Coaching & Consulting for People Who Want to Tell the Real Story
The briefcase in Pulp Fiction. The One Ring.
The new book you just thought of….
What do they have in common? They're all MacGuffins — things that seem essential right up until they're not.
As writers, we use MacGuffins and red herrings to challenge our characters, drive their development, and spice up our plots. But our real life doesn’t need those complications.
If you've been working toward becoming an author for years and your genre, book, and/or voice still feel clear as mud, you may be working on the wrong things.
At MacGuffin House, we focus on your life as a writer, not just what you’re writing. It takes courage, focus, and persistence to finish a piece of writing, whether it’s 5,000 words or 150,000.
Our approach is unique, because it’s grounded in both writing craft and human development and psychology. Who you are informs how you write, not just through your characters and themes, but in how you show up with your readers and community.
Each session is tailored to you and your needs. Struggling to get past chapter 3? Terrified to do your first public reading? Furious that your main character won’t do what he’s told? Avoiding marketing your book? Any and all of this is great! It means you’re in the thick of being a writer. And we can help.
Want a little more structure in your coaching? Tap into one of our Plotlines (read more below).Wherever you are on your writing journey, we help you find clarity, make progress, and feel confident in your power as a writer.
Not sure where to start?
The free 30-minute Discovery Call is a diagnostic, not a sales pitch. You talk, I listen for what you already have, what's missing, and which Plotline fits.
schedule now »
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For when you're still figuring out the plot.
We're not going to ask you to fill out another worksheet or ICA questionnaire. You've probably answered "who do you help and with what?" so many times it's lost all meaning. Worksheets can only surface what you already know how to say.
So, what happens when you only have a glimmer of an idea?
The Premise starts with a 90-minute behavioral interview — not a quiz, a skilled research conversation designed to surface the through-line in your life and work. What follows is a synthesis report that maps what you're actually good at to real market opportunities, with two or three viable directions and the evidence behind each one. Then we schedule a 60-minute debrief to figure out what resonates and where to go next.
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Learn who your audience is — and how to reach them.
Building a great audience, like crafting a memorable character, is all about the details. The Character Study gives you that level of detail about your natural audience — who they are, what they actually want, where they spend their time, and what makes them feel like they've finally found their person.
Reports are tailored to what you need:
For writers: Author brand research (who wants to read what you write, and what they want from the authors they follow), or book/series research (genre expectations, how readers in your niche find recommendations, what your cover and blurb need to signal to make someone stop scrolling).
For solopreneurs and small businesses: Business or personal brand research (your market position, where the white space is, and what your audience is actually afraid of — not just what they say they want), or single product/service research (what customers have already tried, why it fell short, and what would make them say yes to something new).
Every Character Study includes a 90-minute debrief to think through how to apply what you learn.
The Character Study can be purchased on its own or after The Premise. If you already know your direction and want to know more about your people, this is a strong entry point.
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For anyone who has ever said, “I know what I do, I just don’t know how to say it.”
Every good plot twist reframes what you already know so the story finally makes sense. That's what this Plotline does: translates everything we've learned about you and your audience into positioning, copy, and a communications strategy that is true to you.
This isn't a rebrand, starting from scratch, or curating a more palatable version of yourself for public consumption. It's giving your communications a glow-up from the inside out—grounded in research, not guesswork.
Every decision is made with the data in hand, because knowing what you value and what your audience responds to changes everything.
The Plot Twist is the natural next step after The Premise and/or The Character Study. (In some cases, clients who already have strong clarity can start here after a discovery conversation.)
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For anyone ready for their big reveal.
Most people start with a hunch and end up with a homepage that sounds like everyone else's. The Full MacGuffin is the complete arc — from figuring out what you're actually about, to understanding who your audience really is, to knowing exactly how to talk about your work so the right people find you.
Three Plotlines. One through-line.
The Premise starts with a 90-minute behavioral interview designed to surface the through-line in your life and work. What follows is a synthesis report mapping your zones of genius to actual market opportunities, with two or three viable directions and the evidence to back them up — plus a 60-minute debrief to figure out what resonates and where to go next.
The Character Study gives you a detailed picture of your natural audience — who they are, what they want, where they spend their time, and what makes them feel like they've finally found their person. Includes a 90-minute debrief to think through what you can and want to do with what we find.
The Plot Twist translates everything — what you know about yourself and what you know about your audience — into positioning, copy, and a communications approach that reflects who you are. No guessing. No starting from scratch. Just clarity, on the page.
“Your report saved me 2-5 hours or more of interviewing people that I “hope” are ideal clients but may not be, and then throwing the transcripts in Notebook LM and asking questions until I get something that feels useful.
This gave me so much more!”
“I didn’t realize how much I needed coaching until the ‘ah ha’ moments started flowing.
In six months, my whole business has changed. I’m happier, less stressed, and starting to enjoy my work again.”
“I’m the Hallmark story — the businesswoman who left the city for the small town. No billionaire lumberjack was waiting, but something better was: finally knowing how to say what I do and why it matters.
MacGuffin House helped me find the narrative I’d been living for 25+ years but never quite knew how to say out loud — and in doing so, uncovered the soul I’d buried in the work all along.”
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