Tired of Thick How-To Books?

My series of short, focused ebooks for beginning writers and authors has grown. The Beginner's Guide to Planning a Story is now available.

It joins the four other Beginner's Guide already available:

* Beginner's Guide to Creating Genuine Characters

* Beginner's Guide to Developing a Plot

* Beginner's Guide to Publishing a Book

* Beginner's Guide to Basic Book Marketing

The series will soon grow even more when two new ebooks join up. These two new ones are:

* Beginner's Guide to Scene Design

* Beginner's Guide to Author Business

These ebooks will become available before the end of the summer.

Why bother with the Beginner's Guides?

Beginner’s Guides stay tightly focused on one skill at a time, so the writer isn’t distracted or overwhelmed by a dozen other topics at different levels of detail.

Because they cover a single subject, it’s easier for writers to remember and apply what they learn, instead of skimming past lots of information they don’t need right now.

Writers can pick exactly the guide that matches their immediate problem or goal, which saves time compared with buying or searching through a big, multi-topic book to find the few relevant sections

Don’t let information overload slow you down—choose the Beginner’s Guide that solves one problem, follow it step by step, and see results in your next draft

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Another Beginner's Guide published!

By Hank Quense • July 3, 2026

My Beginner’s Guides series just grew

Who are the Beginner's Guides for?

By Hank Quense • June 23, 2026

This post will explain who needs each book

Looking of a summer read?

By Hank Quense • June 8, 2026

Here are a few suggestions

Meet the new Beginner's Guide series for writers and authors

By Hank Quense • June 3, 2026

Over the years I’ve seen the same pattern with new writers: tons of enthusiasm, then frustration when the story stalls, the plot won’t cooperate, or the whole publishing and marketing side feels like a maze. So I finally pulled everything I teach and coach about into a set of short, focused “Beginner’s Guide” ebooks.[ Each guide tackles one piece of the journey: Beginners Guide to Planning a Story – taking a loose idea and turning it into a workable plan: characters, plot, setting, and overall storyline. Beginner's Guide to Creating Genuine Characters : how to ensure your characters don't bore the reader. Beginners Guide to Developing a Plot – building believable plots, from inciting incident through climax, plus character and emotional arcs. Beginners Guide to Publishing a Book (and Not Getting Screwed) – a straight‑talk tour of today’s publishing options, including how to avoid the predators. Beginners Guide to Basic Book Marketing – the essentials of book marketing for first‑time authors: landing pages, blurbs, keywords, and building a simple author platform. They’re deliberately short, practical, and meant to be used. Read it in an evening and apply your new knowledge the next day. I have several more Beginner's Guides under development: on scene design, business, mind-mapping and AI assistants. There is also a free Beginner's Guide Starter Kit: it contains material from each guide including the ones under development. You can download a copy here.