Review: Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (Part 2)

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
by Lisa Cron

Genre: Nonfiction/Fiction Writing Skills

Publication Date: July 10, 2012

Source: paperback purchase

| Amazon | |Barnes &Noble |

Imagine knowing what the brain craves from every tale it encounters, what fuels the success of any great story, and what keeps readers transfixed. Wired for Story reveals these cognitive secrets—and it’s a game-changer for anyone who has ever set pen to paper.

The vast majority of writing advice focuses on “writing well” as if it were the same as telling a great story. This is exactly where many aspiring writers fail—they strive for beautiful metaphors, authentic dialogue, and interesting characters, losing sight of the one thing that every engaging story must do: ignite the brain’s hardwired desire to learn what happens next. When writers tap into the evolutionary purpose of story and electrify our curiosity, it triggers a delicious dopamine rush that tells us to pay attention. Without it, even the most perfect prose won’t hold anyone’s interest.

Backed by recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as well as examples from novels, screenplays, and short stories, Wired for Story offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it. Each chapter zeroes in on an aspect of the brain, its corresponding revelation about story, and the way to apply it to your storytelling right now.

 

In case you're unaware, I wrote the first part (Part 1) of this book review last week and now I'm continuing on with Part 2 today....

My Review – Part 2

Last week, my review of Wired for Story got into what a story should revolve around in order to consider it an actual story and not just a set of random events. This week's review covers the information in Chapters 3 through 4 about what elements your story needs to have to make it connect with readers.

Emotions are the glue that makes your story and characters stick to the roof of your reader's mouth as he or she laps them up like peanut butter. If your reader isn't having an emotional response to your story, chances are he/she will deem it as unimportant and move on to the next one. Brain science reveals that we cannot even make simple decisions in our lives without emotions driving us to pick a blue shirt over a brown one to wear because it's a nice, sunny day today.

So, how do you make meaningful emotional connections with the reader? Show how what happens to your protagonist affects them and what they do as a result. In every scene you write, your protagonist must react in some way the reader can understand in that moment. The reaction must have an effect on how the protagonist will achieve her goal, which will draw out a very visceral reaction in the protagonist.

Brain scientists have discovered that everything we experience pulls on our emotional heartstrings because, as a species, we are wired to ask ourselves, unconsciously, “Will this help me or hurt me?” We real folks feel everything and when we read about fictional people kind of feeling stuff, but not really, we check out of that story in a hurry. But, why? Because it bores us. We have no interest in anything we cannot feel. We end up not knowing what to think of it and that makes it hard for us to process.

Okay, now we understand this because it does make sense, after all, doesn't it? When you think it about, yes. But, don't we need to delve a little deeper into story to tell a story? Of course. Now, it's time to write characters that have ambitions, or goals to achieve. A protagonist without something to achieve is flowndering and leaves the reader feeling nothing. But, why do protagonists need goals to achieve? Because we real people are always driven to achieve goals, be they the kind in which we want to eat pancakes for breakfast to the kind in which we want to become the next president of the United States.

The thing is, when we read, we slip into the skin of the protagonist for that time and become them. What they want, we want. What makes them happy, makes us happy. Our brains light up on fMRI scans the exact same way when we read about a story happening to somebody else as when it actually happens to us, literally. Basically, our brains can't tell the difference.

So, we cannot find meaning in anything that happens to a character if we don't know what she wants. Was that slap on the butt flirtation or harassment? If your character is a stalwart feminist aiming to take down “the man” and all his “boys,” and the man slapping her is her coworker, then, yes that was harassment. If he is her playful husband teasing her about her new Buns of Steel workout and how hot she looks, then it's flirtation. See how knowing the character and what drives her, you can find the meaning in everything that happens to her?

And, everything that happens to her will be colored by her story goal. It will strengthen in the reader's mind what she is focused on and how what she must go through to achieve her goal will emotionally impact her. But, is it enough to just know what the character wants? Inevitably, the reader will ask, “Why does she want this?” Give your character a reason why they want what they want—a motivation behind it because it will resonate better. Nothing in a story happens in a vacuum just as in real life.

