach. Clients receive a Zoom recording of session and photographs of the cards pulled at the end of the reading.
$110 AUD for 60 minute Zoom session
or
$150 AUD for 90 minute Zoom session
Written by: Casey Gilly
One-to-One Coaching
One-off or Fortnightly
Write your story with regular developmental editing, coaching comments and in-line edits.
- Improve your draft.
- Deepen your story.
- Meet deadlines.
- Finish your manuscript.
- Prepare for pitching.
Unburnt - a short paranormal horror story
Short Story Development Coaching
Empower your fiction writing skills, firm up your creative voice, and write your short story with developmental coaching support.
$225AUD
1 x 60 minute Zoom Coaching session + editorial development and coaching comments on word count up to 5,000 max.
Fortnightly One-to-One Coaching
One on One Coaching
Write your novel with regular coaching comments and a fortnightly one-to-one coaching session. Improve your draft. Deepen your story, meet deadlines, and finish your manuscript.
Support & Accountability
With fortnightly coaching support and accountability, you’ll write your story and receive developmental feedback. You’ll learn to trust the process and your skills. You’ll write your book with experience in receiving feedback that will help improve your draft.
What You'll Get
$227 for one-off coaching session - notes and recording provided
Optional extra: $86.50 for additional 2000 words (valued at 175!) with coaching comments applied to scene and returned after coaching session
or
$119 for fortnightly coaching sessions (minimum of 4 within two months)
$86.50 per 2000 words (valued at 175!) with coaching comments applied prior to coaching session or after - as agreed with author.
Terms and Conditions
* Engagement for fortnightly one-to-one coaching - minimum of 2 month period (4 x one-to-one session commitment).
* Payment of coaching fee is required prior to each coaching session.
* If client negotiates to pay via invoice and it is not paid prior to booked session, coaching will not go ahead.
* If you book in and do not show up at the appointed time without providing 24 hours notice of change/cancellation, an invoice will be issued and payment will be expected to cover the time booked in Selina's diary.
Tarot Reading for Character & Story Development
One on One Tarot Reading
Overcome writing blocks with insights from the tarot. Or gain a deeper understanding of your character's goals, motivations and conflicts. Write your character scenes with a deeper understanding of what is motivating them to go for their story goals and who/what is standing in their way.
Story Development Coaching
Develop your story with a combined tarot reading for character GMC's and story arc, and developmental editor coaching to address plot holes, flat characters, and more.
What You'll Get
What I got out of my tarot session has gone far, far above and beyond what I could have hoped for. Selina was brilliant at putting me at ease and delivering a professional service.
Kylie Barton - author
I experienced something that has blown my mind. I booked a session with Selina Shapland, requesting a GMC and character arc tarot reading. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I needed clarity for my main female character and a better understanding of her goals and overall character arc.
We talked about what I hoped to gain from the session, and Selina selected tarot cards, which helped to shape and add clarity to the intricate identity of my character, what she wants and how she can achieve her goals.
I now have a clearer, more defined impression of who my character is. I can apply this newfound knowledge to strengthen and better articulate my character's actions, inner monologue and dialogue.
Selina has sent me a comprehensive summary of our session, photos of my tarot read and a recording of our Zoom call. I will be able to refer back to our session to remind myself or reiterate my thoughts and ideas whenever I need.
I have come away from my session with Selina with clear direction on the steps needed to make use of my recent clarity. Further, I have several new ideas that are like nuggets of story gold!
I can’t thank you enough, Selina, for your time, passion, and expertise. Your help is invaluable. I can unequivocally recommend Selina and her coaching services to anyone considering this investment in their craft or anyone seeking clarity for their characters.
Terms and Conditions
* Payment is required to confirm the tarot booking in Selina's calendar.
Tarot Transformation Coaching
Tarot Readings
You're feeling conflicted about where you're going. Confused over what's blocking your forward progress and need to transform your writing life.
Transformation Coaching
Build confidence and take action toward your goals with insight from tarot and transformation coaching.
What You'll Get
QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions
- Brainstorm your idea or story seed and focusing the concept before you start writing
- Find your writing voice, get support with your creative writing goals, and draft your story
- Get unstuck and learn what your fiction writing strengths are and see the opportunities to improve your fiction writing skills to hone your story
- Get clarity on your story. Establish the story foundation, bring your characters to life, and develop a story arc with a compelling rhythm that engages readers
- Receive feedback with actionable steps that will help strengthen your fiction writing skills. Through honest conversation and compassionate feedback, we’ll address key opportunities for improvement.
- Get a developmental edit, and an editorial letter highlighting the strengths of your draft and opportunities to improve. Through conversation and reflection, develop a strategy to refine your work.
Yes!
Selina uses the hierarchy of editorial concerns to do a structural review of the manuscript, and provide editorial feedback. Developmental in-line edits include coaching comments.
