I See You
You have an amazing story idea with loveable characters that you know would be a success.
If only you could write it.
No matter how hard you try, you don’t know where to start, your plot is missing a chunk out the middle, and your motivation is nowhere to be seen.
Are you ready to finally patch up your relationship with writing and gain clarity on your story?
Write your full draft and transform your relationship with writing.
“Brilliantly accessible foundation that will set you up for your entire writing career. Doreen takes the chore out of plot development.”
You’re done with excuses. You’re going to finish your novel.
You've got a pretty awesome idea for your story...
...and characters you know readers are gonna love...
...and you seriously want to write this novel.characters
The problem is...you keep getting stuck.
You come up against writer’s block more often than not, you don’t know how to solve your obvious plot issues or create a convincing outline, and you can’t keep a writing routine to save your life.
If only you could craft the perfect outline....
if only you could stick to a daily writing routine....
All of your problems would be solved. That’s what the experts online tell you anyway....
But the more you force yourself, the harder writing feels.
And then everyone also tells you that’s normal! Writers should hate writing, right? Otherwise, they’re not real writers.
....can you taste the sarcasm dripping off my words?
What if I told you writing didn’t have to be a struggle?
Pamela
Writer, Editor, and Community
Lead at Novlr
This will set you up for your entire writing career.
“Doreen’s programme is a great way to start a novel, especially if you’re a new writer. It’s brilliantly accessible and provides a solid foundation that will set you up for your entire writing career.
Doreen gets you to think about what goes into a compelling story, starting from the seed of an idea and building it out in an intuitive, interesting and, best of all, fun way! She takes the chore out of plot development.”
...so what is ‘Novel Nook?’
And why is it perfect for you?
By day, I’m in marketing and communications, by night I’m a writer, but before I was anything, I was just as lost as you might be right now. Writer’s block, impostor syndrome, perfectionism, fear of failure, you name it.
Like you, I thought the problem was either that my story outline was horrible, or that I couldn’t stick to a routine.
I fixed the outline part with lots of research, reading books and Creative Writing Courses from Udemy.com, and now call this, what I learned STRUCTURE part of my Novel Nook method.
I thought structure was all I needed. So I worked with founders and executives writers 1-1 to help them overcome this issue too.
But no amount of story structure or routine would fix my clients’ deeper mindset issues and their vastly different approaches to writing.
For three years, I worked remotely at a ghostwriting company supporting thought leaders who were also writers. Our primary service was Ghostwriting for Books, based on the belief that you should write at least one book in your lifetime.. Through this experience, I learned about the individual mindset blocks that often hold creatives back. The most important lesson I took away? The power of NURTURE which became the second pillar of my Novel Nook Program approach.
I even tested it on myself. While balancing a 9-4 marketing job, this remote ghostwriting role, professional courses, motherhood—and everything in between—I completed What is Home, my second-longest manuscript at 331 pages (84,121 words) — in just a year (2022). From 2023 to 2024, I went on to write two more each year: Stripped and Naked (109 pages, 15,240 words) and His and Hers: Love, Sex and Passion (240 pages, 55,260 words). All three are finally being published in 2025.
No rigid routines. No burnout. Just a deeper connection with my writing – a process that finally worked.
I initially wrote & self-publish two books in 2017 and 2018, but I did not have this plan or process then. It wasn’t until years of struggling, professional ghostwriting experience, and intensive study through creative writing courses and reading that I finally discovered the powerful STRUCTURE and NURTURE approach that defines this program.
It didn’t have a thing to do with what most writing advices tell you.
It was very simple.
I taught myself to adore writing as wildly as innocently as when I was a child.
Lilian Okado
Founder of Say Cheese Writers,
The Ghostwriting Company
Empowering Leadership .
Also a Founder of Kowcha, a coaching business in the digital age
Thabiso Kgabung
Marketing Agency MD at Naughty Banana, South Africa – a Digital Creative Agency
“Doreen has been an invaluable addition to our ghostwriting team. Over the years, she has grown tremendously as both a writer and a content strategist, delivering high-quality work on our in-house projects. She works independently, embraces learning, and adapts seamlessly to new challenges. In short, she’s a true asset and a joy to work with. “
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Doreen, a talented and versatile professional who sets herself apart with her unique blend of technical expertise, marketing savvy and artistic talent. As a gifted writer, she brings a depth and nuance to her work that is rare and valuable. “
What does Novel Nook Program include?