There's so much more that I can't even get into from Chapter 4 because it reaches some serious depths, but this is a tasty sample of what you'll find therein. Next time, for Part 3 in two weeks, I'll get into the chapters on how to probe into your protagonist's inner issue and the importance of writing specifics into your story.

To be continued in Part 3....

Did you ever think story was so complex? It really goes so far beyond our awareness because when we slip into story, that part of our brain that analyzes things shuts off, thus keeping us blind to why the story is resonating with us. Funny, isn't it?

Monstrous Monday Bloghop! My Favorite Monster

Today is the Monstrous Monday Bloghop, hosted by Tim Brannan at The Other Side. 

What you do is you blog about any monster or monsters you want. What kind of Monster?  Well that is up to you really.  You can post monster stats, or post a monster you like/love/hate, or tell us about the monster in your new book coming out.  Anything would be great really.

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I chose to blog about one of the most dynamic and most recognizable monsters in all of literature, the tragic monster created by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  

The thing that stands out about him isn't that he's so hideous or even how he was created. Granted, those factors are really cool! He's yellow-skinned and patched together with visible stitches. He was animated through a clever use of electricity and somehow endowed with a soul. But, this monster's tale is far more interesting because of how he is treated by his creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. 

Had he been treated as a special creation, he surely would have turned out lovable and kind. But, Victor abhorred him the moment he came to life. How hypocritical can you get? It's a tragedy because the monster didn't have to commit so many atrocities if he had been loved as any child deserves by their parent. 

Sure, the monster grew into a mind that could reason and even learned right from wrong, yet he chose to make his creator's life miserable for revenge. That was wrong of him, but it all started with Victor and his inability to take responsibility for his own actions. He just runs around, acting like a demon is after him for no reason, even though he created this monster! What an idiot. 

But, this is what gives this story so much depth and forces us to ask so many questions about the nature of man and our relationship to our creator, whoever we each believe that being to be.

What I find fascinating is what I discovered about the author, Mary Shelley, and her life, which is what inspired her to write this tale. She was raised by a very liberal-minded philosopher named William Godwin who was the equivalent of a 1960's hippie for his era. He did not believe women should have to marry and that people should live more naturally. He detested laws and cultural values forced upon people, and even preached political anarchy. This guy was seriously unhinged for his day and age.

But, when his lovely daughter, Mary Woolstonecraft Godwin, was 16-years-old, she fell in love with a man who sought out her father's philosophy and wanted to live it. His name was Percy Shelley and he was just as much a proponent of anarchy and liberal society as was Godwin. Mary and Percy decided to live as liberal a life as she was raised to live, which meant they shacked up and had children all while not being married. Percy even had another "wife" at the same time, practicing bigamy. 

This, oddly enough, outraged Mr. Godwin, Mary's father, and he disowned her. She was so devasted to be cast-off from her father who raised her to live against the grain of society, and when she decided to live like a modern day hippie, he couldnt' handle it. No, she had to get married and raise children like a normal, proper lady, according to her father. What? So crazy and so hypocritical. 

This painful split with her father leaked into her manuscript during that fateful vacation spent with her husband and Lord Byron in Switzerland. Thus, the hypocrisy we see in Victor is directly lifted from her own father's hypocrisy over her common law, bigamous marriage to Percy Shelley.

In time, she and Percy did get married and the other woman, a relative of Mary's, got fed up with the relationship and left. When she properly married Percy, her father accepted her back into his good graces, but I doubt she ever saw her father the same way again. Her life was full of tragedy and the deaths of children, loved ones, and everything she ever believed in. 

Anyway, neither story has a happy ending, but I love that the novel makes us really think and opens up a grand discussion about our responsibilities to our own creations, namely, our children. Nature versus nurture--how much of it determines the course any being decides to tread in life?

How much of human behavior and decision-making is nature or nurture? In your opinion, how much can bad parenting damage a child?            

Week in Review (#8)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for "Week in Review"....


