Break That Story: When to End Sentences, Paragraphs, Scenes and ChaptersWhen do you properly break a sentence, paragraph, scene or chapter for the best impact in fiction? How do you know when a chapter is done? When is a scene complete? What are effective paragraphing tactics? Write material for detailed feedback. $99.
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Why Take this Course? |
This class is for anyone writing, or wanting to write, short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels, memoirs or creative non-fiction. A substantial number of people writing fiction get sentencing and paragraphing wrong according the rules. And an even larger number of writers create weak prose that could be strengthened immensely by these guidelines for creating a more pleasant reading experience.
Maybe you're just starting writing or have been doing it for a long time, but never quite got the hang of some things. Or maybe you've got the rules down pat, but you feel your prose style could improve with more attention to details. Make your stories more emotionally engaging, musically graceful, intellectually sophisticated, clear and readable. Do you struggle with the best place to put a period in your sentences? Do you habitually write lots of short simple sentences that begin with I, he, or the person's name? Do you know how to create a pleasing cadence? Do you write sentences that go on and on and you don't know how to tame them? Do you falter when it comes to the correct way to use dialogue in sentences and paragraphs? Do you wonder when you should hit the Return key when you're writing a paragraph? Do you write super long paragraphs, and that seems natural to you? Do you feel unclear on whether all paragraphs are supposed to be around the same length? Do you know if it's acceptable to write a one-word paragraph? Do you feel you're so used to organizing paragraphs in expository writing that you don't intuitively understand doing it in fiction? Do you have any idea when to end a scene? Do you know what a scene is? Do know how long a Sequel is supposed to be - if you're familiar with the Scene/Sequel model)? Do you think you'd be confident in writing a one sentence scene? Do you know how many scenes go in a chapter? Do you know if you have to change to a new chapter for a new Point of View (POV) character? Do you want to know how to use sentencing, paragraphing, etc. to make your fiction more exciting, immersive, funny and profound just by going full-stop at the ideal times? Sign Up! |
How Take this Course? |
Go to the page for the course HERE. You will be prompted to sign up for free with Thinkific, if you aren't already, and then asked to pay the startling low introductory price.
The most useful part of the course is not reading the assignments or taking the quizzes, but the chance to turn in writing and receive feedback from your instructor. That's extremely rare to find in online classes unless they're much more expensive, so rejoice! The pacing of this course is up to you. You could do it all in one long day if you have the time, stamina and ability to retain that much at once as well as writing quite a bit of creative material for me to respond to. You could do each section whenever you get around to it. Or you could stick to a plan of one lesson per week. Sometimes knowing no one will read your work can be liberating. However, if you'd like my feedback, post your homework in the Discussion under the Exercise pages. You'll be asked to write twenty sentences, a few paragraphs, at least part of two scenes, and at least part of two chapters; you may post entire scenes and chapters if you wish. I'll let you know if you're using periods or the Return key at the correct times and for the best impact on your readers. If you aren't, I'll edit and suggest ways to improve. |