Crafting Knockout Scenes
Scenes are the building blocks of fiction writing: plays, screenplays, novels, short stories, and even works of creative non-fiction, are the sum of these small units of drama, the way individual links come together to form a necklace. This 8-week program with Brooke Robinson will sharpen your writing to create truly powerful scenes.
Dates: 6:00-8:00pm (AEST) Tuesdays, 26 May - 7 July, 2026. See Program Outline below for the dates of all sessions in this program.
Delivery: Online
Fees: $1395 or $1300 for Varuna Alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Applications close: 5:00pm (AEST), Monday 20 April 2026
Places: 8 participants will be selected (small group).
“Brooke is a rare authentic communicator with an indomitable seriousness of purpose that I have seldom encountered. Anyone working with Brooke will benefit from her impressive international career, spanning playwriting and fiction, and her playful imagination.”
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When you think of your favourite novel, TV show or film, it’s usually an unforgettable scene that immediately comes to mind, a key moment of heightened drama.
Scenes are the building blocks of fiction writing: plays, screenplays, novels, short stories, and even works of creative non-fiction, are the sum of these small units of drama, the way individual links come together to form a necklace. Thinking of your writing project as a series of scenes also makes it more manageable. A 90,000 word novel doesn’t need to be daunting, because if you can write a strong scene, then you can write absolutely anything.
This course focuses on scene writing for writers composing novels, memoirs, and creative non-fiction projects. In this ‘peak TV’ era where readers are increasingly influenced by what they watch on screen, we will steal dramatic writing techniques from film, television and theatre, to make your manuscript stand out.
Participants will gain an understanding of the mechanisms that make scenes work, and learn how to structure their own stories. You’ll learn tricks and tools for enhancing scenes and how this is an effective way of re-redrafting your own work. Together we’ll analyse some of the very best scenes and dramatic moments in film, TV, plays and novels, and we’ll do weekly writing exercises to put what we learn into practice.
This is a small group program for 8 participants over 8 weeks. Each writer will also have a 40-minute one-on-one session with Brooke to discuss their work in progress.
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26 May, Session 1: The big bang
What’s the ‘surprising thing’ that starts your story?
Setting up reader expectations in the opening scene and making them gasp
How to craft a hooky beginning to your book, getting the attention of agents, publishers, and ultimately readers
2 June, Session 2. What goes next?
Moving things along with plot and evolving questions. The difference between plot and story
Writing beautiful, shocking, funny, gripping, moments of heightened drama
Keeping the reader engaged with propulsion techniques
9 June, Session 3. Who’s doing what to whom?
Developing characters through your scenes
Balancing plot and character. Objectives, obstacles, and the three levels of conflict in drama
Who’s serve is it? Point of view in the scene
16 June, Session 4. What’s in, what’s out
What goes next? Choosing what scenes to write, and what to leave out
Crafting effective ‘‘cuts’ between scenes
Utilising friction and tension, both within and between scenes
23 June, Session 5. Playing inside the box
Having fun with parameters and restrictions to make your scenes fresh
Dynamism. Using scenes to generate ideas when you’re stuck
Putting it all together: keeping multiple ‘balls in the air’ in your scenes
2 December, Session 6. The punch-up
‘Punching up’ your scenes during the rewriting process
Redrafting with purpose and confidence
Diagnosing potential challenges and problems in your manuscript. How to resuscitate a flat scene
30 June, Session 7. The publishing scene
The publishing market and what to do when you’ve finished your manuscript
Do I need an agent? What do they do?
The practicalities of a career as an author
7 July, Session 8. Switching scenes: writing in different mediums
A deep dive into how scenes work on screen vs the page
Adapting your work
Guest speaker
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Brooke Robinson is playwright and novelist from Western Sydney. Her commercial thrillers, The Interpreter and The Negotiator are published internationally by Penguin Random House UK. The Interpreter is also published in the USA by HarperCollins and translated into Italian, German, Czech and Russian. Her third novel with Penguin publishes in 2026.
She has taught courses on pitching and getting an agent, and ran creative and dramatic writing workshops with Faber Academy, Westwords, SA Writers and City of Melbourne Libraries.
As a playwright, Brooke received a prestigious Yaddo fellowship in the USA and won the 2020 Lysicrates Prize for Drama. Her professionally commissioned and produced plays include Bad Machine (Campbelltown Arts Centre/Casula Powerhouse) and Good Cook. Friendly. Clean (Griffin Theatre Company). Brooke was the 2024 recipient of Varuna’s prestigious Cove Park International Exchange Fellowship
She has two projects currently in development in Hollywood.
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“Brooke is a rare authentic communicator with an indomitable seriousness of purpose that I have seldom encountered. Anyone working with Brooke will benefit from her impressive international career, spanning playwriting and fiction, and her playful imagination. ”
— Lily Balatincz Actor, Theatre Director and Chief Operating Officer of the American Australian Association, New York City“You’ll leave Brooke’s workshop armed with fresh approaches to take to your writing and a brain full of new ideas to pursue!”
— Emma Gibson, Playwright -
Entry to this course is by application. Writers will be selected based on the creative potential of their work, commitment to craft, openness to collaborating with your peers, and the balance in the group.
Course fees are $1395 or $1300 for Varuna alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront.
Applications close at 5pm (AEST) on Monday 20 April 2026. All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their submission by 28 April.
Please refer to Varuna’s general submission guidelines for any questions on formatting your work.
Feel free to call 02 4782 5674 or email amy@varuna.com.au to discuss your application.
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