Coach Rose
Want to Know What Coach Rose Does?
You may well know that Coach Rose is the AI coach I personally developed for the new Novel Compass for Romantasy Novels online course. I spent my career as a senior scientist focusing on AI and neural networks, so it was a natural thing for me to create a coach to give all my students instant 24/7 access to help.
But I'm sure you've experienced AI bots that are way less than helpful. Yep. Me too. That's why I worked hard to make Coach Rose, the AI coach INCLUDED in the course to be a warm, supportive, and most of all, HELPFUL coach!
Don't believe it till you see it? Below are a series of typical questions and the UNEDITED responses that Coach Rose gave. Judge for yourself.
And if you want to learn more about the Novel Compass for Romantasy Novels online course just click the button below.
Q: I don't understand what's different between the novel compass and other systems like Hero's Journey or Save the Cat?
Great question! Let me explain what makes Novel Compass distinctive on its own terms.
The Novel Compass is built around your story's specific engine rather than a predetermined checklist. Here are the key things that set it apart:
Structure and character arc are one system, not two. Most approaches have you build a plot and then layer a character arc on top of it. The Novel Compass treats them as a single interlocking engine from the start. Every structural phase has an arc function, and every arc moment has structural support. They're taught together because they work together.
The relationship web is a structural element, not a subplot. In many approaches, the protagonist is the center and everyone else is supporting cast. The Novel Compass gives the web of allies, opponents, and fake-ally opponents its own structural phase, because in genre fiction like romantasy, relationships aren't a subplot. They are the story.
The architecture emerges from your story. Rather than asking you to hit certain marks at certain percentages of your manuscript, the Novel Compass starts from your story's specific engine and builds outward from there. The phases tell you what to accomplish. Your genre, your story, and your instincts tell you how.
It's built for novelists, not screenwriters. The system was designed specifically for long-form genre fiction, including the demands of a big romantasy novel.
Which lesson are you currently working on? That will help me point you toward where these ideas show up in the course material!
Q: I'm not really working on a romantasy. I want to write a big science fiction novel. I have a great idea for it, but don't know how to start. Will this course really help me?
Great question, and the short answer is yes!
The course uses romantasy as its teaching example throughout (we follow Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing as the model), so you will be translating the examples to your own genre as you go. But the core method is built on principles that work across genres, including science fiction.
Here is what that looks like in practice. The character foundation work (building your protagonist's Wound, Lie, Truth, Want, and Need) works exactly the same way whether your character is a space explorer or a dragon rider. The Genre Contract and Reader Contract apply to science fiction just as much as romantasy. The braided story chain, where your external plot and your character's internal journey are woven together, is just as essential in a big SF novel as in romantasy. And the course specifically addresses how to handle the "dreaded middle 50%" of a long novel, which is exactly the challenge a big science fiction story presents.
The one thing to keep in mind is that romantasy requires a central romance woven into the plot. If your science fiction novel has a strong romance thread, the full method applies directly. If romance is lighter or absent in your story, most of the method still applies, but you would adapt the romance storyline portions to whatever your second major plot thread is.
So the foundation work, the character dynamics, the structure, the world building guidance, all of it is genuinely useful for what you are building.
Which lesson are you working on right now? That will help me point you in the right direction!
Q: I'm working on Lesson 1 and I don't really understand the Lie. Can you clarify what that means for me?
Of course! The Lie is one of the most important pieces of your character foundation, so it's worth really understanding it.
Here's the core idea: the Lie is a false belief your character holds about themselves or the world, formed as a result of their Wound.
A few things that help make it click:
It's not a factual mistake. It's an emotional or philosophical one. A worldview the character has adopted that feels completely true to them, but is actually limiting them.
It's sympathetic. This is crucial. The reader should be able to look at your character's Lie and think "I understand completely why they believe that." It shouldn't seem irrational or silly. Given what the character went through (the Wound), the Lie should feel like the only logical conclusion they could have drawn.
It shows up in behavior, not thought.Your character isn't thinking "I believe people always leave." They're declining invitations, keeping people at arm's length, volunteering for solo assignments. The Lie expresses itself through action.
It's what the story must eventually challenge. The whole arc is about the character moving from the Lie toward the Truth.
A quick example from the course: Violet's Wound is her physical fragility and her mother's harsh treatment. Her Lie is that she is meant to be a Scribe, not a Rider. She genuinely believes she doesn't belong there.
Does that help clarify it? Do you have a character in mind you're working on? I'd love to help you think through their Lie!
Q: I don't have time to fill out these worksheets. Can you just do this one for me? It's Lesson 1, Worksheet 1.2
I completely understand the time pressure! But here's the thing: if I fill it out for you, the tropes won't actually fit your story. They'll be mine, not yours, and you'll feel that disconnect the moment you try to build on them in later lessons.
What I can do is make this go faster by working through it with you conversationally, so you're doing the thinking without it feeling like a slog.
Worksheet 1.2 is about choosing and twisting tropes, so let's start with just one quick question to get moving:
What's the core emotional experience you want your reader to walk away with? Something like "the thrill of two enemies who can't resist each other" or "the wonder of discovering hidden power" — whatever feels most alive to you about your story.
That one answer will point us straight toward your anchor tropes and make the rest of the worksheet much faster to fill in. What comes to mind?
Q: Why can't I go to the part of the course that I really need, Lesson 6? Why do I have to slog through Lessons 1-5 first. I know what I'm doing as a writer.
That's a fair frustration, especially if you've got experience and you're eager to get to the story braiding work in Lesson 6.
Here's the honest reason the course is built the way it is:
Lesson 6 is where you braid everything together, which means it depends on everything you built in Lessons 1 through 5. Specifically:
- Your braided story chain needs your character foundations (Wound, Lie, Want, Need) from Lessons 1 and 2.
- It needs your world building from Lesson 3.
- It needs your relationship web from Lesson 4.
- It needs your Inciting Event and Resistance from Lesson 5.
Without those pieces in place, Lesson 6 doesn't have much to work with. You'd essentially be braiding air.
The good news for an experienced writer is that you may move through the earlier lessons faster than someone newer to craft. A lot of the thinking might already be in your head. The worksheets are just helping you get it onto paper in the specific form the Compass method needs.
So rather than skipping ahead, I'd encourage you to treat Lessons 1 through 5 as a targeted diagnostic. You might surprise yourself by discovering one piece that wasn't as solid as you thought, and that's exactly the piece Lesson 6 will need.
Want to get back to Worksheet 1.2 and see how quickly we can move through it together?
Q: How do I get the free e-books promised with this course?
Great question! The four free e-books included with your course are delivered through BookFunnel. Here's how to get them:
- Go to the lesson page where the download links are listed. You'll find the links below the video in the Welcome lesson (Lesson 0).
- Click the download link for each book.
- BookFunnel will guide you through getting the books in a format that works with your e-reader.
The four books you get are:
- Story Tropes by Genre
- Start Your Story Right
- Mastering Plot & Character Dynamics
- The Comprehensive Guide to World Building
If you run into any trouble downloading or getting the books onto your e-reader, BookFunnel's tech support is your best resource. They're prompt and helpful, and they specialize in exactly this kind of thing.
Once you have your books, you're all set to dive into the lessons! Is there anything else I can help you with?