THE CHARACTER CHOREOGRAPHY COURSE
Turn the scenes in your imagination
into scenes your readers can see, follow, and feel.
Learn a practical, repeatable method for creating stronger scenes that
advance your plot, deepen your characters, and
keep your readers immersed in your story.
Not ready yet? Take a free sample lesson!
Why Character Choreography?
You can see the scene perfectly in your imagination. You know where everyone is, what they’re doing, and how the action unfolds.
But can your reader see it too?
Watch the video to discover why writing an action scene in my newest novel reminded me how essential character choreography is—not only in scenes filled with danger, but in every scene we write.
When the scene in your head
doesn’t quite reach the page.
Perhaps you’ve written a scene that feels vivid and exciting to you, only to have a reader say they couldn’t picture where everyone was.
Or perhaps your characters seem to be floating in an undefined space. They talk, react, and make decisions, but they don’t feel physically present in their surroundings.
Sometimes the problem goes in the other direction: every movement is described, every gesture recorded, and the scene begins to feel mechanical.
Character choreography is the art of finding the right balance.
It means understanding the space in which your scene unfolds, placing your characters within it, and choosing the movements, interactions, and physical details that matter to the story.
When it works, the reader doesn’t notice the choreography. They simply enter the scene and experience it.
Character Choreography isn’t only for action scenes.
You certainly need it when several characters are racing through a dangerous space while weapons are being fired.
But you also need it when:
• Two characters are trying not to reveal what they feel about each other.
• A family dinner becomes increasingly uncomfortable.
• Someone enters a room carrying information that will change everything.
• A character notices something that everyone else has overlooked.
• A private conversation unfolds in a crowded public place.
The physical details of a scene can create tension, reveal relationships, establish power, conceal motives, and show emotion without explaining it.
The setting isn’t merely a backdrop. It is part of the scene—and your characters’ interactions with it help tell the story.
A repeatable method for building and revising scenes
I created the Character Choreography Course to give writers a practical way to plan, write, and analyze their scenes.
The course is built around my proprietary S.P.A. Method of Scene Creation: SITUATE, POPULATE, and ARTICULATE.
You can use the method while planning a new scene, when you’re struggling with a scene in progress, or during revision when something isn’t working and you aren’t quite sure why.
Rather than relying entirely on instinct, you’ll have a process for examining the scene and making deliberate choices about space, character, movement, and language.
What you’ll learn
MODULE ONE: SITUATE
Establish the space in which your scene takes place.
You’ll start with the larger space, identify the details that matter, and consider how the same location may function differently at different points in your story.
You’ll learn how to create a setting that supports the purpose, tone, and emotional movement of the scene—without overwhelming the reader with description.
MODULE Two: POPULATE
Bring your characters into the scene.
Who is present? Where are they in relation to one another? How do they enter, leave, move, observe, and interact with the space?
This module will help you think through the physical and emotional relationships among your characters, decide which movements deserve attention, and make purposeful use of entrances, exits, objects, distance, and proximity.
MODULE Three: ARTICULATE
Put the scene on the page using the right words.
Once you understand the space and the characters within it, you must convey the scene clearly without overexplaining it.
You’ll examine filtering, descriptive dialogue tags, unnecessary adverbs, and other habits that can distance the reader or weigh down a scene. Through examples and exercises, you’ll learn how to create prose that feels vivid, natural, and immediate.
Everything You Need to Apply the Method to Your Own Writing
When you enroll in the Character Choreography Course, you receive:
• The complete self-paced course based on the S.P.A. Method
• Practical exercises that help you apply each concept to your own scenes
• Analyses of scenes from published novels
• A comprehensive workbook you can complete on your computer or print
• Lifetime access to the lessons and materials, including future updates
• My personal review of your final exercise
This isn’t a course you simply watch and forget. The exercises are designed to help you examine your own work, make purposeful choices, and develop a process you can continue using long after you complete the lessons.
IS THIS COURSE FOR YOU?
The Character Choreography Course can help you wherever you are in your writing process.
If you’re beginning a manuscript:
You’ll learn to think about scenes as physical and emotional experiences from the start, giving you a stronger foundation as you draft.
If you’re in the messy middle
The S.P.A. Method can help you work through scenes that feel static, confusing, or difficult to envision.
If you’ve completed a manuscript
You’ll have a practical framework for analyzing your scenes during revision and identifying opportunities to improve clarity, tension, character development, and pacing.
And because every story unfolds through scenes, these principles apply across genres—from romance and historical fiction to mystery, fantasy, women’s fiction, memoir, and beyond.
Who is Susanne Dunlap?
I’m a multi-published, award-winning author of historical fiction and historical romance, as well as an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach.
Over the course of my writing career, I’ve learned that creating effective scenes requires more than imagination. It requires an understanding of how setting, character, movement, emotion, and language work together on the page.
I developed the S.P.A. Method from the techniques I use in my own novels and with the writers I coach. My goal is not to impose a particular writing style, but to help you make your own scenes clearer, stronger, and more effective—while preserving your individual voice.
When I’m not writing, coaching, or teaching, I live in Biddeford, Maine, in an awesome converted mill.
PUT YOUR SCENES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Imagine being able to approach a difficult scene with more than the vague feeling that something isn’t working.
You’ll be able to ask:
• Is the space clear and purposeful?
• Are the characters physically and emotionally grounded within it?
• Does every important movement contribute to the scene?
• Can the reader follow what is happening without being given too much information?
• Does the scene advance the plot, deepen the characters, or accomplish both?
The Character Choreography Course will give you a repeatable method for answering those questions—and strengthening the scenes that make up your story.
OR
Whichever you choose, you’ll receive immediate, lifetime access to the complete course, workbook, and exercises.
Want to try it first?
Take a free sample lesson and experience my teaching style before deciding whether the complete course is right for you.