Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Ten Speed Press (2016), Edition: 1, 288 pages
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 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 Genuis 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"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Sunyidean
Not for me. I felt like it was trying to teach intuitive writing, but I already do a lot od that, and the plot cards were too overwhelming. I just don't think that way.
LibraryThing member Gingermama
Some interesting ideas and examples of how to develop your plot using some unique methods. Definitely worth a look.
LibraryThing member bamealer
If you are a writer, Lisa goes through the process of how to make your book better by ensuring you are using your protagonist to the fullest and getting into the emotional side of the story. There is a learning curve to this method, but even if used in bits and pieces, you will find you are getting
This book is geared to writers who are wanting to improve their books with engaging characters to speak to you. The cards she recommends you do are easily done in Scrivener and are a great help in keeping you on track with where you need to go with the story while allowing your creativity to change things as needed.
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to where the story really needs to start and make the protagonist's need the main driver of the story, not the plot. I will keep it as a resource for when I'm having difficulty getting that character to to the right direction. This book is geared to writers who are wanting to improve their books with engaging characters to speak to you. The cards she recommends you do are easily done in Scrivener and are a great help in keeping you on track with where you need to go with the story while allowing your creativity to change things as needed.
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LibraryThing member CharlotteBurt
This has taught me a lot but I feel there was a bit of a bait and switch going on. For a book supposedly about h0w neurology relates to storytelling, it is very short on the science.
The fact that every protagonist in every book has a major misbelief which drives the whole story seems a little too
The fact that every protagonist in every book has a major misbelief which drives the whole story seems a little too
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prescriptive for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member AmphipodGirl
Pluses: Her emphasis on what characters feel, believe, and want, and the importance of having that be what drives the events of your story, makes deep sense to me. The exercises on writing backstory were interesting and useful to me.
Minuses: She's very insistent that this is the only way for a
She's got a very specific process for organizing your work and ideas and developing your novel (and she's talking exclusively about novels, not addressing shorter forms directly) that I don't think will work for me and the things I write. The fact that all her ideas about how belief and feeling drives action are kind of embedded in a series of steps to take, down to what folders (physical or virtual) you should use to organize your work in progress, makes it hard to me to take what I need and leave the rest.
The example novel that's being developed to show us how the process goes doesn't impress me. I would not consider reading the resulting book.
And some of what she does doesn't really apply to fan fiction, which is mostly what I write, but that's not necessarily a strike against her. She should be evaluated on whether she's made a good guide to writing a novel, because that's what she set out to do.
I don't lover her writing -- a lot of the analogies she uses to sell her writing points seem overblown and unnecessarily complex.
So, I think I've gotten benefits from reading this book that will make me a better writer. But I didn't love reading it, and if I were setting out to write a novel I don['t think I would be following her methodology to the letter (and she's so detailed that modifying it feels tricky, plus it bumps up against some of my black and white thinking).
Minuses: She's very insistent that this is the only way for a
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successful novel to be, whatever its genre, and I don't buy that. Agatha Christie's novels do not turn on Hercule Poirot realizing that some core belief of his needs to be revised; among other things, there's no way that he could go through that many dozens of changes of heart -- she wrote a lot of those books. To give another example, books don't necessarily have a single protagonist.She's got a very specific process for organizing your work and ideas and developing your novel (and she's talking exclusively about novels, not addressing shorter forms directly) that I don't think will work for me and the things I write. The fact that all her ideas about how belief and feeling drives action are kind of embedded in a series of steps to take, down to what folders (physical or virtual) you should use to organize your work in progress, makes it hard to me to take what I need and leave the rest.
The example novel that's being developed to show us how the process goes doesn't impress me. I would not consider reading the resulting book.
And some of what she does doesn't really apply to fan fiction, which is mostly what I write, but that's not necessarily a strike against her. She should be evaluated on whether she's made a good guide to writing a novel, because that's what she set out to do.
I don't lover her writing -- a lot of the analogies she uses to sell her writing points seem overblown and unnecessarily complex.
So, I think I've gotten benefits from reading this book that will make me a better writer. But I didn't love reading it, and if I were setting out to write a novel I don['t think I would be following her methodology to the letter (and she's so detailed that modifying it feels tricky, plus it bumps up against some of my black and white thinking).
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LibraryThing member caanderson
Good advice on blocking out your story to get you to the end.
LibraryThing member ProfH
Cron would like you believe she’s found a way of cutting to the most essential aspect of storytelling. The thesis is that the protagonist’s internal struggle with a problem is all. This leads her to admire the 50 shades of grey because it sold well despite being forgettable garbage. Therefore
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Cron makes no effort to write well. This is a bloated mess weighed down by her annoying asides and flat jokes. The actual content would be 15-20 pages (tops) if this was edited to help the reader. I think this person is really doing a disservice to share such flatulence with aspiring writers. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016
Physical description
288 p.; 5.5 inches
ISBN
1607748894 / 9781607748892