Class Description
The scene is an essential building block of contemporary fiction. But what really constitutes a scene, and what makes for a great one? In this class we’ll look at a variety of classic and contemporary scenes, break them apart and put them back together again to understand their underlying machinery and what it is, exactly, that brings them to life. We'll pay special attention to dialogue, the most direct window into the soul of your characters. Does your dialogue allow the reader direct access to your characters, and is it working in concert with other scene elements to create naturalistic, rounded, living fiction? By considering these questions, you’ll gain concrete tools to help you evaluate and refine your scenes and dialogue as you revise your novel in progress.
The week prior to class, the instructor will contact you to assign one or two readings, to be completed before the class begins. We'll also be doing several writing and/or revision exercises that will allow you to apply what you observe to your own work. Bring along several scenes from your own novel, with a preference for scenes you feel could use some improvement and/or revision.
Part of GrubStreet's Novel Revision Series, led by Tim Weed and designed for those who have either finished or are nearing completion of a novel draft. Take every class in the series or simply choose the craft topics that are relevant to the revision challenges you face with your novel in progress. Fall classes include:
- Novel Revision Series: Descriptive Writing and Image Systems
- Novel Revision Series: Interiority, Backstory, and Flashback
- Novel Revision Series: Point of View and Psychic Distance
- Novel Revision Series: Minor and Supporting Characters
- Novel Revision Series: Dialogue and the Scene
- Novel Revision Series: Killer Openings & Symphonic Endings (coming soon!)
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.