kevintjohns@gmail.com – Page 29 – Kevin T. Johns, Writing Coach

August 7, 2017

Theme and Controlling Idea are NOT the Same Thing

Many authors, literary critics, and High School English teachers conflate a book’s “theme” and “controlling idea” into the same concept, implying both terms mean the message of the book. I prefer to differentiate

August 5, 2017

How to Create Charismatic Characters — Part 5: Supporting and Minor Characters

In the first four parts of this series, we’ve explored character creation largely in the context of main characters, i.e. protagonists and antagonists. But our novels are, of course, filled

August 4, 2017

How to Create Charismatic Characters — Part 4: Twilight/Hunger Games Case Study

In part 3 of this series, we examined the character depth spectrum, which has well-rounded characters on one end and flat characters on the other. For an interesting example of how flat

August 2, 2017

How to Create Charismatic Characters — Part 3: The Character Depth Spectrum

In part 1 of this series on creating characters, we discussed assigning physical attributes to characters. In part 2, we discussed the importance of identifying our character's objects of desire. In

August 1, 2017

How to Create Charismatic Characters — Part 2: Objects of Desire

In Part 1 of this How to Create Charismatic Characters blog series, we discussed assigning physical attributes to the characters we create. (Read part 1 here.) While a character’s physical appearance can

July 31, 2017

Catherine Never-Ending

I’ve known for a long time I was probably going to have to write this someday. I prayed that day would never come, but I knew it probably would, and now

July 28, 2017

How to Create Charismatic Characters — Part 1: Assigning Physical Attributes

Despite having written three books on the craft of writing (The Novel Writer's Blueprint: Five Simple Steps to Creating and Completing Your First Book, Smash Fear and Write like a

July 27, 2017

19 Hours of Training Videos for Aspiring Authors

How does 19 hours of video training for authors sound to you? Listen, I’m talking about videos covering everything from the author mindset to the mechanics of writer’s craft to the

June 30, 2017

Jason B . Ladd on Family, Spirituality, and Book Reviews — The Writing Coach 054

Welcome to The Writing Coach. On this podcast, I speak with the instructors, editors, coaches, and mentors who help writers and authors create their art, build their audience, and sell their

May 22, 2017

Jeff Goins on the Myth of the Starving Artist — The Writing Coach 053

Welcome to The Writing Coach. On this podcast, I speak with the instructors, editors, coaches, and mentors who help writers and authors create their art, build their audience, and sell

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