One Brick at a Time:
Crafting Compelling Scenes

March 3 – March 31, 2026

Deadline: January 18, 2026

Apply Here

Instructor:

Barbara Ashford

Level:

Intermediate

Live Class:

7 pm-8:30 pm EST
Tues., March 3
Tues., March 17
Tues., March 31

Tuition:

$259.00

Course Description

Compelling scenes pull readers into a new world, evoke an emotional response to the characters and conflicts, and encourage readers to turn the page to find out what happens next. Failure to fine-tune these essential building blocks of your story can dilute its power and impact.

This course will explore ways to help you add tension, drama, and power to your scenes by

• examining the fundamentals of scene design—from its overall shape to its individual beats;
• exploring the characteristics of effective scenes and the common pitfalls that can undermine their impact;
• providing tools to diagnose “ailing” scenes and bring them back to life;
• discussing the “special needs” of opening and closing scenes, and flashbacks;
• considering each scene as “part of the whole” by understanding its role in developing characters, showcasing the world, and fulfilling the implicit promise you are making to readers.

The course is intended for all fiction writers, with an emphasis on those who write fantastic fiction, and is appropriate for writers of middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction. It will be most valuable for intermediate writers, since it assumes students already understand the basics of writing.

Each student will have a private meeting with Barbara. Students will also provide critiques of their classmates’ work and revise their work in response to feedback.

Our goal as a class is to provide a supportive yet challenging environment that will help students improve their writing. You must be ready to hear about the weaknesses in your writing and to work to strengthen them. You must also be ready to give honest, helpful feedback to your classmates.

Assignments:

Students will have some homework assigned before the first meeting, and will also be assigned homework during the course.

The first assignment will have a due date of March 2, the day before our initial meeting.

Homework will be assigned on March 3 and 17, with due dates, respectively, of March 9 and 23. You will also be required to provide critiques of some of your classmates’ work, which will be due on March 16 and March 30. Any student who misses a deadline may be expelled from the class and will receive no refund.

All assignments should be properly formatted and should be submitted in MS Word files or rich text files.

You should reserve a minimum of 5 hours per week to complete homework.

Assignments will include readings, critiques, scene submissions, and scene analysis. Barbara will provide feedback on your homework before the next class session.

The number of critiques students will be required to write is determined by class size; for a maximum class size of 14, students should expect to read and critique 3-4 submissions for each homework assignment. Students will also be required to reply to online discussion questions during the course.

Students are expected to follow the policies about assignments and class materials in the Odyssey Online Student Handbook.

Students will be required to read a lesson on critiquing before the course begins.

Attendance:

Since we will have only 3 class meetings, attendance at every class is necessary for students to get the most out of this course.

You are expected to attend all classes, except in cases of emergency. In such cases, you should notify the instructor.

Classes will be recorded and made available to students for a limited time.

Any student who misses more than one class may be expelled from the course and will receive no refund.

It is your responsibility to find out what happened in any classes you missed and to complete homework by the deadlines.

Students are expected to follow the policies about attendance and behavior set out in the Odyssey Online Student Handbook.

Texts:

Students will be required to read scenes excerpted from various novels and short stories, as well as chapters on scene structure and story by such writers as James Scott Bell, Bill Johnson, and Donald Maass. All required readings will be provided to students before the course begins.

Technical Requirements:

Technical requirements for all Odyssey Online Classes are covered on the Online Classes page.

Tentative Schedule:

March 3: First class meeting. Introduction and orientation. The fundamentals of scene design. Story objective vs. scene objective. Scenes and sequels. James Scott Bell’s “four chords.” Understanding scene polarity. Techniques for hooking readers. Keys to creating powerful opening scenes and common pitfalls that can undermine their effectiveness. Understanding the promise of your story and how each scene supports it. Theme as the controlling idea. How readers connect with characters. Assignment of homework.

March 9: Homework is due.

March 16: Critiques are due. Homework is returned with Barbara’s feedback.

March 17: Second class meeting. Discussion of previous homework assignment. Techniques for building intensity within a scene and creating scene endings that prompt readers to turn the page. Raising the stakes and stretching tension. Engaging readers by posing scene questions. Identifying inner and outer turning points in a scene. Using beats to deepen characterization, conflict, and emotional turning points. Assignment of new homework.

March 23: Homework is due.

March 27: Some students will have private meetings with Barbara between 7:00-8:00 PM EST.

March 28: Some students will have private meetings with Barbara between 7:00-8:15 PM EST.

March 29: Some students will have private meetings with Barbara between 7:00-8:15 PM EST.

March 30: Critiques are due. Homework is returned with Barbara’s feedback.

March 31: Third class meeting. Discussion of previous homework assignment. Creating compelling dialogue. Using subtext to deepen impact on readers. Pacing, rhythm, and emotional tempo. “Special needs” scenes: set-ups and pay-offs, flashbacks, and endings. Diagnosing and treating “ailing” scenes. Fulfilling the promise you make to readers. The relationship between your opening and closing scenes. Evaluating the effectiveness of your ending. Practical tips and resources.

Instructor: Barbara Ashford

Award-winning novelist Barbara Ashford has been praised by reviewers and readers alike for her “emotional, heartfelt” storytelling.

Barbara’s first published series was the dark fantasy trilogy Trickster’s Game (written as Barbara Campbell). Published by DAW Books, Trickster’s Game was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Society’s Fantasy Award for adult literature.