Live support and learning with extensive pre-recorded courses and a library of digital books & templates to help you
finish your novel and find joy in writing again.
This program will take you from...
Finding writing to be the most difficult thing in the world.
Writing easily, without pressure, and love what you’re doing.
Imagine if you could...
Banish writer’s block for good
Find your voice and purpose
Craft compelling characters
Nail story structure
Finally finish your novel
...all in under a year
a) The Learning Support
During this year, you will get access to our entire learning library with 2 extensive courses to teach you project prep and character work and the art of writing prose.
Novel Nook & Plot Academy
For all the character creation and project creation tools you’ll ever need, without the overwhelm.
Your streamlined outlining course
About
Novel Nook & Plot Academy is the most streamlined outlining course out there, crafted specifically to help you focus on the important parts of pre-work to set up a strong project.
You start from the heart of your story, then build out your character, which means that once it’s time to outline, your plot will come along easier than you thought possible.
The best part of this course?
We don’t only work with theory and analysis, but you’ll actually see me create two original stories with you from scratch: We’ll put together everything from the premise, the main characters, a thorough story outline, and even a break-down of the first 3 chapters.
The Curriculum
- Break your most common writing misconceptions – 3 lessons
🤯 1) Plotting is fun and outlines will change: This lesson dismantles the common belief that plotting can be limiting, or that plotting can zap your creativity. We also talk about the very important notion of letting your outlines change as you write, so you can allow your story to grow into a more refined and stronger version of itself.
🫵 2) Why YOU can do this: In this lesson you will learn that none of us are special, and you don’t need to have any prior knowledge on writing to do this course successfully. We’ll try to reframe some common blockers that might be holding you back! You will hear from some of the clients I worked with on a personal coaching level, and see how they felt about my plotting method.
✨ 3) Character and theme over plot: Another mindset shift I would love for you to make! This one is an absolute game-changer, and once you truly start to implement it, you should be able to notice the quality of your work improve.
- Thematic arguments, themes, symbolism and your higher purpose as an author – 5 lessons
📕 1) Purpose: author and novel: In this lesson we will try to pinpoint what your higher literary purpose will be as an author, and how that might translate into your novel.
🤔 2) Thematic argument or question: Let’s find that key statement that you want to make through your project. This carries the core of your story. You’ll get to see real media examples of poignant story questions and learn to craft your own.
🌻 3) Themes: In this lesson we will learn the difference between themes and thematic questions by analysing some popular media examples! And you’ll learn why you should (ideally) have both in your own project.
🐦⬛ 4) Motifs and symbolism: Let’s learn what motifs and symbolism are and how you can best use them in your individual project to emphasise your deeper purpose in every creative aspect of your story
✍️ 5) Writing with purpose: Now that you understand why purpose is the solid foundation upon which you will build out your portfolio of novels… We’ll wrap up this module by identifying all the areas in your project that you can make conscious creative choices for.
- How to prep your project quickly – 7 lessons
🧠 1) Brainstorm your beginning: This lesson is a simple and quick breakdown of all the things you need to know about your project before you start plotting and writing.
🤓 2) Genre: In this lesson, I will take you through the difference between genre fiction and literary fiction, and show you the most common subgenres and word counts of each of these.
📗 3) Title: This lesson looks at some successful titling techniques and formatting methods to give you ideas for your own project.
💬 4) Premise & Blurb: Learn on examples of best-selling books how you can write an effective book blurb using the simple blurb formula. You can watch this lesson below as a little taste-test for the course!
📄 5) Synopsis: Learn the equilibrium story theory and draft out the synopsis for your project with easy guiding questions. This structure will actually help you with storytelling in chapters and scenes too!
💁 6) Audience & reader consideration: How do you write for someone else? What are all the things you need to consider? And what happens if someone doesn’t like your book?
🌲 7) Visuals: In this lesson, we’ll talk about the atmosphere, the visuals, the vibe of your story and how exactly you can create a vibrant and realistic world for your characters.