Last Week's Writing

I continued to edit and revise my YA fantasy novella Pink Knight, adding around 1,000 words to the overall word count. It's already reading much better and more detailed. I've been doing my editing from my Kindle because it gives me a different angle to see my writing and the story. Everytime I had left out a word, I noticed it on my Kindle, but couldn't for the life of me see it in my Word document.

There were so many things I either didn't think about putting into the 1st draft, or completely forgot to add them, so this 2nd draft is getting all that much needed extra stuff in there. I was feeling so discouraged about the lack of a potential audience for my novella last week, but I really feel tremendously better about that now that I realize I'll just have to keep writing and keep writing until I write some book series that finally resonates with people. If Pink Knight doesn't work out, something else I'll write in the future will and it's a matter of time until I get it right, provided I don't give up. 

Thanks for all your encouragement about that last week, everyone!

Last Week's Reading

I finished reading The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and it really left a big impression on me. It's a very unique story and a good commentary on how women are treated in male-dominated cultures. It's so sad to see the robot woman, Mattie, try so hard to obtain her independence just to realize that she only got it because her creator granted it to her. She's a machine, so she doesn't have the natural born right to human freedom. Also, it has a super sad ending that I wish had played out differently. It's my main gripe about the story. 

Still, it was such a great read and it has inspired me to take a novel I had abandoned earlier this year (Ironworks) in a very different direction. I always intended to add cyborgs into that story, but I might just make them more prominent now. I love how the relationship Mattie has with her creator is so utterly strange because none of us can relate to knowing our creator, personally, whoever you believe that creator to be. 

This Week

I'll be finishing up my 2nd draft of Pink Knight and hoping that all my much needed additions help it seem more detailed and interesting. I'm hoping to get my beta readers to critique it in chapter chunks and answer certain questions after each chapter so I can see if the story is staying on-track, or going off the rails. I got the idea from Wired for Story by Lisa Cron and it sounds like a brilliant idea. Read that book if you want to know how to write a proper story.

Otherwise, this week I'll be reading for fun books like Torn by Amanda Hocking (Trylle Trilogy, #2) and The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan. I'm loving The Faerie Guardian!


That's my week. Thanks for reading and for your support. Anyone planning on doing NaNoWriMo in November? If only they had the editing/revising version of that, I might have been able to join.  Good luck to those participating!

      

Review: Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (Part 1)

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
by Lisa Cron

Genre: Nonfiction/Fiction Writing Skills

Publication Date: July 10, 2012

Source: paperback purchase

| Amazon | |Barnes &Noble |

Imagine knowing what the brain craves from every tale it encounters, what fuels the success of any great story, and what keeps readers transfixed. Wired for Story reveals these cognitive secrets—and it’s a game-changer for anyone who has ever set pen to paper.

The vast majority of writing advice focuses on “writing well” as if it were the same as telling a great story. This is exactly where many aspiring writers fail—they strive for beautiful metaphors, authentic dialogue, and interesting characters, losing sight of the one thing that every engaging story must do: ignite the brain’s hardwired desire to learn what happens next. When writers tap into the evolutionary purpose of story and electrify our curiosity, it triggers a delicious dopamine rush that tells us to pay attention. Without it, even the most perfect prose won’t hold anyone’s interest.

Backed by recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as well as examples from novels, screenplays, and short stories, Wired for Story offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it. Each chapter zeroes in on an aspect of the brain, its corresponding revelation about story, and the way to apply it to your storytelling right now.

 

This is going to be a several-part review of this book, so Part 1 begins with this post. It is just THAT amazing of a book and I'm doing an in-depth preview of what you can expect to find if you decide to read it. Hopefully, you will.

My Review – Part 1

When I first stumbled upon Wired for Story, I wasn't sure if it was a book that I had likely read before, or something really revolutionary. I liked the idea of the premise—that this writer's resource would explain the science behind why some stories sizzle and others fizzle for seemingly no apparent reason. So, I took the bate and bought this title, diving right into it when it landed in my mailbox.

I have to say this resource is more like 'something revolutionary.' Imagine reading a reference book that tells you how your human brain responds to storytelling and why. Wouldn't you want to read that if you're like me and want to have every possible advantage when it comes to fiction writing? Sure, you can just hope to get it right one day, but it makes more sense to put the right tools in your tool kit rather than just hope that if you close your eyes and swing away, eventually you'll hit the fastball.

