August 6-17, 2012
MASTER CLASS: Building Bolder Scenes
by Alicia Rasley
Prerequisite: must have finished a manuscript previously and have a book started to work with in the class. (It can be the completed novel if you're willing to revise.)
Scenes are what the reader remembers long after your plot and character names are forgotten. "Remember the chocolate chip cookie scene? What about the scene in the mall where she saw the earrings and realized her husband was cheating?" Powerful scenes will make your stories vivid and your characters come alive. In Alicia Rasley's premier master class on building bolder scenes, students will work on designing scenes for greater drama and emotion. Some aspects of the work will include:
Designing the scene conflict for drama
Forcing characters to be active by setting/attempting scene goals
Using cause/effect to keep "Scene beats" plausible and clear
Keeping the characters -- and the readers -- off balance with complications
Powering up scene endings to make readers start another chapter
Building suspense and humor with the Magic Rule of Three
Creating an emotional arc for intense emotional moments
Alicia Rasley is the author of The Power of Point of View and The Story Within Plotbook. This RITA-award-winning author and nationally known writing workshop leader is also a small press editor and a writing instructor at Ivy Tech State College and the University of Maryland. She blogs on editing at www.edittorrent.blogspot.com and has writing-craft articles archived at www.rasley.com. Her novel, The Year She Fell, was released in winter 2010 by Bell Bridge Books.
To register for the Maser Class: "Building Bolder Scenes," click HERE.