Make a proper scene in Newport

Are flat scenes, saggy middles or muddy endings keeping your manuscript from being all it can be? Learn how to transform these issues into compelling, page-turning moments at the next Willamette Writers Coast Chapter meeting at Newport Public Library this Saturday, Feb. 15.

Kim Taylor Blakemore will lead a hands-on approach to mastering the internal and external goal-motivation-conflict framework for both protagonists and antagonists. Learn how to define characters’ goals, the motivations that fuel them and the conflicts that challenge their journey. With guided prompts and proven methods, this workshop will equip you to drive character-driven stories with confidence and clarity.

In addition to the provided exercises, participants will have the chance to discuss their own work and scenes that have not been working — whether flat, meandering or not quite gelling — and use the framework to unlock the dramatic action.

Blakemore is an author, book coach and developmental editor with a passion for storytelling and nurturing authors. She has taught workshops for organizations such as Women Writing the West, Willamette Writers, History Quill, the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Sisters in Crime. Her novels include “The Deception,” “After Alice Fell,” “The Companion,” “Bowery Girl” and “Cissy Funk.” As K.T. Blakemore, she has written “The Good Time Girls” and “The Good Time Girls Get Famous.” She is also the editor of “Echoes: An Anthology of Short Fiction” and” 3rd & Oak: Stories.”

The Willamette Writers Coast Chapter hosts a mix of in-person and virtual events from September through June. Willamette Writers, the parent organization, is the largest writers association in Oregon and one of the largest in the nation.

Saturday’s program begins at 2 pm at Newport Public Library, located at 35 NW Nye Street. For more information, go to willamettewriters.org.