April... Adding Tension

Adding Tension to Your Writing to Hold Readers

What grips a reader? What holds a reader in a story? The answer is tension. Tension in plot, in writing style, in character.

Tension can be set up in many ways in a story or novel and this weekend-long workshop gives you a bunch of techniques to build tension to make sure your stories will not let a reader go.

Remember the last time you couldn’t stop reading a book because you just needed to know what happens next? That’s one form of tension.

When your readers actually care about what happens to a character in your book. That’s tension.

There are many other forms of tension. This weekend workshop will help you understand them and give you techniques to use going forward in any story in any genre.

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Starts at 12:01 a.m. US Pacific Coast Time on Thursday April 12th. If you are signed up, make sure you log in and look at the videos early on Thursday, April 12th. Six or seven videos will appear each morning. An assignment will be due that evening if you want to do it. Workshop goes four days, ends on Sunday without an assignment. There will be about thirty teaching videos total when all finished.


Your Instructor


Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith

With over twenty-three million copies of his books in print, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith now brings you original fiction every month for the past three years in his own magazine, Smith’s Monthly.

Dean wrote over twenty-five original Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, plus Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man novels, and others. He wrote many gaming novels including Final Fantasy.

He wrote novels and stories under almost fifty pen names and did scripts for Hollywood as well as being an editor for various magazines. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch. You can follow his writing life at www.deanwesleysmith.com


Course Curriculum


  General Introduction to the Weekender Workshops
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  Day #1
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  Day #2
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Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The Weekender Courses start at 12:01 US West Coast Time on the designated Thursday. All videos will be uploaded by Sunday morning. It will stay on your dashboard for as long as you like to revisit. For lectures and classic workshops, the course starts now and stays on your dashboard for as long as you like! They are completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish. For the monthly regular workshops, each has a start date and each week's lectures will appear on the same day. After the course is finished it will remain on your dashboard for as long as you like.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
Who can I contact about the course?
If you have any questions at all about anything in a course, simply email dean with the word "workshop" in the subject line. His email is [email protected]

Get started now!