There's a real scientific reason why our brains get so excited about some books we read more than others. It isn't just because Book A is 'better' than Book B. It's really because Book A is more effective at stimulating your brain's dopamine production than Book B. And, there are quite a few reasons why effective storytelling creates this wonderful dopamine rush in our brains, making us fall in love with books and the characters that drive them.

First of all, we humans have a biological survival mechanism implanted in us that requires story. Without it, I would not be typing this right now because humanity would have gone extinct long ago. We learn vicariously through the experiences of others and we have to or we would be toast. Story evolved because it was first meant to teach us where it wasn't safe to build our homes, according to the other humans already in the area, or why we can't grow the same crops in Nebraska that we can in California. Somebody will tell you a story first so you don't have to find out through trial and error for yourself and risk starving to death.

But, story doesn't have to be fact in order to enthrall us. Our brains learn and love just as well when we know the story is completely fictional. But, how do we give the dopamine rush to our readers they need to feel satisfaction when reading our story?

Start with anything that makes them want to know what happens next. That pique of curiosity is like catnip for humans and is how any good book beginning does its job of hooking the reader. But, make sure you zero in on your point right off the bat, or the reader ends up with lower than normal dopamine levels because they are so confused, they want to stop reading. Introduce a character, set up a conflict for that character, put something important at risk and make sure the reader knows things aren't as they ought to be from the get-go.

What is a story? Why is it that when we write stuff happening, it falls flat sometimes? A story isn't simply what happens to a protagonist, or even what he/she has to do to achieve their goal. It's how the protagonist has to change internally in order to achieve it. Story is about something inside the character that is changing. Otherwise, it is a non-story about a bunch of stuff happening. And, the way to zero in on how your character has to change in order to achieve their goal is to ask a story question and answer it. Will Katniss take down the Capitol? Will Scrooge learn to be a humanitarian? Will Harry finally defeat Voldemort?

You're pretty curious, aren't you? You're licking the dopamine right off your fingertips—it's so good. Wired for Story is about finding your focus as a storyteller and creating a story around that focal point in order to hook the reader in and make them drunk on their own dopamine.

To be continued in Part 2....

I hope you are effectively hooked! I'll be back with Part 2 next week, so stay tuned. What do you think about brain science and story? Does it surprise you to know how fundamentally important is the role of a storyteller, after all?

  

Week in Review (#7)

WEEK IN REVIEW

Time for another 'Week in Review' post....


Past Writing

I spent last week mostly taking time off from my novella WIP, Pink Knight, because I figured the distance from it would do me good. I think it did. By the end of the week, I began to reread and edit it, realizing that the book really doesn't have an existing audience. I suppose I didn't think much about that when I was writing it because it was so much fun, I just didn't want to kill my joy. 

But, it is what it is and it's just not like other books out there. I suppose most writers set out to write as original of novels as they can. Usually, originality is a good thing. But, people don't like what they don't recognize--it's just the way our brains are wired. I'm all for getting away from using tired old tropes, but popular tropes are popular for a reason. Because people recognize them and can make sense of them. 

But, still I want to publish this book because it was so fun to write. Why not? I'm so eager to write the next novella in the series, I've already started the first chapter. 

It's safer to write what you know will sell, but I want to write what's fun for me. I can't see myself just writing something like YA paranormal romance when I usually can barely shove that down my own throat. I guess this means I'll fail, but I'll be having fun while I go down on my sinking ship....*waves*

Past Reading

I finished reading Velveteen by Daniel Marks and it really was a bit disappointing. A lot of books do this to me nowadays. But, this one was too long, too wordy, and too lost for me to enjoy it very much. Whatever. 

After that, I read a 50-page novelette called Guardian by Rachel Morgan, which is the first of a series of prequel novelettes to a novel called The Faerie Guardian. This little story was so good and funny! I loved the writing and the pacing. It was perfect for a quick, absorbing, exhilarating YA read. By the way, Guardian is free in both the Kindle and Nook stores!

