There is no doubt that the time from October through January is “Prime Time” when it comes to book sales. Which is why every year, you see people start to remind you in the middle of the summer that … Christmas is coming…
Of course you should be thinking ahead, but not just to the coming Christmas…instead to ALL holidays to come. If you have Christmas stories published by this year’s holiday season, they will be there still for you to earn from next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and…
Since I’ve come to know Britt Malka, she went from a woman who only wrote and published nonfiction, to one who publishes fiction stories very quickly, and then to one who teaches her methods to others.
So I was intrigued to read the Partridge Method, her guide to publishing short holiday fiction.
The Partridge Method: How to Write Your Christmas Novella in 12 Days
First off, I love the title. She named it, of course, after the popular Christmas song: The 12 Days of Christmas, which you probably know starts out on the first day of Christmas with a partridge in a pear tree.
But she isn’t talking about 12 days of Christmas, she’s talking about 12 days of writing to get a Christmas novella done. And not even 12 long, hard days. Just 12 days of 1-2 hours per day. Is that even possible?
Yes, it is possible with the Partridge Method. In it, you get a chapter by chapter outline of everything that goes into a Christmas romance…which is the MOST popular kind of Christmas story there is.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at Christmas TV schedules every year. In addition to the holiday cartoons for kids, there is a Christmas romance TV movie on just about every other day.
Check the Hallmark Channel, in particular. Some days, there are Christmas romance movie marathons…where you get back-to-back sappy holiday love stories all day long.
And the good thing for you is that these things practically write themselves, especially when you have a formula. And with the Partridge Method, Britt’s got your formula.
So let’s go into a bit of a summary of what’s covered, then I’ll give you my thoughts.
A the beginning, it starts out by explaining why 12 days (because you’ll be writing a chapter a day and there will be 12 chapters.)
Then she moves on to types of Christmas stories, and brainstorming ideas. (And if you need MORE ideas, just Google Christmas romance movies and you’ll get a whole stocking full! LOL)
Then she covers your characters, goals, setting, and the “love connection.”
And then…starting on page 23, she starts getting into the good stuff: the structure.She talks about two fiction plot structures, and tells you exactly how your story will be laid out and moves right into going over a chapter by chapter outline (beginning on page 34 – with examples) so that you can find an easy flow to writing these stories.
Examples given include both a Christian one and a secular one, so you can see that you aren’t limited to just one type of Christmas approach.
You get the main PDF guide that shows you exactly how to do all of this, and you also get a workbook, so you can do it for yourself in a “fill-in-the-blanks” fashion.
The story structure is going to be the same whether you write in a Christmas theme or not, and having a formula to write your stories just streamlines the whole process.
What do I think?
Britt’s guide will help you write your fiction (holiday stories or not) at record speed. It’s as close to having a formula as you can get, and yes, formula fiction sells. I like that this has a holiday approach, because it gets you thinking about writing in themes for certain holidays, and planning ahead for those holidays.
Start writing your Christmas stories in the summer, your Valentine’s day romance in the fall, your summer love stories in the late winter, etc.
Having a story structure guide can be important too, if you’re using ghostwriters. It can give you both a way to outline for your writers to write from, and a way for you to check their work to make sure it fits the formula you want to publish with.
But whatever you do, don’t skip over page 22. It’s a one-page chapter that gives you some very important advice that’ll help you keep a tight focus on your story’s theme.
Which will give you a better story, AND make it easier to write.
Even if you don’t write one book every two weeks – which would give you a dozen if you started now – you can easily write 5 or 6 books. Then you could publish them individually and in boxed sets, and have VERY nice Christmas royalty checks this year.
Check Out the Partridge Method of Writing Christmas Novellas in 12 Days
For a temporary time, you can use the following coupon code for a $25 discount: XmasJuly
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