Barbara’s background as a professional actress, lyricist, and librettist has helped her delve deeply into character and explore the complexities of human nature on the stage as well as on the page. Her most recent musical—Just Desserts—opens in New York City in January 2026.

She drew on those musical theatre roots for her second series of novels, the award-winning Spellcast and its sequel Spellcrossed, set in a magical summer stock theatre. DAW Books released the two novels in an omnibus edition: Spells at the Crossroads.

A graduate of the Odyssey workshop, Barbara has taught for Odyssey and served on the staff of the Odyssey Critique Service for more than a decade. She is also an independent developmental editor, specializing in speculative fiction. You can visit her dual selves at barbara-campbell.com and barbara-ashford.com.

Reactions from Barbara Ashford's Students

As a pantser, when I sit down to write a scene, I often feel like I’m reaching my hand into a black box, pulling a scene out, and then jiggling the tangle of words onto the page. Sometimes, a scene leaves me breathless; it’s pure perfection, only a few tweaks needed here or there, and I feel like a true magician. But most of the time, only a puddle forms on the page—my protagonist wandering around a desert, while I wonder if I’ve lost my special touch. One Brick at a Time is changing that for me! Now, when I reach into my pretty black box, I’m reaching with intention. My fingers have learned how to differentiate between form and puddle. But we can’t always summon fully formed scenes from a box. Barbara’s engaged teaching and insightful feedback has helped me learn how to distill my puddled scenes into narratives that tug at my heart and soul. Take the class, you won’t regret it!
–NASTASSJA NOELL

Scenes, one after another, create story. In order to write a great story, you need to know how to write a great scene, and you need to know how to connect those scenes, put them together in a way that keeps your story interesting and worth reading. One Brick at a Time teaches you that. You can read the ‘how to’ in several books and think you know it, but you don’t really know it until you go through this class and let it seep under your skin, get into your fingers when you type. Barbara Ashford is a wonderful teacher, and after her class, you will know, really know, how to put a scene together and then how to connect scene after scene into a story worth reading.
–LAURIE MACKENZIE

One Brick at a Time has already had a noticeable impact on my writing: the scenes I wrote or revised while taking the course are tighter, more purposeful and propulsive, and I am looking forward to incorporating Barbara’s and my classmates’ critiques during the revision process. The course itself is fast paced and dense in useful information, and I can already tell that I’ll be going back to reread the assigned readings and re-watch the lecture recordings before starting my next project.
–ERIS YOUNG

I’m looking at some of my scenes now and realizing that I just wrote down what was in my imagination and thought it was pretty cool that I had such a great imagination. The bulk of many scenes didn’t contain the building blocks to pull the story forward, let alone to make it compelling read. With the tools from Barbara Ashford’s amazingly thorough class, my revisions have been infused with a ruthlessness born of seeing what’s there and what’s not. And with practice, those building blocks will give my imagination direction earlier in the process.
–BARBARA JO FLEMING

Barbara Ashford’s class on building scenes was fundamental for me. At last I know how to use emotional beats to drive a scene to its turning point and on towards the next.
–JENNY GREEN

Barbara Ashford’s One Brick at a Time has changed my approach to writing scenes. With organization, humor and enthusiasm, Barbara laid out ways to think of the promise a story makes to the readers, ways to hook the reader, ways to deepen the conflict and raise the stakes, and how to adjust the pace of a scene. Before taking this class, I was already an experienced writer and had taken many writing courses. As a result of this class, I now have a much larger set of tangible and specific tools to apply in order to make my scenes more engaging for readers. Thank you so much for a terrific course!
–KODIAK JULIAN

I was lucky enough to take Barbara Ashford’s class: “One Brick at a Time.” The scope of material covered was huge. I have dozens of books on writing on my bookshelves, but I learned more in a month, from Barbara’s clear, concise, on-point, and funny lectures, than I learned from all my books. My brain feels like it’s filled to bursting (but in a good way!). Sign me up for the next class!
–ALISON COLWELL

This course definitely helped me develop a different approach to reading and writing stories. I now feel more capable of building emotional and effective scenes that fulfill a purpose within a piece. This course has been a very significant part of my writing journey. It has broadened my writing toolbox. Barbara was an amazing teacher!
–ALLISON LIEVANO

Taking this Odyssey Online Class was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The instructor and other students were knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and encouraging. The assignments helped me dig into my own writing and find the weaknesses. The class gave me the knowledge and tools to correct those weaknesses. Mastering the craft of writing is a never-ending task, but this entire experience has taken my writing to the next level. Thanks, Odyssey.
–CASSANDRA BLOMBERG

I cannot recommend this course enough. The lectures and study materials were eye-opening in ways I didn’t expect. I learned more about scene structure and plot than I could have thought possible in just three lectures. Barbara, the instructor, was thoughtful in her critiques and went above and beyond what I expected in terms of course material. I can feel the difference in my writing already and am looking forward to integrating her lessons into my writing even more as I continue to review her notes.
–ELAINE ROTH

I am so thrilled I was able to take an Odyssey Online Class, I can already see the improvement in my writing. The lectures and class discussion were wonderful. I learned so much in a short amount of time. The feedback I received from my classmates was invaluable and the critiques from the instructor, Barbara Ashford, have already improved my novel beyond expectations. I cannot recommend this class enough! Thanks!
–HAYLEY WILDS

One Brick at a Time: Crafting Compelling Scenes was a great online class that definitely helped improve my scene writing. From the numerous readings and lecture materials to the incredible teacher and seamless live online class meetings, this course is definitely something I would recommend for writers serious about improving their craft.
–GEOFF FEY