If you want to level up your fiction, forget chasing perfect sentences or obsessing over plot twists. Learn how to write a solid scene.
Scenes are the building blocks of any story. They’re where characters come alive, stakes take shape, and emotions land. Without strong scenes, all you’ve got is a premise and some prose. With them, you’ve got momentum. You’ve got something that breathes.
When I was first starting out, I had a decent handle on voice and ideas. But my drafts sagged. The emotional arcs didn’t land. I’d wander into a new section thinking I was “progressing the story” and end up floating in summary or backstory with nothing actually happening. That’s when I found Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld.
Rosenfeld’s book taught me that scenes aren’t just containers for stuff to happen—they are the story. She breaks them down to their basic architecture: every scene must have a purpose, a change, and a moment of tension or conflict. No filler. No spinning wheels. If it’s not moving the story forward or deepening the characters, it doesn’t belong.
Here are a few of the biggest takeaways I’ve carried with me:
1. Scenes Have a Goal
Each scene needs a clear intention. What does the character want right now? What are they trying to do or get? Without that, the scene lacks drive. It’s just mood. But when your character’s desire is active, even a conversation in a coffee shop can hum with electricity.
2. Scenes Must Contain Conflict or Tension
Conflict doesn’t have to be shouting or violence. It can be internal—shame, confusion, suppressed attraction—or relational, like subtle manipulation or miscommunication. Something must get in the way of what the character wants, even if it’s just their own self-doubt.
3. Scenes Should Show Change
By the end of the scene, something has shifted—emotionally, relationally, or plot-wise. If nothing is different by the last paragraph, it’s not a scene; it’s a stall. As Rosenfeld puts it, scenes are “change units.” They build toward transformation.
4. Anchor Scenes in Sensory Experience
One of Rosenfeld’s great reminders is to ground your scenes in physicality. Setting, sensations, body language—all of it keeps the reader immersed and helps us feel what the characters feel. That doesn’t mean purple prose. It means locating your story in a world, not just ideas.
5. Balance Action, Thought, and Dialogue
A good scene blends outer movement with inner life. What’s happening externally should be interwoven with what’s happening in your character’s mind and body. That dance between doing, reacting, and thinking is where real depth lives.
Scene writing is where story craft gets honest. You can’t hide behind concept or cleverness. You’ve got to bring characters into the world, with desires and wounds and obstacles. And then let them move through it.
If you’re feeling stuck in your writing—or if your story feels like it’s missing energy or momentum—I recommend going back to the scene level. Build from there. Nail one scene at a time. Let the structure hold you up.
And if you want to dig deeper, I can’t recommend Jordan Rosenfeld’s Make a Scene highly enough. It’s smart, clear, and packed with examples. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned writer retooling your process, it’ll help you sharpen the most important muscle in your storytelling toolkit.