📚 8) Sample stories: In this lesson, we run through sample stories.
- Internal conflict, character arcs, personality, unique voices, convincing backstory… 7 lessons
👩💼 1) Narrative, major and minor characters: This lesson divides our character into 4 main categories: narrative, major, minor, and passersby; all with their own very unique purpose in your story!
❤️ 2) Internal conflict and story purpose: Internal conflict, misbelief and purpose is the most important part of crafting your character! In this lesson, we’ll learn how to identify these for your characters with simple formulas and guiding questions. We’ll also look at examples that illustrate this internal conflict on Page 1, and how you can do the same.
🧜♀️ 3) Character arc & backstory: Time extends to both sides of your story, so let’s build your backstory as we build your arcs. It’s equally as important (if not more so!).
🗣️ 4) Personality & voice: Let’s find your character’s flaws and virtues to build out the personality and voice of your character.
🥰 5) Significant relationships: This lesson looks at relationships within your story as having their own arcs. We’ll explore the way relationships can influence your major characters.
👱♀️ 6) Appearance, unique quirks and names: This lesson contains some ideas to make your character descriptions and names POP, and some things you might be better off avoiding.
💐 7) Diversity: Areas of character diversity you should be thinking about as you write your novel, not just in terms of representation, but also your character goals, personalities, names, and unique viewpoints.
- Motivation, relatability, negative arcs, finding sources of conflict.
🧨 1) Story conflict: This lesson touches on the importance of having conflict that matters in your story, and all the subtle ways you can look to include it into every scene inside your novel. We’ll watch two scenes from award-winning TV series The Bear and identify both obvious and subtle sources of conflict in each scene.
🦹♀️ 2) Anti protagonist: In this lesson we cover what an antagonist should represent in your story, and all the types of antagonists you might encounter in your writing journey (even if they aren’t people).
📖 3) Motivation and backstory: We begin to add some depth and complexity by finding the reason behind your antagonist’s evil-doings, and it might not always be as obvious as you think.
💪 4) Strengths and weaknesses: Let’s take the complexity of your antagonist one step further by digging out both their strengths and weaknesses. If you want a good story, they’ll have to be stronger and smarter than your protagonist.
🥲 5) Relatability and empathy: In this lesson, we build some connections around your antagonist and make them more realistic and morally grey!
😎 6) Internal conflict, negative arc and redemption: Every antagonist should have an internal conflict! It’s up to you whether you are kind enough to resolve it and give them a fighting chance at redemption.
- My 1-page outline breakdown
📊 1) The plot grid: Learn the basic structure of the 1-page outline we’ll be using to plot our stories in this course. This entire module will show you the guiding questions for each plot beat, as well as build out both of our sample stories alongside it (King of the New World & Our Chained Wrists).
🌱 2) Act 1: The beginnings of your story have a hard job; capturing your reader’s attention quickly while providing an immersive look into your story world.
🌿 3) Act 2A: Your story truly kicks off with challenges for your protagonist(s) in the second act, so we’ll learn how to keep the momentum and action rising towards the midpoint reversal.
🪴 4) Act 2B: Once you’ve reached the reversal, things get difficult for your story heroes. You’ll learn how to plot out second half of the second act for maximum impact and deliver the gut punch to your readers, until they have no idea how your characters could get out of the mess they created.
🌳 5) Act 3: This act needs to deliver a satisfying resolution to your readers, so you’ll learn how to tie up your lose ends and make sure that your story message lands.
🧚♀️ 6) Subplots: For more complex projects, we’ll look at bulking out the story by adding in relevant subplots that lift up the main narrative.
- Psychogeography, immersion, and resources for storyworlds
- Chapter treatments, non-linear storytelling, narrative devices, chapter structure
- Drafting, revisions, editing and publishing options
Module 1 | Mindset
Pro at Prose
Find your unique voice and stand out from the sea of authors
Your easy cheat to strong, stylistic writing
About
Pro at Prose dives into the nitty-gritty of writing, from sentence structure and realistic. dialogue to style, metaphors and creative devices.
You will learn about every narrative perspective (even those you didn’t know existed!), and hone your style to make it dynamic and compelling for your readers.
