- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (1 Mar 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0898799732
- ISBN-13: 978-0898799736
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13 x 1.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 414,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The core dramatic unit of any novel is the scene. Writers use scenes to contain the novel's action and explore its characters. In this book, novelist and collegiate writing instructor Raymond Obstfeld vibrantly explains every aspect of constructing these vital elements and shows how to apply those techniques to create specific types - action scenes, comic scenes, sex scenes and more. He then reveals how to link these scenes to form powerful novels. Obstfeld delivers advice born from years of writing and teaching experience in a fresh, witty voice perfectly suited to today's busy reader. Writers of any type of fiction will find quick remedies to their prose woes with his unique exercises and gorgeous use of examples from contemporary novels and films. Accessible to beginning writers, yet also appealing to more seasoned authors, The Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes will be the next classic writing manual all novelists will want on their shelves.
About the Author
Raymond Obstfeld has published 27 novels including Dead Heat and Hungry Women. Four of his novels have been optioned for movies. He has also sold 10 screenplays, 13 books of nonfiction, and numerous short stories, poems and nonfiction articles. He is the head of the writing program at Orange Coast College.
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First Sentence
When asked what distinguishes a great movie, actress Rosalind Russell simply replied, "Moments." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When asked what distinguishes a great movie, actress Rosalind Russell simply replied, "Moments." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
88 of 91 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Your first how to-book should be any of the many generic How to Write a Novel -books out there. I won't recommend any, because most of them are fairly good and none of them contains everything you need to know.
Your second book should be Self Editing for Ficiton Writers. Excellent advice, with lots of examples. Better that The First Five pages.
Your third book should be on whatever aspect of novel writing you are struggling with. Plot, characters, dialog... If you are interested in writing better scenes, this book should be your third one.
It goes deep into how a good scene is crafted. The author explains how you misdirect the reader to think the scene is about one thing and then sneak in a piece of exposition without being caught. Or how you make sure that you always have a setup and a payoff in every scene. How you always should carefully choose where the scene takes place. As an example, if there is a dialog taking place in the airport, why not change the setup so that the dialog takes place in a traffic jam on the way to the airport, with the added suspense, will they arrive on time? The author advices how to locate the hotspot in each scene and then work backwards from that to build anticipation.
This is by no means the only book you'll need, but definitely one of the better ones.
Your second book should be Self Editing for Ficiton Writers. Excellent advice, with lots of examples. Better that The First Five pages.
Your third book should be on whatever aspect of novel writing you are struggling with. Plot, characters, dialog... If you are interested in writing better scenes, this book should be your third one.
It goes deep into how a good scene is crafted. The author explains how you misdirect the reader to think the scene is about one thing and then sneak in a piece of exposition without being caught. Or how you make sure that you always have a setup and a payoff in every scene. How you always should carefully choose where the scene takes place. As an example, if there is a dialog taking place in the airport, why not change the setup so that the dialog takes place in a traffic jam on the way to the airport, with the added suspense, will they arrive on time? The author advices how to locate the hotspot in each scene and then work backwards from that to build anticipation.
This is by no means the only book you'll need, but definitely one of the better ones.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a beginner writer i found this book an invaluable guide to all aspects of creating the most appropriate, exciting and suspensive scenes. Obstfeld has covered every aspect from choosing scene purpose to determining point of view, scene length and getting the right feel to starting and ending each section of your writing. A variety of examples, quotes, techniques and tips are given, which are all easy to understand and use with the intention of making your writing more captivating for the reader. I strongly recommend this book to all beginner writers as Obstfeld not only covers scene structure but goes into detail about the conventions of scene genre, whether it be an action, comic or a sex scene you are trying to compose.
This really is a novelists essential guide to crafting scenes.
This really is a novelists essential guide to crafting scenes.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As an addict of self-help books for authors, I found this book a refreshingly practical guide to creating scenes with depth and dimensions in emotion, location, sound, taste and smell. The author takes the reader through a number of possible writing scenarios and shows them not only how to craft an efficient scene, but also how to engage their audience's six senses through the written word (not an easy task).
A very important addition to any writer's library of reference books.
A very important addition to any writer's library of reference books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent and Practical Guide
This is a very detailed and specific guide to each of the elements necessary to craft readable scenes. Read more
Published on 17 May 2010 by Stephen Mcdaniel
An Excellent Guide for All Fiction Writers!
This book is an excellent guide for any fiction writer. It describes the different components of scenes in a step-wise manner - including the scenes-on-cards method. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2009 by Hassans
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