Skip to main content

Creating 3-Dimensional Scenes

Strengthen a weak scene in your novel in just 30 minutes by trying this writing exercise.
  • Author:
  • Publish date:

Choose a scene from your own work or one you want to add to your story. Practice writing the same scene over and over. Use all dialogue the first time. Then use all narrative. Then all action. Finally, weave all three fiction elements for a three-dimensional effect.

Pull a troublesome scene from your own story. Which element does it have too much of? Too little of? Consider how you might weave all three elements to make it more three-dimensional.

Take a look at some of your woven scenes and see if you can speed them up by taking out all of the narrative and using only dialogue. Or slow them down by taking out the dialogue and using only narrative. Maybe a scene should be focused on the action alone, for the sake of moving the external plot forward. Remember that not every scene needs to be woven to be effective.

Want all the instruction of a writing class without having to invest the money or time into one? Consider this book:
Fiction Writer's Workshop

Image placeholder title

Become a WD VIP and Save 10%:
Get a 1-year pass to WritersMarket.com, a 1-year subscription to Writer's Digest magazine and 10% off all WritersDigestShop.com orders! Click here to join.


Also check out these items from the Writer's Digest's collection:
Writer's Digest Elements Of Writing Fiction: Beginnings, Middles & Ends

Writer's Digest Elements Of Writing Fiction: Scene & Structure

Writer's Digest Elements Of Writing Fiction: Conflict, Action & Suspense
Writer's Digest Elements Of Writing Fiction: Description
Writer's Digest Elements Of Writing Fiction: Characters & Viewpoint

Writer's Digest No More Rejections
Writer's Digest Weekly Planner
Writer's Digest How to Land a Literary Agent (On-Demand Webinar)

Writer's Digest Magazine One-Year Subscription
Writer's Digest 10 Years of Writer's Digest on CD: 2000-2009

Why I Write: From Sartre to Recovery and Back Again, by Henriette Ivanans

Why I Write: From Sartre to Recovery and Back Again

Author Henriette Ivanans gets existential, practical, and inspirational while sharing why she writes, why she really writes.

5 Tips for Exploring Mental Health in Your Fiction, by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg

5 Tips for Exploring Mental Health in Your Fiction

Author Lisa Williamson Rosenberg shares her top five tips for exploring mental health in your fiction and how that connects to emotion.

Chelsea Iversen: Follow Your Instincts

Chelsea Iversen: Follow Your Instincts

In this interview, author Chelsea Iversen discusses the question she asks herself when writing a character-driven story, and her new historical fantasy novel, The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt.

Your Story #134

Your Story #134

Write a short story of 650 words or fewer based on the photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.

NovDec24_Breaking In

Breaking In: November/December 2024

Debut authors: How they did it, what they learned, and why you can do it, too.

Rosa Kwon Easton: On Fiction Helping Tell a True Family Story

Rosa Kwon Easton: On Fiction Helping Tell a True Family Story

In this interview, author Rosa Kwon Easton discusses the surprises she faced in tackling fiction for the first time with her new historical novel, White Mulberry.

Poetry Prompt

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 720

Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started for poets. This week, write an undiscovered poem.

How to Portray Time and Memory in Stories, by Anita Felicelli

How to Portray Time and Memory in Stories

Author Anita Felicelli explains her process for portraying time and memory in stories, including examples from other authors.

online prompt 12:3

Listening In

Every writer needs a little inspiration once in a while. For today's prompt, start your story with someone listening in on someone else's conversation.