This course separates prose into its main elements and features exercises crafter to train each one.
The Curriculum
- Breaking down elements that make up prose and learning the true importance of the ‘show don’t tell’ principles
- Deep-dive into narrative perspectives, crafting intriguing narrator’s voices and master introspection in your writing.
- Crafting realistic character voices and master introspection in your writing.
- Crafting vocabulary banks, varying sentence structures and spotting stale prose issues.
- Banishing cliches and crafting original symbolism, metaphors and other literary devices.
b) Live Support
Most writers I work with thrive on having a place to go to be held accountable and someone to bounce ideas off of.
This is why the live support is such a huge part of this program.
I’ll be checking in with you through your year-long journey and help you out of any blockades you may fall into.
Community Chat
We have our own WhatsApp group chat for members of this program. Besides only me, though, you’ll get to meet other writers, make connections, exchange manuscripts for feedback, and find writing partners- because writing doesn’t have to be solitary.
Weekly accountability & Support
Attend weekly events inside the group - don’t worry, this isn’t anything overwhelming! Our accountability events are chilled group writing sessions or sprints where you can show up and leave whenever you want to.
Surprise Workshops
Whatever workshops we decide to host at the Novel Nook over the next year, you’ll have first dibs on it. The topics of the workshops will be determined by you, and whatever you want to take a deeper dive into. This is a great way to shake up your usual writing routine to work on something different for a little while.
BONUS: Writer Unblocker Course
3-module bonus course crafted specifically to help you.
- overcome your mental blockades and reframe writing into a positive activity step-by-step (bye-bye, writer’s block!)
- sell the story to yourself before you try to sell it to someone else and find unwavering confidence in your work.
- critically identify your own issues within your story and avoid common writing pitfalls.
BONUS: Novel in a Year Notion workspace
A personalized workspace directly in the Notion App where you can track your progress, goals and learning.
- A month-by-month and week-by-week recommended schedule to make sure the program doesn’t feel overwhelming.
- Trackers for your word count, learning and extra reading.
- In-workspace templates, such as character sheets, moodboard building, and an awesome chapter organizer.
- Note-keeping and writing spaces where you can type your novel directly.
- A focus room where you can build your custom sound atmosphere and set focus times for your writing sessions.
BONUS: Digital Library
E-Books Library &
Cheatsheets
Course workbooks for Novel Nook & Plot Academy and Pro at Prose and bonus resource booklets amounting to 100+ pages of learning and exercises.
Additional cheatsheets for prose writing and resource vaults, all in pdf format you can keep for a lifetime.
Templates &
Spreadsheets
From chapter treatments to character sheets, my iconic-1 page outline, vocabulary banks, character voice templates and more.
These templates are all fully customizable and can be filled in directly through a pdf viewer or edited and customized inside Canva.
This is everything you get by enrolling today:
Novel Nook &
Plot Academy
Pro at
Prose
Writer
Unblocker
Digital Library &
Templates
Group Coaching
& Write-ins
Surprise
Workshops
Novel in a Year
Notion Workspace
Live support &
Community
Get the Novel Nook Program for:
Pay in full
Ksh. 240,000
And get...
YOUR PAY IN FULL BONUS:
Feedback on 5,000
words of your writing
during the program
1 year of access to the full curriculum and live coaching support. Keep all digital downloads.
PAYMENT PLAN
(12 Months)
Ksh. 20,000 / month
12 installments of Ksh 20,000 billed monthly
1 year of access to the full curriculum and live coaching support. Keep all digital downloads.
Join our priority waitlist for a chance to secure your spot and gain access.
Find out more about the program!
This is for you if....
If you find yourself constantly questioning whether your project is good enough and getting stuck in writer's block. You don't have clarity on your project or you need some support and accountability.
Once you’re done with this program, you should have confidence about your writing and knowledge to repeat this process for any book your write again. You should have a transformed relationship with writing, so that it never feels like an impossible task again.
