Customer Reviews

Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is difficult to imagine a more helpful and concise book for writers than Obstfeld's "The Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes". As part of a series from Writers's Digest, this book covers the critical component of any novel: writing encounters, chapters, and scenes that have the ability to grip the reader and keep them turning pages.

Though the book is trade paper sized and only 211 pages, it is simply jammed with helpful ideas. Each chapter covers an essential aspect of writing scenes expertly. There is information on:

* Beginning a Scene
* Length
* Point of View
* Setting
* Ending a Scene
* Character, Plot, & Theme Development
* Writing the Payoff
* Character Meetings
* Finales
* Structure
* Revising

Plus there are chapters that discuss how to write genre-specific scenes (sci-fi, romance, etc.) that are also compelling.

A typical chapter within the book starts with quotes from others on the art of writing. Obstfeld then lays out general concepts and cites examples from novels and movies that support his chapter topic. Excerpts from several award-winning novels raises the quality of the book as it lets beginning writers see how the "pros" do it. Some chapters include workbook-like assignments to help readers flesh out their scenes.

While all the chapters are developed well, the one covering character, plot, and theme development is particularly enlightening. The author elects to write an encounter scene with an emphasis on each aspect. It is amazing to see how a scene can change as it is written to the characters rather than plot and vice versa.

Obstfeld has taught writing professionally in addition to having published more than two dozen novels and it shows in his style. He can quickly and directly address a topic and elucidate it easily. As a result, writers of all varieties and levels of talent can benefit from "Crafting Scenes".

Highly recommended to all writers and truly worthy of a five star rating.

After struggling with my own writing endeavours for two years now, I've found a refreshing guide to the world of fiction. The sections in the book are clearly listed, which enables me to find examples quickly for the problems that I'm experiencing in the moment. The examples are clearly articlulated and address almost all of my writing porblems and short-comings (and I hear there are a lot!) This book's largest contribution to my writing is it's motivational quality. Along with all of the examples and introductions to new techniques, I've found the student references a source for insparation, and in a world where insparation doesn't fall through the ceiling, I'll take it where ever I can get it. And for me, these pages are plentiful. This is a soid buy, the kind that will keep you up late scratching yourself in front of a blank screen until it's fills.

If you want to move beyond books that merely encourage you but don't provide actual tools, then I recommend this book. If you merely want to be cheered from the sidelines, go elsewhere - but this book is excellent, very insightful, extremely useful. Well worth the money.

This book is written by a real writer who had written, and sold, numerous works, insluding screenplays. He knows what he is talking about and it shows in the book. It is eminently practical and offers a look at how to make scenes work from a writer's perspective. You won't find old, hand-me-down, paint-by-the-numbers schemes in this book. What you will find is an approach that will let you write "from the inside"--the way a real writer does.

If you want to write well, this is the book to buy.

This is one of the best three books. I like "Writing Fiction" by Janet Burroway and "Writing Dialogue" by Tom Chiarella. "Crafting Scenes" is a fast read, a broad outline, and doesn't waste your time. I would give it five stars for content, organization and advice and remove one star for the uneven quality of his example-paragraphs---some of which are perfectly on target, others less so.

Raymond Obstfeld has written over thirty-five books, ten screenplays and innumerable short stories and poems. He has written literary, mainstream, and genre novels; he also teaches writing at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California.

Obstfeld views the scene as a mini-story; it should have a beginning, middle, and an end; it should build to a climax; it should provide resolution. He shows how to use dialogue, point of view, or description to begin a scene as well as such techniques as "in medias res," starting in the middle of the action. He also shows how endings propel the reader into the next scene, emphasizing emotions and intellectual impact. He shows how to use cliff-hangers and jump cuts to increase suspense.

A really great suggestion is to outline your scenes on notecards to give yourself an overview of your novel; this will help you avoid too many "talking head" scenes and help you improve the pace of your novel. He also shows how to improve those talking head scenes when there isn't any alternative, such as in a mystery novel where the detective is doing a lot of interviews. He does this through misdirection, where the main character is involved in some action, such as driving to the airport and getting stuck in traffic. Thus the reader is getting information and is also worried about whether the hero will make it on time.

Another bugaboo Obstfeld addresses is description. Readers often skip this if it's too long, looking for the meat of the story; yet if you skimp on description, you lose credibility. Rather than describe everything the narrator sees, tastes, touches, smells, and hears in a scene, he suggests you focus on one of them, such as describing the smells coming from fast food restaurants in a working class part of town.

Obstfeld cautions the writer to never play it safe; he actually encourages beginning writers to "write themselves into a corner." The character now has no good alternative; both of his choices are unacceptable. What the heck does he do? This forces the beginning writer to think with more depth and his story will be fresher as a result.

Whether you are a beginning writer or a veteran, this book can be a big help. Raymond Obstfeld points out common mistakes writers make, while at the same time gently guiding the reader down the path to better writing. From knowing how long to make a scene to creating the right mix of action and suspense in a chapter, this book is full of usefull tips and absolute rules of the trade.

The book is easy to read, easy to comprehend, and full of great advice. There are TIP highlights and Instant Workshop assignments that make the book a lot like a college course in writing. Some writing books try and hit you with so much advice that you feel overwhelmed by the advice. Not so with this book. Raymond Obstfeld manages to give us just enough of what writers need to understand and work on. I found the book to be extremely helpful.

If you want to know how to make a scene more memorable, keep the action moving without ignoring too much detail, or create cliffhanger endings that keep a reader engaged in your work, you'll want to purchase this book on writing. It's fifteen chapters of good advice for all writers.


See ya next review.

This book is a great asset to any writer's library. Rather than give out a list of rules, this book focuses on making you aware of your options and drives home the important aspect of focus itself. The author helps you to focus on the purpose of each scene and gives you options for ways to deal with aspects of that scene (description, length, etc.) I've read a lot of books about writing. I didn't think there was much more for me to find here. I was wrong. I've had many lightbulb moments while reading this book. Don't skim, though. If you skim it can look like the same old thing. If you read closely you'll find that it's not.

I put Obstfeld's suggestions to work immediately. In reading the draft of my latest book, I couldn't believe how much better the opening paragraph of a scene became with a little tweaking.

A gem of an idea jumped out from almost every chapter. It requires a reread to be sure I grasped them all.

Mary Jane Forbes, author, "Murder in the House of Beads"

I must warn you: this is a very personal review. Your experience might be very different to mine, leaving me with mixed feelings on how to rate this book.

If you are like me, you will have read several books on writing by now. You probably started out with the basics (e.g. Stein On Writing?) and now you would like to focus on specific subjects, parts of your talent that need some fine tuning.

Well, I'm not saying this book is of no use, but there was nothing new to be found for me. The index is impressive, it certainly gives you the idea that there's lots to be learned... but I couldn't find anything I didn't know. Because I am a novice writer, I find it hard to question the masterpieces quoted in the examples. But... I can't help but wonder, is it just my taste or are most of the examples really nothing to write home about?

It is up to you. I would recommend reading "Characters and Viewpoints" by Orson Scott Card, which delivers much more than the title promises. My personal opinion is, you don't need "Crafting Scenes". If you find your scenes are not ideal, it is a lot more likely that something else is wrong instead. Picking up Orson Scott Card's book will proof my point.