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Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes
Writing page-turning fiction depends on your ability to create rock-solid, believable scenes. Scenes act as dynamic structures that thrust both your characters and readers forward through conflict, baiting them with goals that may–or may not–be obtained. Writing good scenes makes the difference between a tale that crackles with energy and momentum and a story that falls flat.
In "Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes," Raymond Obstfeld leads you through the creation process, examining all the elements that go into making scenes successful, cohesive and compelling. Tackling topics like finding a scene's "hot spot," identifying its dominating purpose and avoiding a cliched ending, Obstfeld provides essential reading for novice and novelist alike. Using examples from film, short stories, and best-selling fiction, he documents why and how scenes work. You'll learn:
what is (and isn't) a scene
how to make scenes memorable
how to use point of view
how to focus on character, plot and theme
how to make scenes pay off
how to structure a scene
how to use setting
how to revise a scene
the importance of first impressions
Every page of "Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes" opens a new window of opportunity for writers by offering valuable insight, articulate advice and expert examples. It's a reference, a road map and a romp, all rolled into one. So go on–make a scene. And make it unforgettable.
In "Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes," Raymond Obstfeld leads you through the creation process, examining all the elements that go into making scenes successful, cohesive and compelling. Tackling topics like finding a scene's "hot spot," identifying its dominating purpose and avoiding a cliched ending, Obstfeld provides essential reading for novice and novelist alike. Using examples from film, short stories, and best-selling fiction, he documents why and how scenes work. You'll learn:
what is (and isn't) a scene
how to make scenes memorable
how to use point of view
how to focus on character, plot and theme
how to make scenes pay off
how to structure a scene
how to use setting
how to revise a scene
the importance of first impressions
Every page of "Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes" opens a new window of opportunity for writers by offering valuable insight, articulate advice and expert examples. It's a reference, a road map and a romp, all rolled into one. So go on–make a scene. And make it unforgettable.
218 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2000
13 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Obstfeld
51 books22 followersaka Laramie Dunaway, Jason Frost, Carl Stevens
Raymond Obstfeld is a writer of poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and screenplays as well as a professor of English at Orange Coast College. He lives in California.
Obstfeld has authored or co-authored nearly 50 books. Since 2007, he has been co-author to eight books with NBA basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Obstfeld has twice been nominated for the NAACP Image Award, having won once. He has also been nominated for an Edgar A. Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Dead Heat.Early in his writing career, Obstfeld wrote under several pseudonyms (Pike Bishop, Carl Stevens, Jason Frost) because he wrote different genres. After writing over a dozen thrillers, Westerns, and occult novels, he decided to return to mainstream literary fiction that he had written in graduate school. Because he’d already achieved some fame as a mystery writer, he decided to write his new novel under the name Laramie Dunaway. The novel, Hungry Women, was written from the points of view of four women friends. It was published by Warner Books without anyone at the publishing house knowing Obstfeld was a man. The novel went on to great success, being published internationally. Laramie Dunaway published two more novels before informing Warner of his gender. The publisher decided to publish Obstfeld’s next novel, Earth Angel, under his real name.
Raymond Obstfeld is a writer of poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and screenplays as well as a professor of English at Orange Coast College. He lives in California.
Obstfeld has authored or co-authored nearly 50 books. Since 2007, he has been co-author to eight books with NBA basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Obstfeld has twice been nominated for the NAACP Image Award, having won once. He has also been nominated for an Edgar A. Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Dead Heat.Early in his writing career, Obstfeld wrote under several pseudonyms (Pike Bishop, Carl Stevens, Jason Frost) because he wrote different genres. After writing over a dozen thrillers, Westerns, and occult novels, he decided to return to mainstream literary fiction that he had written in graduate school. Because he’d already achieved some fame as a mystery writer, he decided to write his new novel under the name Laramie Dunaway. The novel, Hungry Women, was written from the points of view of four women friends. It was published by Warner Books without anyone at the publishing house knowing Obstfeld was a man. The novel went on to great success, being published internationally. Laramie Dunaway published two more novels before informing Warner of his gender. The publisher decided to publish Obstfeld’s next novel, Earth Angel, under his real name.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 27, 2016
Quick review for a quick read. I read this book as a reference from my local library during my Camp Nano writing pursuits. I thought it was a thorough examination of scene building on several levels - from character to setting to genre. It was logical in its orientation and organization, with examples from literature, film, and the author's own writings. However, for me I wouldn't say it was as helpful as other resources on writing I've perused.
Overall score : 3/5 stars.
Overall score : 3/5 stars.