Once finished with that, I moved onto The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh...my gosh! This book is BEAUTIFUL and GORGEOUS! Wow. I'm only just starting it, but it's blowing me away with its incredible world building and the luscious prose that's making me feel like mine is a fat plumber in a tutu trying to dance around in a ballet. It's so freaking stunning.

From the POV of a human-like robot woman, it's about what it's like to be a freaking robot. How brilliant is that? One blurb said it's about "what it means to not be human." The automatons are the minorities in their society and get treated like dirt, so, Mattie, the protagonist, is a liberated automaton, but is still ignored and mistreated by everyone except her creator, a man named Loharri. Read this if you want to read genuine steampunk that means something. Like, what do all the cogs and gears mean? What is their significance to the story and its theme? You'll get that and more in this book.

Beyond that, I won three book giveaways last week, which is so bizarre, but awesome. One of them was even a Goodreads giveway, which I hardly ever win. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, which comes highly recommended by Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I look forward to reading that one.

This Week

I will continue to edit and revise Pink Knight, likely adding to its length a bit. I want to add so many little things to it, so it'll be a bit of a longer novella, which is good. It needs more wiggle room and more fleshing out.

Reading-wise, I'm going to keep on reading the magic that is The Alchemy of Stone--slowly savoring the delicious read about Mattie and her life as a robot whose maker refuses to let her have the key to her own clockwork heart because he's afraid she'll stop going over to his house to visit him. Parents....   


Sorry for the extra long post, but I'm finally finished now. Doing any editing on your WIP, lately? Discovered any amazing reads?
  

"Did I Notice Your Book?" Blogfest!

The Ninjas and Knights are joining forces!

"Did I Notice Your Book?" Blogfest, October 17, 2012

Post about a book you’ve noticed.

You can choose a book that you’ve read, something you saw on a blog or social media site, Goodreads, or a sales website. Anything that caught your eye because of a great cover, blurb or reviews, but DON’T tell the author that their book has been noticed. Instead, shout out on social media sites, and encourage others to do the same, until the author finds his/her book.

Leave a blog comment at Ninja Captain Alex or Ciara Knight’s blog when the author finds their book.

Only two rules:

1)You can’t post about your own book.

2)The book shouldn’t be on the New York Times or USA Today bestseller list.

This is your chance to shout out about a book that might not have been noticed by others.

Let’s blow up the blogosphere with great new reads!

Go HERE to enter the Blogfest.

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This is a really cool feature I've seen on Ciara Knight's blog, so I wanted to get in on this blogfest.

The book I've chosen to highlight ascribes to my love of (read: weird obsession with) Frankenstein fiction, anything inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein. (Also, kind of works for the current October season, doesn't it?)

So, I chose My Frankenstein by Michael J. Lee. I have not read this novel, yet, but I do own it. As far as I can tell it is a self-published retelling of the Frankenstein story and geared towards the YA, paranormal romance-loving crowd with some horror elements, obviously.

And, this cover is TO DIE FOR. *dies*

Synopsis: In a small village in early 19th Century young Eva is enthralled by the new young baron, Viktor Frankenstein. Viktor promises to transform the traditional little town into a beacon of science and gives the book loving Eva access to his fantastic library. Eva becomes his student and assists him in a secret experiment, though she is kept in the dark about its ultimate aim. Soon after that Viktor introduces Eva to his “cousin” Adam. Adam is horribly disfigured with stitches running across his face. Viktor claims he is mute and simpleminded, but Eva takes pity on him and sets out to teach him to speak.…

What follows is a combination of tragic romance and classic horror as Eva is pulled between Viktor, who grows jealous and takes murderous steps to ensure his secret, and Adam, who possess tremendous strength and rage yet deep inside is innocent and vulnerable.

In his debut fantasy novel, Michael J. Lee retells the classic story by Mary Shelley as a dark romance with steampunk overtones.


Praise for My Frankenstein: "I would highly recommend giving this a read, probably more than once, and if you love Frankenstein, then this is an absolute must for your reading collection." 
        -Eric Swett, My Writer's Cramp


Know of any novels you feel need more love?