Class Description
Scenes are the building blocks of story, but how do you know whether yours are earning their place in your book? This class breaks down the six "hero ingredients" that make a scene work: set-up, character, goal, action/conflict, stakes, and change. You'll learn how to engage readers without info-dumping, plant seeds that pay off later, and keep readers turning pages (yes, even in quiet scenes!).
In this interactive, hands-on class, we'll examine sample scenes, evaluate how each ingredient is working, and explore different approaches to writing a scene. You'll put what you learn into practice with in-class exercises, and we'll build a checklist you can use to "stress test" your own scenes. It will help you spot what's missing from a struggling scene, strengthen scenes that aren't carrying their weight, and cut or rework those that don't belong. You'll leave with a clearer sense of a scene's overall job, new ways to approach drafting or revising scenes, and an understanding of how each scene fuels the next.
For writers of fiction in any category or genre.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
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.