The Key to Writing Better Scene Summaries
This first blog is going to be something I learned during the ACESAccelerate conference in September of 2022. "Lost in a Sea of Words: Mapping Your Way to a Stronger Story" was hosted by Christina Frey, the Co Executive Director of the Editorial Freelancers Association, and ended up being my absolute favorite of the conference. The main topic was a concept called story mapping, and I am so excited to share this with you.
Essentially, the story map (also called a book map) is created in order to track what is happening in each chapter by breaking it down into a single-paragraph summary. These summaries can be used to track patterns across the story in order to point out any flat moments, missing tension, or half-finished subplot. If you're like me, this sounds completely daunting. Don't worry! The amazing Christina Frey was able to break it down into a few components that make story mapping easier to understand.
Story mapping is meant to be more than just a vague recollection of the plot in any given chapter. It's meant to track several components:
Characterization: anything that happens that revolves around the character but especially goals and motivations
Conflict: this can be physical fighting or any kind of obstacle faced in the chapter
Stakes: these are the consequences of an action, a reaction, or a certain decision/choice
Background: anything that relates to world-building
Actions: the important interactions and choices that take place
You've probably seen these terms before, so let's jump into how we're going to use them to take that collection of index cards and turn them into a treasure map.
You're going to start out by assigning a color to each component. This can be done either with highlighters and paper or by using your favorite computer writing software. It's all about your personal preference as a writer or editor, and yes both roles can utilize this technique! A writer can use this as an outlining strategy, and an editor can use this to see how each chapter breaks down.
Let’s use some bright and fun colors. Our components are now:
Yellow: Characterization
Red: Conflict
Pink: Stakes
Green: Background
Blue: Actions
Now we can get started writing the summaries!
The next step is to go chapter by chapter and really consider what that chapter is about. I'll walk you through a similar example to the one Christina Frey presented during the session to give you an idea because it's not as complicated as it seems. We'll start out with a basic summary:
Version A
Maggie goes to the store for ingredients. We learn that she is in charge of dessert for her mother's 50th birthday party. Maggie puts the cake in the oven but receives a call from her father to inform her that the party has been canceled.
Technically, there's nothing wrong with this sentence. It describes what happens in the chapter clearly, but only at a passive level. Compare it to this one:
Version B
Maggie skips to the store, eager to make her Grandmother's famous German Chocolate Cake for her mother's 50th birthday party that night. She receives a call from her father while it's baking to tell her that her mother's been taken to the hospital and the party has been canceled. Maggie leaves to join them, her mood soured, but forgets to turn the oven off.
It's the exact same amount of sentences but gives us a lot more information about what is truly going on in the chapter. Now is the fun part... highlighter time! If we consider our color options, we can really pick out which parts of the summary need to be highlighted. The great thing here is that you can highlight only one word in the sentence, so don't feel as if you must highlight the entire paragraph.
Version A, Highlighted
Maggie goes to the store for ingredients. We learn that she is in charge of dessert for her mother's 50th birthday party. Maggie puts the cake in the oven but receives a call from her father to inform her that the party has been canceled.
With this summary, only two of the five components come up: actions and background. This gives the impression that the chapter is bland and has no deeper purpose. Let's take a look at the revised summary:
Version B, Highlighted
Maggie skips to the store, eager to make her Grandmother's famous German Chocolate Cake for her mother's 50th birthday party that night. She receives a call from her father while it's baking to tell her that her mother's been taken to the hospital and the party has been canceled. Maggie leaves to join them, her mood soured, but forgets to turn the oven off.
Remember our colors represent:
Yellow: Characterization
Red: Conflict
Pink: Stakes
Green: Background
Blue: Actions
Now we have all five colors yet we haven't taken away from the action and background in the chapter. Remember that not all of the summaries will have all five! Three or four is the sweet spot for me, but this can depend on what kind of story you're writing.
Once you have all of the summaries written and highlighted, it'll be easier to spot the ebb and flow of the story. There are also ways you can build on this concept! By picking out the most important parts of the chapter, we can label how much tension is in it and what moods stick out. If you're comfortable with your summaries, I'd recommend going back and adding those labels.
In particular, Christina Frey recommends using a scale (typically from 1 to 5) in order to define how much tension is in the chapter. Plotting these on a chart will give you a wonderful visual to help you identify points of high tension and low tension throughout the story. You'll be able to move on to questions like, "Is six chapters in a row too long to draw out for this climactic moment?"
As far as mood goes, the key points of highlighted characterization give you a big clue. This can help you gauge whether the story is jerking from sad to happy or whether it's lacking emotion entirely.
By incorporating story mapping into both my writing and editing practices, I've been able to revolutionize the way I outline and find patterns. It's incredibly useful in conjunction with Plottr's outline feature. If you'd like a simple tutorial on how I use Plottr for book mapping, check out the Book Map tab!
Originally published under R.L. Martin as
“Help! I’ve Buried Myself In Index Cards And Don’t Know What To Do.”
Originally Published Oct. 8th, 2022
Updated Aug. 23rd, 2025
