Plotting, Pace and Tension with Caroline Green

Course Summary:

This course will take you through the fundamentals of plotting your story by introducing you to a range of techniques and tips that will ensure your book is built on a strong framework from the beginning. You will also learn how pace your novel so your reader will keep turning the pages, with plenty of tension to keep them hooked throughout.

Course Outline:

Week One: Getting started. Finding the story and mapping out where it might go. Fundamentals of plotting, including different tools you can use from ‘snowflakes’ to the Hero’s Journey to plotting with notecards and post-its.

Week Two: Elements of pacing. From working out the chronology of events in your story to all the different ways you can handle pace through language and movement through scenes.

Week Three: Handling tension for a page-turning story. Looking at the different tricks and techniques you can use to ensnare your reader, from hooks and twists to understanding the tool of ‘psychic distance’.

Each session will include a range of written exercises. You can submit a piece of up to 1,000 words at the end of the course for direct feedback.

Course Outcomes:

The participant will come away with an understanding of how plotting techniques can help them plan their novel, along with tools for handling its pace and tension.

Caroline Green is an award-winning and Sunday Times/ USA Today bestselling author for both adults and young people. She has published twelve books; under her own name, as Cass Green and as CS Green. She is the Writer in Residence at East Barnet School and Pentonville Prison, and runs courses for City University and Writers and Artists Yearbook.

Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.