Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere) (Unabridged)
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3.9 • 16 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story.
It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite.
The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think).
In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.
Customer Reviews
Required Reading
A must read for writers and anyone who frequently addresses audiences.
No substance at all.
So far, I’m two chapters in and this author has done nothing but bash other teaching styles or talk a great deal about what isn’t important to making a good book. She has given almost no practical steps or valuable information on how to actually develop the skills to write a compelling story. So far all I know from her is something that I frankly already knew. That the story is why people pick up the book. If that was supposed to be news to me, I question whether or not THIS author should be writing books. Of course people pick up a story for the “story“. Is there really anything else that would ever cause somebody to pick up a novel? If by the time I get to chapter 3 or four, I haven’t received something of Benefit from this “story genius“. I will put it down and never pick it back up. I feel like I’m being catfished. All she does is talk about what’s wrong but so far I’m wondering if she genuinely knows how to do anything right. Think, “Wizard of Oz behind the curtain“. So far all I’ve seen is a great deal of show and almost no substance at all. I am extremely disappointed. The entire purpose of purchasing this book is to learn something useful for writing stories. So far that’s the one thing I haven’t received. Who knows, perhaps it will improve dramatically after chapter 2. But it’s not looking good right now.