Developmental edits are tailored to the individual manuscript and what it needs in the next phase of rewriting.
However, in general, a developmental edit covers the following:
- Word count and story alignment with genre expectations.
- Cast of characters (too many characters?) and the arc of change/development.
- The protagonist and antagonist’s goals, motivation and conflict are clear and on the page.
Is the protagonist active and engaged or passive? - Narrative drive.
For example, is the story moving from an inciting incident into rising-action to the climax, and the denouement? If not, then there are likely plot and structure challenges that need to be addressed. - Worldbuilding - believable and logical?
- Point of view (POV), showing over telling, info-dumps, the passage of time works, and dialogue/scenes are tight and progress the story forward.
- Is the story’s promise being fulfilled?
- Patterns that need addressing such as tangents, repetitions, over the top prose, some passive sentence issues if required etc.
No. The manuscript developmental edit does not include line editing. Authors with manuscripts requiring a line edit will be referred on.
It’s not easy to hear that our stories aren’t ready for a developmental edit. If this happens, please know this is a golden opportunity to study writing craft and strengthen key writing skills so you can step closer to your goal. Coaching is an excellent option and can be done as a one-off session or you can choose regular coaching to provide you with feedback, discussion and the ability to submit reworked scenes or chapters for further review. Coaching is a great way to get focused support and strengthen your fiction writing skills.
Selina may also suggest a different approach such as a partial edit/manuscript review with the top three things to improve or she may suggest taking writing craft courses or reading books to help you acquire what is needed to write the story. Actions are based on the author's individual goal and writing craft developmental needs.
A fiction book coach is a developmental editor, writing coach, cheerleader, and accountability partner all in one. They study fiction and work with writers to help prepare them for the marketplace. A fiction book coach meets writers right where they are, at precisely their stage of development, and helps improve the manuscript, their overall craft, and builds a writer’s confidence and skillset.
Guarantees include:
- professional developmental editorial services and fiction writing coaching.
- a deeply creative and personal journey.
- a positive shift in your writing.
- Selina cannot guarantee landing an agent or publication but she can help you prepare a pitch strategy.
- Paranormal romance and contemporary romance - sweet and spicy!
- Mystery, including cosy mysteries
- Horror (not extreme because Selina might have nightmares)
- Young Adult and Adult fiction only
- Novels, and short stories
Selina's is not the right coach for:
- extreme horror, literary, historical, or nonfiction like memoir.
- picture books, children’s fiction, or middle grade fiction.
Manuscript format is the standard format used in the publishing industry for manuscripts. To learn to format your story professionally, please read the ‘Modern Manuscript Format’ at Shunn.net. It is an excellent resource for writers.
MS and ms. are shorthand for manuscript.
A fiction synopsis is written in 3rd person present tense even if the story is written in past tense 1st person POV. The aim is to write a tight synopsis that shows the whole story from start to finish, so focus on the core story and don't write in sub-plots.
A synopsis has the following key elements:
- Context and setting – where are the characters in time and space? What is the setting?
- Who is the POV protagonist? Who are they in the world just before the story starts? Focus only on the main characters/POV protagonist.
- The inciting incident – what kicks off the action? Why should we pay attention to the story?
- What does the protagonist want? How do things change for them in the story? What does it mean to them to change?
- What keeps the protagonist from getting what they want? Who or what stands in their way?
- The main plot line of the story – what is the central action? Include the climax.
- How does the story resolve? And, what does it mean to the protagonist/s?
The synopsis has the whole main story on the page.
Make sure that every question that is raised in the synopsis is also answered.
A synopsis is a selling tool for agents and editors.
Please, do not end on your synopsis a cliffhanger hook - that is for marketing and the book jacket copy to entice readers to open the book and find out how the story ends.
A character list summarises each character’s role, goal, motivation and conflict in 1-2 sentences on one page.
Below is an example based on a paranormal romance story idea:
Protagonist 1 – Daniel McGinnis (love interest) is an ex-military mercenary. His goal is to hunt a were-fox and get paid, but when he realises the were-fox is the woman who broke his heart, he’s forced to reckon with his love for her versus his desire to protect his heart.
Protagonist 2 – Olivia Dayfox (love interest) is a rare were-fox who hunts hunters to stop the fur trade and save her kind from extinction. When she’s captured by the man she still loves, she’s forced to reveal her secret, reckon with her past mistakes, and risk falling in love again to save herself and her people.
Yes!
Short stories are an excellent way to learn the craft of writing fiction and to write with economy.
Short stories can be grouped together into themes to create your own collection, or you can craft a short story for an anthology call out based on their theme. Alternatively, you might want to test your novel idea by writing a short story and getting coaching on that for a lower investment.
Short stories can also become lead magnets for your author career, and they can be a safe place to explore new story ideas.