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Lynn Johnston

How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes

How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes by Lynn Johnston is a fantastic resource for fiction authors. Lynn has already been one of my favorite fiction teachers for quite some time now, and this latest workshop of hers covers one of the most crucial aspects of fiction writing: making sure your scenes aren’t boring.

You see, it really doesn’t matter how great your plot is, or how well-developed your characters are if the scenes aren’t properly structured. Scenes are what move the story, and if that part isn’t working, the story doesn’t work. Period.

So take a look at this list of scene problems and ask yourself if you recognize your own story issues:

  • slow scenes
  • boring scenes
  • meandering scenes
  • scenes without enough conflict
  • low-tension scenes
  • scenes without a climax
  • scenes that don’t move the story forward

Lynn’s workshop will show you how to fix all of these by writing stronger scenes, using scene structure techniques at both the macro and micro level.

I asked Lynn to give my readers some insight into how to use her new course, depending on their writing style. Whether you are a pantser or a plotter, or even if you hire a ghostwriter to write your stories, How to Write Kick-Ass Scenes will help you make your fiction stronger.

Watch the short video walk-through to see how, and to get a peek inside the course at what you can expect to learn.


If you have any questions for Lynn about this course, or if you’ve already picked this up and want to share your thoughts, be sure to leave your comments below.

And if you don’t have this one yet, you can get it right here:

How To Write Kick-Ass Scenes

Enjoy!

Teresa Miller

Dynamic Characterization – A Review

Dynamic Characterization ReviewOver the years of writing instructional information, my fiction muscles have definitely atrophied. So now that dear Hubby John and I are writing fiction together (he’s the brainstorm together part, I’m the writing part) I’m on a constant lookout for things that will help me hone my skills in that department.

I’ve been very frustrated to discover that the beautiful, smart and funny people I can see in my head are having a hard time looking quite so beautiful, smart and funny on my pages.

I know that I’m supposed to know my characters inside and out. I know that it’s important for me to understand their motivations, their hopes and dreams, their fears and flaws. But to be totally honest, I’ve been feeling a little bit…blocked. (Yes I’m sure that reveals something about MY hopes and dreams and fears and flaws.)

So I was very happy when my friend Lynn Johnston asked me to review her new product: Dynamic Characterization.

When I opened the zip file, I found 27 PDFs. Yes, 27. And I was a happy camper, because they included a bunch of worksheets…or should I say playsheets? Because this is fun stuff!

There are:

13 PDF Lessons (an Introduction + Lessons 1-12.) The lessons run anywhere from 4-12 pages, and include instruction, examples, and then a homework exercise (usually one of the worksheets.)

There are 12 worksheets + one that is filled out as a sample. Worksheets are 1-4 pages each except for one that is 7 pages, but that’s because it has more columns and is in landscape orientation.

And finally, you get a list of personality traits.

If I could make one suggestion to Lynn, that would be to number the worksheets to match the corresponding lesson, but that’s just being nit-picky. It clearly tells you in each lesson which of the worksheets to use, and if you print this out, like I intend to, you can arrange things in the order that works.

That’s the way it’s really intended to be used anyway, as a lesson-by-lesson course or workshop. Go through it in order and don’t just try to fill out the worksheets without reading the lessons. You won’t get nearly as much out of it!

If you prefer to just read a book that tells you what to do, this is not it. But if you like to take things in bite-sized increments and then do the practice, you’ll really get a lot out of Dynamic Characterization.

Check Out Dynamic Characterization:

Dynamic Characterization ReviewMuch Happiness and Success!

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