September 18, 2021
ریموند آبسفلد نویسنده توان مند و مدرس نویسندگی چیزی را از مبحث صحنه پردازی فروگذار نکرده اما حواسش هم هست که صحنه ها کنار هم یک رمان را تشکیل میدهند. با دلسوزی تمام هرچه را میداند و هر فوت کوزه گری را که خودش در ۲۹ رمان موفقی که نوشته به کار برده را با بخشندگی در این کتاب آموزش میدهد.
October 6, 2014
This is one of the best books on writing that I have read, and I'd recommend it to either novelists or screenwriters. The idea is that a scene is the basic unit of a story, and if you know how to write a scene and how these scenes should behave in relation to each other, then you can write (or revise) a novel.
The book has chapters on everything from how to begin to how to end a scene, scene length, and how scenes should behave in relationship to each other. There's also chapters on how to write particular kinds of scenes, like beginning scenes, characters meeting, action, suspense, and closing scenes. Reading this book has really opened my eyes on storytelling. Each chapter contains lots of examples as well as an "Instant Workshop" which helps you apply it to your writing.
As an example, the chapter on scene length explains that you determine a scene length based off of its purpose and its relationship to other scenes. Scenes that should be short include information dumps (whether they are for plot or for technical information), as well as scenic descriptions, which can interrupt the forward movement of the story. Scenes that should be long include conversations (which we too often cut short, without allowing them to culminate), emotional scenes, and suspense scenes (with Obstfeld's definition of a "suspense scene" even literary novels have them).
This was an excellent craft book that I'll definitely be returning to.
The book has chapters on everything from how to begin to how to end a scene, scene length, and how scenes should behave in relationship to each other. There's also chapters on how to write particular kinds of scenes, like beginning scenes, characters meeting, action, suspense, and closing scenes. Reading this book has really opened my eyes on storytelling. Each chapter contains lots of examples as well as an "Instant Workshop" which helps you apply it to your writing.
As an example, the chapter on scene length explains that you determine a scene length based off of its purpose and its relationship to other scenes. Scenes that should be short include information dumps (whether they are for plot or for technical information), as well as scenic descriptions, which can interrupt the forward movement of the story. Scenes that should be long include conversations (which we too often cut short, without allowing them to culminate), emotional scenes, and suspense scenes (with Obstfeld's definition of a "suspense scene" even literary novels have them).
This was an excellent craft book that I'll definitely be returning to.
February 5, 2016
Often we praise books by saying we can't put them down. I'm going to praise this one by saying I often put it down -- and then ran off to analyze, revise and improve my writing. I really can't ask more from a book on craft.
October 17, 2015
I'll admit: I decided to pick this book up out of some desperate need for inspiration for my personal statement rather than for writing some actual scenes that this book had been designed to assist with. Still, I found myself rewarded much more than I expected. If you like to write, whether you're a novice or a seasoned author, you'll definitely gain something out of Obstfeld's guide. The purpose of this book is to inform you on how and how not to write scenes of any variety - introductions, suspense, climax, and even character (just to name a few).
Raymond Obstfeld supplies you with the necessary knowledge to prepare you to write at your very best while also avoiding the common pitfalls of the works. I definitely liked his segment on "Final Scenes"; he brings about the many types of endings of stories - short or novel-length - that occur in literature and sheds light on the cliches of ending scenes. He advises that there are just some endings don't work at first to you as the author but are right in leaving the most impact on the audience.
It's really admirable to the lengths in which Obstfeld's will give you examples. He uses not only excerpts from his own works, but he'll also take some from others, from books and screenplays, or even craft some new ones at the spot. I particularly appreciated how, when teaching the reader the differences of scenes that are character-based, plot-based or theme-based, he rewrites slightly versions of a particular scene about a man in a cafe talking to his waitress, fortune-telling friend. It makes the contrast of the details much more distinct and make you realize how small elements truly do affect writing.
If I had to nitpick on something that bothered me, it was the lack of real-life examples of how not to write certain scenes - which isn't Obstfeld's fault in the very least! Though with good intentions, picking apart a scene by pointing out its faults could have perceived as disrespectful to the source writer, especially since writing can be a subjective thing.
I'm glad to have picked up this book which sat in my room for three years. Admittedly, it didn't actually provide the inspiration I needed to begin my personal statement (fortunately, I found that elsewhere), but it fueled me with tons of motivation to try out my new-found knowledge on writing by crafting some stories for myself.
Raymond Obstfeld supplies you with the necessary knowledge to prepare you to write at your very best while also avoiding the common pitfalls of the works. I definitely liked his segment on "Final Scenes"; he brings about the many types of endings of stories - short or novel-length - that occur in literature and sheds light on the cliches of ending scenes. He advises that there are just some endings don't work at first to you as the author but are right in leaving the most impact on the audience.