This course is GREAT For
- beginning writers
- seasoned writers looking to shake up writing approach and learn something new
- writers who struggle to actually write
- writers who want support and accountability
This course is NOT for:
- writers looking for magic tricks
- writers unwilling to put effort into practice
- writers unwilling to shed excuses and open their minds to a nurturing positive approach
- writers who don’t want to find a deeper purpose in their writing
No more crippling self-doubt or unhealthy relationships to writing....
It’s time to stop forcing unattainable routines and making yourself hate writing even more.
This program aims to give you a truly transformative year-long journey to teach you more about writing like a kid again. You won’t need a writing routine, because you’ll want to write all the time, anyway.
FAQ --- Got questions?
Yes, you can!
Whether you already have a few ideas in mind or have absolutely no idea what to write about, we do cover this in Novel Nook & Plot Academy, and the first two months of the program are dedicated to preparing your project. In fact, you actually get an idea vault of 100 story prompts as a bonus to this course!
This program is designed for beginners and writers alike, so you don’t need to have ever written a thing in your life. Most members never have. You will get ample advice, and reading examples to strengthen your prose, too.
You have access to the video lessons and the group chat with coaching and writing events for exactly a year from the date you joined.
You will be able to keep your Novel in a Year: Notion Workspace, as well as all the included workbooks & templates past forever, and you can always reach out to me at the end to sign up for another year at your same joining fee
We usually open the doors to the public every few months, but if you join the waitlist, you actually get priority to the spots.
Currently, the expected waif for the people on the waitlist is about 4 weeks.
Most live events are held in the Google meet with all the other students inside the course. These include:
- Office hours where you can attend a live stream to chat with me and get advice on your project or ask questions you want clarified. These will be held a minimum of once a month and adjusted depending on the WhatsApp group activity & necessity to arrange the Google Meet.
- Writing sprints or write-ins where you can come hang with me or one of my admins to sit and write for a few hours. These will be scheduled weekly.
All events are typically hosted between 5-8pm. Office hours are always on weekends, while write-ins tend to happen on Fridays, and happen more often outside of the scheduled one.
Other events will be additional workshops or special events (like writing challenges), typically hosted on Google meet and these may be simple lectures, or the kind where participation is expected. There will be a minimum of 3 events like this held in a year, and the topic will be decided by the members!
You can access all previous workshops with your curriculum as well, even from before you joined the program.
I totally understand this concern, but i want to share here that some of my most successful clients are typically the busiest ones too: moms with jobs and family obligations, students with learning and part-time jobs etc. so you shouldn’t let this hold you back.
This program is created in a way to transform your relationship with writing into something you love, so you don’t find it as just another stressful thing you have to do in your day, but rather a way for you to unwind and truly enjoy your hobby.
The schedule you stick to is also customizable and created in a way that can fit your own approach to writing. It’s there to motivate instead of overwhelm. You can take things a week at a time, or focus on the monthly goals (these usually work better for me!) – either way, you have the option. And when things are broken down and structured properly, you’ll see you don’t actually have to write as much as you think.
We support all major debit and credit cards, MPESA, AIRTEL MONEY..
We offer a 30-day guarantee if you find the learning provided inside the program unfitting to the description on this landing page. Please note that this program isn’t a subscription, but a 12-month installment plan to manage affordability, which means we don’t support cancellations, pauses or delays.
Make sure that when you’re starting this program you commit to the 12 months to get the most out of this experience. You don’t have to be present for the entirety of the program to benefit from it, and the schedule is adjustable to you, so even if you fall behind a little, you can catch up on your own time, but we unfortunately can’t grant extensions.
Content such as the video lessons and live access to the program (groupchat, live events and support) will expire in 365 days from your starting date, but you will still be able to keep the Ebooks, exercises, templates, and your Notion workspace indefinitely, even if you do not participate in the live portion of the program.
I am always available to answer any queries you may have on info@doreenkhamalabooks.ke to make sure this is the right investment for you before you commit.
By joining today on either payment plan you receive all of the core-program bonuses:
- All workbooks and templates included in Novel Nook & Plot Academy and Pro at Prose
- The Writer Unblocker video course with the corresponding workbook
- The Novel in a Year: Notion workspace
If you join today by paying in full, you will also receive:
- Physical Product: All my four (4) books (print copy) without any pay and a book
- This product ships out within 1 week of your joining the program
