For more than 20 years, Dancing on Coals Workshops have been a favorite among fiction writers, talking about conflict, motivation, goals, scene structure, plotting and more.
Scroll down to see which workshops are currently available in Kindle format, and check back each month for the newest addition.
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Spinning Straw into Gold:
The Art and Craft of Revisions
Based on the popular online workshop that focuses on revising your novel once you’ve finished the first draft. This book will take you from rough first-draft to polished finished product by putting all your skills together. Learn how to look at the whole landscape instead of just that cloud in the corner, how to revise in waves when necessary and how to revise the manuscript as a whole as well as scene by scene. You'll learn how to make sure your characters have come to life, your conflict is real and believable, your characters believably motivated and your sensory texture is richly drawn.
Where to buy your copy of Spinning Straw into Gold:
In the US| In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Creating Characters with Character
From hero and heroine to protagonist and antagonist, main characters to sidekicks and walk-ons, you'll learn the art and craft of breathing life into the characters in your story. Learn how to uncover what drives your characters emotionally, what they want from life and what they value. Explore the best uses of point-of-view and perspective, and learn how to find your characters' unique voices. Learn successful techniques for conducting character interviews and getting your characters' emotions out of your head and onto the page.
You'll walk away from this workshop knowing how to add those special touches that will take your characters from ordinary to extraordinary in every book you write.\
Where to buy your copy of Creating Characters with Character:
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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In and Out:
Putting Characters in Conflict
Putting Characters in Conflict
This book focuses on the art and craft of conflict, both internal and external, and on weaving those conflicts together in ways that are fresh, exciting, and powerful enough to catch the reader's or an editor's eye.
With this book you'll learn to understand how a character's core beliefs create conflict, how internal and external conflicts work together, how to make sure you're using conflict as a double-edged sword, and much more!
One of Dancing on Coals' most popular workshops.
Where to buy your copy of In and Out: Putting Characters in Conflict:
Where to buy your copy of Why, Why, Why? Mastering Character Motivation:
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Why, Why, Why?
Mastering Character Motivation
Why, Why, Why? Mastering Character Motivation, is a writing craft workshop focused on helping you create strong, realistic motivation for the characters in your novels.
Motivation is one of the key elements of any novel. Strong, believable motivation can drive your story from page one to the final scene, while weak or unrealistic motivation can be the kiss of death. In this workshop, we discuss how to avoid clichéd and contrived motivations and how to build on your basic characterization to create characters that actively push your story forward. We also tackle that dreaded nemesis of so many writers—author intrusion.
This is a great follow-up to Creating Characters with Character, our workshop on characterization, but can also stand alone, especially if you've already some preliminary work with your characters. This workshop has been presented in part at various writer’s conferences, including Romance Writers of America annual conference in Washington, D.C. (2009) and an excerpt from it was published as an article in RWA’s trade journal, Romance Writers Report.
Where to buy your copy of Why, Why, Why? Mastering Character Motivation:
In the US| In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Avoiding Author Intrusion
Author intrusion jars readers, slows the pacing of your work, and puts a barrier between your reader and the story's emotion. It often brings about contrived or impossible situations and breaks that magical connection between story-teller and reader. In this book, we’ll take a close look at author intrusion—one of fiction's most deadly diseases. We'll talk about what it is, identify how it shows up in your work and, most importantly, help you understand what to do about it and how to avoid it.
Where to buy your copy of Avoiding Author Intrusion
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Mastering Scene and Sequel
In this book you'll learn to:
- Identify the anatomy of scene and sequel '
- Use scene/sequel structure to build tension and highlight conflict
- Use that structure to drive your story forward
- Create hooks that keep the reader turning pages
- Make characterization, motivation & conflict work together powerfully
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Organic Plotting
The workshop is focused on creating the basic blueprint of your story, not on the details you'll bring to the manuscript as you write. This method can be as simple or as detailed as YOU choose to make it, leaving you free to have the best of both writing worlds—a blueprint to follow and the freshness of writing organically, creating and remaining open to changes as you write.
You'll learn how determine what drives your story from beginning to end, how to decide on subplots for your story, how to identify turning points, how to weave plots and subplots together effectively, and more.
Where to buy your copy of Organic Plotting:
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
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Dodging the Dreaded Saggy Middle
Every writer has encountered at least one—the dreaded saggy middle of the novel-in-progress. It’s that place between set-up and climactic ending where conflict often droops, motivation wilts, and scenes begin to feel repetitive. This book contains the full content of the original 4-week workshop. You’ll learn how to work with your characters, their goals, conflicts, and motivation to keep the story fresh all the way through. You’ll learn to use pacing and timing to create a story that will keep readers, agents, and editors hooked from beginning to end. Each chapter contains an exercise designed to let you try the techniques on your own work in progress.
Where to buy your copy of Dodging the Dreaded Saggy Middle:
In the US | In Canada | In the UK | In Australia
Watch for more of your favorite Dancing on Coals writing workshops on Kindle soon.
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