It's really admirable to the lengths in which Obstfeld's will give you examples. He uses not only excerpts from his own works, but he'll also take some from others, from books and screenplays, or even craft some new ones at the spot. I particularly appreciated how, when teaching the reader the differences of scenes that are character-based, plot-based or theme-based, he rewrites slightly versions of a particular scene about a man in a cafe talking to his waitress, fortune-telling friend. It makes the contrast of the details much more distinct and make you realize how small elements truly do affect writing.
If I had to nitpick on something that bothered me, it was the lack of real-life examples of how not to write certain scenes - which isn't Obstfeld's fault in the very least! Though with good intentions, picking apart a scene by pointing out its faults could have perceived as disrespectful to the source writer, especially since writing can be a subjective thing.
I'm glad to have picked up this book which sat in my room for three years. Admittedly, it didn't actually provide the inspiration I needed to begin my personal statement (fortunately, I found that elsewhere), but it fueled me with tons of motivation to try out my new-found knowledge on writing by crafting some stories for myself.
July 27, 2009
I'm now looking at this as a text book and assign myself homework assignments from each chapter. There is a lot of information in here and it is well explained.
July 25, 2009
This book has excellent tips on writing romantic and suspense scenes.
October 28, 2013
Good professional to the point book on scene construction and technique.
December 2, 2020
The first 100 pages are actually extremely insightful, they really helped me understand what I needed from my scenes and how to make every single one of them count.
And then. The author's boob fixation came out.
Like, damn, at some point he was only quoting scenes where boobs were the main characters. . . And when he quotes his own books? Written under a female pseudonym? Where the female character spends one whole scene describing her own tits? With the worst description ever, by the way. Oh my God.
Anyway. Interesting for the more general tips on how to treat every scene as its own little arc and the implied tips on how to NOT write women characters, I guess.
And then. The author's boob fixation came out.
Like, damn, at some point he was only quoting scenes where boobs were the main characters. . . And when he quotes his own books? Written under a female pseudonym? Where the female character spends one whole scene describing her own tits? With the worst description ever, by the way. Oh my God.
Anyway. Interesting for the more general tips on how to treat every scene as its own little arc and the implied tips on how to NOT write women characters, I guess.
March 6, 2017
Super helpful, even after reading dozens of different books on the craft. Really appreciated Obstfeld's line by line analysis of various passages, both pro and student.
July 10, 2017
This book is a master class on writing scenes.
January 29, 2018
Excellent guide to the craft of writing. Found this very useful to dip in and out of. Great for explaining POV with some good examples.
June 2, 2022
Transformed my writing. Not my life, but pretty close.
December 11, 2023
The references are a bit dated, but the advice is solid!
Take your time with it and practice as you go.
Take your time with it and practice as you go.
June 15, 2025
This book must have been just at the right time as it seemed to cover what I needed to know.
May 19, 2022
کتابی که برای هر کسی که میخواد نویسنده بشه لازمه.
February 12, 2010
A helpful book on the makeup of scenes. One of the big problems in the book, as in many "how-to-write" books are the examples he uses to show you what a good or effective scene is supposed to look like. Yet, it also had some really practical advice for how to revise, help that actually helps, rather than the basics of "rethink your prose, edit, and watch out for adverbs." He actually lays out a couple of really practical ways of doing the rewrite process that I'll be following and hopefully will help my own novel.
October 8, 2016
This is a great book. It was perfect for where I was in my writing process.
The book covers every topic about scenes: starting, ending, length, different types of scenes (comic, action, first meetings, sex).
The book also teaches about scene structure and overall novel structure.
I learned to really pay attention to the first and last sentences of scenes to hook the reader and then encourage them to read the next scene.
Highly recommended.
The book covers every topic about scenes: starting, ending, length, different types of scenes (comic, action, first meetings, sex).
The book also teaches about scene structure and overall novel structure.
I learned to really pay attention to the first and last sentences of scenes to hook the reader and then encourage them to read the next scene.
Highly recommended.
May 4, 2016
A good discussion on how to craft scenes for your novel. I didn't appreciate the profanity in some of the excerpts in the book (it kind of took away from my experience reading this), but I found some good insights on the basics of writing scenes.
August 18, 2009
Really just an overview of what you already know, but nice for review. The beginning seems to copy Donald Maass a bit, even using a couple of the same examples.
August 29, 2010
Hmm. I left this half finished, but I underlined a lot. I need to get back to it.
October 16, 2016
A very useful tool. I've actually read this a couple times, but now and then I go back to it because there's a lot of great info and advice.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews