Writing Deep Scenes: Plotting Your Story Through Action, Emotion, and Theme

by Martha Alderson, Jordan Rosenfeld

Take a Deep Dive into Plot and Scene and Improve Your Writing

Whether you're planning your first novel or have already written a first draft, you need to master the concepts of plot and scene to truly realize your story's potential. Writing Deep Scenes teaches you how to write strong, layered, and engaging scenes--the secret to memorable, page-turning plots. It's filled with practical tools for building layers and nuance into your scenes, employing the right scene types at the right junctures, and developing a profound understanding of how plot and scene intertwine.

Inside you'll

   • How scenes are comprised of three key action, emotion, and theme.
   • How to recognize each layer and weave them seamlessly into a scene.
   • How to develop an intricate relationship between the action and emotion in every scene.
   • How thematic imagery embedded in scenes increases a story's tension and contributes to the story's meaning.
Using contemporary examples from a variety of genres, Writing Deep Scenes provides an effective method for plotting at the scene level. Use these techniques and enrich your fiction and memoirs with page-turning suspense and pathos, and explore new depths in every story you write.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Research, Reference, Adult

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2015

About the author

Martha writes at an enchanted beach somewhere off the coast of California. She draws inspiration in the beauty that surrounds her.
Visit her website for more: https://marthaalderson.com

Reviews

[Gwen Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate all the effort the authors put into this book, however, I'm sorry to say I did not come away feeling like I had learned anything. The writing is top-notch, but I actually found it overwhelming to read. For what it is (a how-to book) it was overly descriptive and used too many big words (and I'm not a lazy reader by any means). I often found my eyes crossing and had to read sentences/paragraphs multiple times.

At the same time, upon reaching the end of a section, I did not feel that I had learned anything new. Maybe I've read too many books on how to plot and they all start to sound the same, or maybe I had too high of expectations.

This is my personal opinion - it didn't work with my learning style and didn't present anything new for seasoned writers. Maybe a novice would find more meat here.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's taking me a long time to read Writing Deep Scenes. The content is rich and the information is presented in a interesting, engaging manner. The authors' love and respect for writing--and authors--is evident on every page. As I read, I find myself stopping to apply their principles to my own writing. I am the author of seven published novels and several unpublished. Each book has been challenging--especially the middle. I used to suffer from what I called "mired in the middle." The authors solution to sagging middles is both simple and brilliant. Their description of scene types has helped me identify missing pieces of my current work-in-progress.
This is the best kind of writing book--the kind that sends you back to manuscript with fresh ideas,

[Kirkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a strong sense of the ‘what’ in this book, i.e., ‘the characteristics of a good scene,’ but definitely not the ‘how,’ as in ‘how to make that happen,’ (i.e., practical tips).

It could be better, but I’m not sure how. Maybe this book could just write my book for me. Or at least tell me more about how to do it.

I would have liked for there to be more description, analysis, and examples of the 15 scene types mentioned in the book and felt that the authors kind of quickly blew by that essential and foundational information (how to write a strong scene). Instead, they left it up to the scene excerpts to do the work for them.

I’m definitely starting to wonder how helpful it actually is to read ‘craft’ books on writing after reading this book. I now—possibly as a consequence of reading _Deep Scenes_—feel a strong need to devour lots of actual fiction to better understand the workings of character and story.

[Debora Halluni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the second one that helped me so much get a better understanding and inside look on how a novel is created, as well as teaching me the basics to use on my own novel

[Emily Buehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't get much out of this book. It seemed to contain a lot of potentially worthwhile content, so it may be that it simply did not help me as a writer or did not help me at this point in my writing career. Maybe other writers would value it, or maybe I will come back to it someday and get more out of it.

The information seemed complicated; the book presents three types of material (action, emotion, dialogue), various stages a book goes through along with four "energetic markers," and a slew of "scene types." It contains specifics, like the length of this section must be about twice the length of that section, and this marker must occur at this point in the book, and things must get better and then worse until we reach the such-and-such point. (I'm paraphrasing; I don't want to take the time to provide actual quotes.) The book also uses a concept of "shadows and light" that I could not follow.

I tried to apply the ideas to my work-in-progress and could not fit them at all. So either my writing is not very advanced, or this book's ideas are not the end-all-be-all of writing books. Overall, it felt like a very complicated system that left me confounded; about a third of the way through, I started skimming, and ultimately it became a DNF.

Two final complaints: (1) The book explains that it uses the term "demonstrate don't lecture" instead of the well-used "show don't tell"; but then it's not clear that the new term differs from the old, and to me, the new term actually seems less appropriate, so it's not clear why it was even introduced. (2) The book uses "comprised of" several times when "composed of" would be correct. (Misuse of "comprise" is a pet peeve of mine. Assuming I understand the word correctly, which I may not.)

I'm glad to have the book on my shelf of writing craft books, and maybe a day will come when the material will make more sense to me. I struggled with a rating and erred on the high side, because the book was recommended and seems to help other writers.

[Russell Ricard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revved up after reading Martha Alderson and Jordan Rosenfeld’s Writing Deep Scenes (Plotting Your Story Through Action, Emotion, & Theme).

I’m impressed with how this co-authored book reads as a singular voice throughout. There is a seamless, conversational tone that feels like a one-on-one coaching session with an editor or coach who encourages the writer to dig deeper, and move toward more exciting storytelling.

First, there is an overview of plot, scenes, and scene types, and then Alderson and Rosenfeld delve more deeply into the layers of Action (“what happens”), Emotion (“how characters and readers feel throughout the journey”), and Theme (“the meaning produced in the process”). The author’s guide you toward stronger scene-by-scene, forward movement, and ultimately, a tighter and more engaging plot.

There are expertly cited examples of both classical and modern literature, across genre, that illustrate Alderson and Rosenfeld’s points on how to effectively engage readers through plot—again with the use of scenes that delve further into Action, Emotion, and Theme.

The role of emotion (“how characters and readers feel throughout the journey”) is, I find, something that is overlooked in writer’s how-to/reference books; however I feel it is a vital element of the craft of storytelling. That said, I particularly appreciate Alderson and Rosenfeld’s reminders of how emotion (in individual scenes and throughout the entire story one seeks to tell) can effectively serve a plot’s forward momentum—no matter the genre.

As the author’s suggest, the deeper a writer delves into the Actions, Emotions, and Themes that build the scenes and plot of her, or his story, the better it will resonate with readers.

I’m quite pleased to have this new inspirational, intellectually satisfying, and emotionally charged addition to my own writer’s toolbox. I’m certain that I’ll refer to Writing Deep Scenes time and again as I delve deeper into my own manuscripts.

[Lisa Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

To all my writer friends, this is one book you should read. I like to write myself, and I don't have much money. Reading this was just as informative as taking classes or attending a conference. The book focuses on different types of scenes found in novels as well as three basic elements - action, emotion and theme. After reading this book, I feel as if I have a better understanding of the transformation the main character needs to take. I also appreciate what I learned in relation to the "theme" of my story. The authors came up with great suggestions on how to improve your story's theme, something I rarely paid attention to before. Every author-to-be needs to read or own a copy of "Writing Deep Scenes."

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly? I didn't get much out of this book. It wasn't what I was hoping for. There were *some* helpful tips, but overall I found the format/structure of this book incredibly hard to read, annoying, and clunky. I also found it very repetitive and verbose. Additionally, as for the actual content, I found that a lot of it was very formulaic, and whilst this may be a controversial opinion in writing, I say *it's okay not to follow a plot formula and it's okay to defy plot conventions. you can still write a really successful book/series. exhibit A is the poppy war*

[Cal Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bulk of the good information is in the front half of this, while the back half over-extends some explanations. Some readers will appreciate the extra detail, but I could have done with about 60% less book. Overall, not a bad point of view on writing.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start this by saying that at one point the authors reference Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, and then proceed to describe her novel Dark Places instead. It was referenced correctly later in the book, but that mistake drove me wild and made me doubt many of the other things I read in this book. Why wasn’t that caught in editing?

I’m a writer and am currently working on a final draft of a novel that I hope to get traditionally published. I picked up this book in the hopes it would help me figure out 1) how to outline my plots better and 2) how to figure out which scenes are necessary and which scenes should be cut from my early drafts.

I liked the explanation of the four basic parts of a plot and which scenes work best in which parts. The first half of this book pretty much addressed what I wanted to get from it.

However, I finished this book feeling unsure who this is intended for. It’s obviously not for novice writers as there is a certain level of knowing how to construct compelling plot and characters assumed. But I’m also not sure if it’s for writers like me who have written enough to know generally what we’re doing but might need refinement for technique.

The advice here felt very repetitive and a lot of the breakdowns of scene types were borderline juvenile. I wasn’t impressed by the many examples from published works given either, mostly because the sheer number of them felt like filler. There weren’t always good enough explanations of why they were relevant for me to understand why they were included.

I also have a bone to pick with the reductionist nature of the advice in this book... because there were many points where advice was proffered more as law than as suggestions. What if, for example, you have more than one protagonist? What if you don’t subscribe to the idea that visual imagery of theme is essential in a good book? I felt like genre fiction (specifically fantasy, science fiction, and horror) got ignored here.

I did glean some helpful things from this book, but all in all I’m left a bit disappointed.

[Marcy Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book. There are better books on the writing craft out there.

For those who want a more detailed explanation of why, here goes:

(1) The book was poorly organized and structured. When I say that, I'm talking more about the way each individual chapter flowed (or didn't) than the overall outline of the book. There didn't always seem to be a logical order to the way the information was presented.

(2) The writing style was verbose and overly complex. This is a how-to book. It's supposed to teach. Which means that the writing needs to be clear and easy to follow, not mired in wordy, overly complex sentences and repetitive content.

(3) They told you what you needed to do, but they didn't give you advice on how to do it. This means that there's not a lot of practical value to the content. Often they dropped in an example from a published novel, but didn't break it down afterward to help the reader understand how to replicate that concept in their own work.

(4) The lack of practical takeaway coupled with the lack of clarity meant that this book isn't good for new to intermediate writers (who need things to be clearly explained in a way they can apply to their own writing) and it also isn't good for advanced writers (who won't find anything new here).

I should have stopped reading this book rather than slogging through it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start by saying this is probably the first non-fiction book I've read since college, and even back then, I did my best to skim. Non-fiction just isn't really my thing, and this book has a very technical voice.

Plot is how the dramatic events (action) in a story change and/or transform the main character (emotion) over time in a meaningful way (theme.) The degree of character change or transformation can vary dramatically depending on the genre.

I can't even read that without hearing a professor voice in my head. That being said, I'm glad I read this. Once you pick through the technical jargon, there is a lot of good advice, and while reading through it from front to end, I was able to highlight my favorites, which turned out to be 38 pieces of note.

I found the types of scenes and developing the theme of your novel especially helpful and I'm sure I'll be going back to read those again. I think, though, this book would be better in that sense. To just pick through the parts you need and not read the entire thing. But then again, how do you know what you'll need until you read through it?

[Ryan Neely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, great, great book. This was a phenomenal look into the standard modern story structure, as well as a deeper look into scenes themselves. This should be a must-read for any aspiring writer, be it screenplay, novel, short story, or stage play. Anything with a plot and scenes ... read this book.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't really impressed with this book until the second half when I felt like I learned new information about writing scenes and characters. Much of the first section contained advice I've gleaned from every other book on writing fiction, and it was written as if readers were not experienced fiction writers or had never read a book about writing fiction before. I liked reading about the differnt types of scenes, how everything starts and ends with characters and their emotions. but my overall opinion is this book would be great for writers new to the world of fiction.

[Moon Petrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was good enough, but it was organized very oddly, which made it hard to follow and not as useful for reference as I’d hoped. Instead of addressing action in the beginning, emotion in the beginning, and theme in the beginning before moving on to emotion in the middle and so on, it addressed action in each section before going back to the beginning to address emotion and so on. If you want to know what the authors recommend for the beginning of a book, you have to find three separate sections!

[Luci Ayyat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out so strong, I was loving it. But then it faltered in the emotion sections and got boring for me in the theme section. The advice and examples were all good. I can say I learned a lot by reading it. Building layers of a novel is well covered by this book. But somewhere in the middle it sagged and I had to force myself to finish it. I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars, but will go with 4 stars simply because it has solid advice that is well presented.

[T.J. Puritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading this book as I work through writing a fiction novel. The tips and info are very helpful. Through the use of numerous examples of literature, the authors prove their points and give much to consider. This one is definitely recommended for anyone writing fiction. Be advised that they do give away many of the plot points of the example novels so if there is something in it that is in your TBR pile, you might want to skip that example.

[Marrije · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry at times, but the examples from novels to illustrate what they mean make up for it and help make the book quite useful after all. But definitely don't read this one if you're starting out on your first novel - that way despair lies.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll post a longer, more thoughtful review later, I believe this is a must read for fiction writers. What I appreciated most was how the authors broke down well-known stories on a scene-by-scene level as they examined how action, emotion, and theme are so crucial to structuring a good story.

[Alexandra Mars · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very helpful.

This book has provided me new insight on my writing. I learned so many new things that I didn't know. This is a must read for any writer.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly basic breakdown of the topic.

[B.J. Sikes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a long time to read because I wanted to digest it. Now I want to start reading it again. It gets a bit repetitious but so much food for thought.

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of great reminders.... foiled by the odd decisions surrounding organization. It might also be my degree, and its inherent love of job aids/infographics but this book really could have benefited from some infographics. In addition to the book's own vocabulary for certain kinds of scenes, I was also expected to remember what the different "energetic markers" were. Having something to flip back to would have helped me remember what those markers were. The organization was made even more confusing when the chapters on theme turned out to be more akin to "hey, make sure to describe things using all 5 senses" and "foreshadowing should be light in the beginning, and themes can be more heavy handed at the end." The whole organization of the book would have made more sense if it was organized around the "energetic markers" and how emotion and plot should have been handled at each stage, with bits of "at your fifth draft, feel free to come back and spice this up with some theme goodness."

TL;DR: this book could have served its purpose better if I didn't spend the entire time reading, wondering why it was organized the way it was. Very distracting.

[Zara West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the most important part of this book is the typology of scene types they present and their discussion of how to use them. Now I have to admit that I have written and published five novels without ever thinking about scene types. But I think my books would have been stronger if I had been more thoughtful in my selection and arrangement of some of my scenes. They also dig deep into action and emotion with excellent examples from selected novels.

Novel analysis is one of the best ways to learn what makes a novel work. However, I often find that examples are used that I am unfamiliar with. That is particularly the case in this book. What can be done, is to apply their structural critique to a novel of your choice that resembles the one you want to write.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straightforward, convenient!

This book does a good job of being both snappy and simple while also helping provide information and examples of the building blocks it's describing. I don't want to call this book "shallow" because what I mean is: it provides examples and information without overwhelming you with TL;DR clutter. Some of the points feel a little "well, duh," but that's actually helpful when trying to make sure all the aspects of your own writing project are considered.

I'll use this as a "checklist" with making sure I'm not being lazy with any details in my writing!

[Mandi Lavoie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve struggled writing emotional depth for my characters and I’ve sworn by the book Story Genius up until now. This book takes it five times deeper with details that give us understanding of how deep our characters emotions and theme should be and even tips for revision. Such as theme isn’t on the first drafts but rather woven in several drafts in. At least now I don’t feel pressure to force it into the first drafts when I need to vomit on the page and add emotional depth. Definitely keeping this book as holy grail for writing.

[Peggy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep info!

This book is so informative how create deep scenes when creating your story. Martha and Jordan really gives useful direction and tips on a how to bases to do your work. This is a very valuable resource for any writer's library.

[Duchess_Nimue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The attention to details the authors have given in the book is wonderful. A great resource material, and great explanations. The book is filled with examples from books, but beware - there will be spoilers for some of those works.

[A.M. Bochnak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great advice and practical solutions to improving your story in this one.

[Luther Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Information Load


This book is loaded with information. I will study the information and come back to my review. I have a good feeling.