Workshop
pacing your story
$12
Structure your story so that the reader goes on a rollercoaster of emotions, raising tension and releasing it. Learn to slow down or speed up your story.
Barbara Vance
Instructor
12
lessons
57m
video runtime
1
downloads
Course Description
Once we have a sense of the scenes in our story, we need to consider how much space each takes up in the plot and how we will bring them to life in a way that makes the reader feel the story is moving swiftly forward. This course will help you avoid lags in your writing and tech you to appropriately map out moments of tension and release so your reader goes on a rollercoaster of emotions.
This workshop addresses:
- How pacing influences story design
- Balancing tension and release in a story
- How to speed a story up and slow it down
- Cliff hangers & chapter breaks
- Creating questions for the reader
- Suspense and pacing
- Word choice and sentence structure
This course includes
- An extensive class outline to follow along with the video lessons
- A comprehensive workbook that helps you pace your story so it has appropriate tension and release of tension
- Numerous literary excerpts and examples with coinciding video lessons
What's Inside
This course includes extensive notes to follow along with the video lessons, and a workbook that will help you consider how to pace out the scenes in your story.
Course Content
What People Are Saying
“Gonna be honest, didn’t think I needed this one. Ha, yea. Wrong. As usual, Barbara has a good reason for making a workshop out of it. I have been working through the story design sequence and almost just skipped this because I wanted to get to the first Chapter workshop. Mistake. While aspects of this one relate to how you actually write the story (as opposed to design), other parts of it seriously influence design. I’d say it enhances the Build Suspense workshop by further fleshing out how suspense relates to timing. I made a few really critical shifts to the order of scenes in my story and how much time I spend on them. Five stars.”
Mark
Student
“WOW, Barbara, please make a workshop that delves into the word-level pacing also. It was my favorite part of this workshop, and I want to dive deeper!!”
Ada
Student
“Very good. Short, but essential. The literary examples are very helpful.”
Pete
Student
“Really good. Love the best practices advice, I’m reading all of my work differently now.”
Sophia
Student
“Great workshop—the whole story design series is fabulous.”
Sascha
Student
Barbara Vance, PhD
I am a writer and instructor who has been blessed to help thousands of writers bring their stories to life.
My degrees include a B.A. in literature, an MA in Literature and Creative Writing, and a PhD in storytelling and media. Prior to launching my own company, I taught writing and storytelling at a tier-one university.
Over the past sixteen years I have developed a widely acclaimed collection of courses designed to help writers develop their stories, stay on track, and finish what they start . . . even while juggling busy careers and a family.
I am also the author of a multi-award-winning poetry collection, and my poems are licensed for use in anthologies and curricula around the world.
No Risk 7-day, Money-back Guarantee
If you take the course and don’t feel like it helped, simply reach out to us, show us you have made an effort, and we will refund your full investment.
