With more than a decade of education experience and a Master’s in Education, JC Lynne offers instructional courses, workshops, and discussions tailored to any audience. Her talent for reading an audience, her ability to think on her feet, and her engaging delivery make her a dynamic and entertaining presenter.

In addition to a wide variety of curriculum, JC is an experienced and talented emcee and public speaker.

Courses

All courses can be adjusted to sixty minutes up to two hours.

On Craft

The Hero Isn’t Dead: Exploring Character Development through Archetypes and Story Arcs.

Stories about heroes are profound and eternal. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell identified both the archetype of the Hero and the quest the hero follows in many of the folk tales and myths of the world. This archetype and its journey were surprisingly invariant through many of the stories. In Awakening the Heroes Within, Carol Pearson later expanded the idea of the Hero into twelve distinct archetypes, each of which can follow the Hero quest. We will discuss these archetypes’ evolution, motivations, and movements and take some time to use them to enrich characters and strengthen storytelling.

Fine Tuning Your Tone.

Tone and mood both deal with the emotions woven into a piece of writing. Though similar and often related, they are two different instruments. Films can manipulate mood through soundtracks. Writers only have words. If you think identifying and using tone in conversations is challenging, writing can be a daunting challenge.

I Am Not Eating Spaghetti Off Of The Table.

Exactly like great pasta, our stories need a solid container to keep them under control. Often, without even realizing it, themes emerge from our work. Recognizing those themes allows us to add a deeper dimension to our characterizations, plotlines, and storytelling. We will discuss the BIG IDEAS, conventional themes and find expressions of themes outside of the accepted canon to break assumptions and open our perspectives to enrich our writing.

Who Shot The Sheriff?

Point of view can make or break a reader’s experience with a book. As one of the critical elements of writing, it is also the fastest to go off the rails. We will break down the typical POVs and look at some of the more unique examples of blending POV to dictate how your readers will interact, identify, and connect with your characters. We will also take a close look at where authors jump the shark and leave readers behind. Don’t know which POV fits your story? We will figure it out and keep on track.

The Work of Memoir or How My Mother Disowned Me

Some of our first forays into writing began with our journal entries. Many of us have a unique and poignant story to tell. Writing a memoir for yourself or for an outside audience can help a writer deal with difficult life experiences or call to mind wonderful memories. This course offers the seeds of how to start, some clarification between biography and memoir, as well as covering some of the pitfalls to writing a memoir. 

On Business

The Event Horizon: The Black Hole of Marketing

We are fooling ourselves if we think we won’t have to market our writing. For most of us, writing is also a business. From Facebook to TikTok, we are flooded with places to promote, connect, and sell our work. We will break down what it is to be a writer and where we go once we have a finished product. Brand. Platform. Channels. Whew, it can be daunting, and frankly, a slog. In a time when we may be self-published, independently published, or FINGERS CROSSED traditionally published, it pays to know what you will need to do when you aren’t writing.