How to Make a Scene
By Jenny Meyerhoff
Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time
By Jordan E. Rosenfeld
(Writer’s Digest Books, 2008)
There are many skills, tools, and techniques involved in writing a novel, and often it can seem impossible to master them all. But if I had to choose one thing to perfect, it would be the ability to write a superior scene. Scenes are the building blocks of novels, and if you can string enough wonderful scenes together, you just might have a pretty good book.
Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, by Jordan E. Rosenfeld, delves deeply into this unit of story and promises that “if you can understand what a scene is, how all its elements collaborate to create a vivid and compelling snapshot, and how those moments add up to a story, you’ll write your drafts differently and become a more self-assured writer with a page-turner on your hands.” Rosenfeld begins by breaking down the anatomy of a scene, detailing how to open with a bang, ratchet up the tension in the middle, and then smoothly leave the reader with an ending that pulls them directly into the next scene. Always Rosenfeld provides examples from well-known pieces of literature that clearly illustrate the techniques she describes.
In the next section of the book, Rosenfeld teaches readers how to incorporate the core elements of good writing, setting, sensory images, plot, character development, and more into her scene-by-scene approach. Much of the information in this section can be found in many other books on writing; nothing here feels really new, but it is all solid advice, and perhaps looking at it on the scenic level will help some writers to better incorporate these elements into the their novels and stories.
Rosenfeld’s strength, though, is providing information particular to her scene-centered method, and so the third section, like the first, is full of interesting advice. Here Rosenfeld lists several scene types: dramatic scenes, action scenes, and dialogue scenes, to name a few. She helps writers identify when to use each type of scene, how to structure each type of scene, and how to balance the scene types to create a well-balanced novel.
Rosenfeld concludes with a section on other considerations, which like the second section of the book, is full of useful but not necessarily unique information. Even with these caveats, this book is full of excellent advice for any novelist who struggles with scene structure or wants to learn how to improve the pacing of his or her manuscript.
Jenny Meyerhoff is the author of the chapter book Third Grade Baby and the forthcoming YA Queen of Secrets. She lives in Riverwoods with her husband and three children. Visit her on the web at http://www.jennymeyerhoff.com.
