The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer [Paperback]

I have bought many books on how to write books. This is the first one I have seen one that really goes into great detail about how to write scenes.

I believe the concepts in the book are a bit advanced, especially for someone like me who hasn't written a book yet. However, I also believe Ms. Scofield has done a very good job of explaining those concepts as simply as possible. Further, I believe Ms. Scofield knows when even the explanation of a concept may be difficult to grasp. That is when she includes an excerpt from a well-known book to illustrate the point. She also includes exercises at the end of chapters to help the writer who wishes to improve on his or her scene writing, and includes sample answers to guide the writer of the exercises.

I am almost ready to sit down and start writing. Before I read this book, I was focusing on plot and characters, and on how to find a nice blend of those elements. And I was really struggling with what that blend was. This book has helped me to focus on a smaller piece of the big picture. That is, by focusing my energy at the scene level, while at the same time keeping an eye on the big picture, I feel more relaxed about the whole at-this-time overwhelming process of writing a novel. In a way, I feel this book will indirectly help with character development, too.

Here are the contents:

Part One--The Scene Primer: The Basics (Ch. 1); Event and Meaning (Ch. 2); Beats (Ch. 3); The Focal Point (Ch. 4).

Part Two--The Heart of a Scene: Pulse (Ch. 5); Tension (Ch. 6); Negotiation (Ch. 7); Images (Ch. 8).

Part Three--Some Useful Scene Skills: Scene Activity and Character Response (Ch. 9); Scene Openings (Ch. 10); Big Scenes (Ch. 11).

Part Four--Moving to Independent Study: Reading for Story and Scene (Ch. 12); Evaluation (Ch. 13); Scenarios (Ch. 14).

Sample Scenes

Further Reading

Notes

In sum, I highly recommend this book. I believe taking the time to do the exercises is a good thing, and I will do that on re-reading the book. (I believe more than one reading is recommended. The book really is a reference to be consulted over and over, and I believe it is useful before starting on your novel and again at the editing stage.)

Best of luck to everyone out there writing!

One of the hardest tasks of learning to write is learning to read like a writer. A carpenter sees a house differently than a real estate agent, an architect, or a homeowner. A writer must learn to read books not like an English major or a reader in an airport, but with an eye for breaking apart and studying aspects of his or her craft.

With her book, The Scene Book: A Primer for Fiction Writers, Sandra Scofield offers writers a step by step guide for skillfully crafting fictional scenes. "Events may be mentioned in summary," she writes, "even tossed away in the telling of a grand tale, but it is in scene that you capture the hearts and imagination of your readers."

While many books help writers develop three dimensional characters, improve setting description, learn to write dialogue or improve their plots, there are very few books that give writers the tools they need to create their own compelling scenes. The Scene Book gives you a language for talking with yourself and others about the components of a well- written scene. It also offers tons of great exercises to help you add layers of complexity to your own work.

In her first chapter, Scofield defines the terms she uses to break apart the different components of good scenes, the first step to demystifying a complicated art form. According to Scofield, every scene has event and emotion, a function, a structure and a pulse. It also has beats of action which keep the reader grounded in the world the writer is trying to create.

After Scofield defines her terms, she spends a chapter on each one, explaining their significance and analyzing published examples of the craft aspect she is trying to teach. At the end of each chapter, she provides exercises for coming up with your own scenes, using what you have learned.

Later chapters offer readers advanced skills, writing scenes with lots of characters, or turning a flat character into a more rounded one by having them respond in meaningful ways to what is going on around them. It is a character's response to the conflict in a scene that helps a reader connect. Scofield's well-written exercises guide writers into creating believable, moving, reactions for their characters.

Scofield's guide to writing scenes is so jam packed with strong- minded insight into the writer's craft, that it will more than likely take you the rest of your life to master everything in it. It is a book you will return to again and again no matter how long you have been writing. And each time read it, you will learn something new. The Scene Book will teach you to study the books you read like a writer.

Novelist Stephanie Cowell brought The Scene Book to my attention, and I'm grateful. Sandra Scofield packs her slim volume with essential and well-organized information on creating scenes with a pulse--the life-blood of engaging storytelling in print and on stage and screen. As both a novelist and playwright, I've gained useful insights from this book, which apply to my own writing, and I've quoted from and recommended "The Scene Book" to audiences at writing workshops.

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