Instructor: Allison Alsup
Genre: Prose
Number of Sessions: 2
Meets: Saturday – Sunday, 10 AM – 1 PM CT (3 hours each day)
Dates: January 20-21, 2024
Where: NOCCA Foundation
Cost: $185 /$170 before January 10, 2024

No matter the genre, the scene is the essential building block of drama. Yet even experienced writers can struggle with the juggling act of elements that dynamic scenes require.

In this generative workshop, we’ll tackle the make or break craft of scene writing. We start off by grounding ourselves in core principles as well as strategies for producing quality drafts from the get go; short examples drawn from contemporary works will help bring home the concepts. We’ll take a break, mingle over great snacks, before turning our hand to creating scenes from scratch via custom exercises–templates that can be adapted again and again in future stories. We’ll also explore the drafting process, varying our initial approaches with different brainstorming techniques.

Writers can expect to leave with actionable insights into this most critical of skills as well as fresh material that can be added to an existing story or form the start of a new one–and who knows, possibly a novel. This workshop would also serve playwrights, screen writers or creative non-fiction writers who wish to add immersive elements and unfolding action to their work.

A written critique by Allison is included in the cost of this workshop. Take up to a week to complete a scene draft, or revise another from an existing work (2000 words max)—the perfect nudge to make sure you meet your first writing deadline of the year!