Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

by Sol Stein

Narrative summary, if written well and briefly, can transport the reader from one immediate scene to another, though this isn’t always necessary. Fiction and reporting have now borrowed a film technique called “jump cutting,” moving from one scene into the next with no transition for time to pass or locales to change. If the scenes must be linked, brief narrative summary can do the linking. How brief? Martin double-locked his door and went to work. In the office … In the first part of the first sentence, we actually see Martin locking his door. That’s immediate scene. “Went to work” is narrative summary. Just three words get us from one scene to the next.