My Thoughts on Civil War (comic book) by Mark Millar

This month, I'm revealing my thoughts on the Marvel Universe Events comic book volume, Civil War, which is comprised of issues #1-7. I'll admit, I read this because I'm excited about the Captain American: Civil War movie coming out next month (BIG Cap fan!), so I wanted to see how the original story panned out. I can already tell many things are different from what I've seen in the movie's trailers.

This volume is more of an Avengers story than a Captain America story, which is fine. That is how this story was originally meant to be. I expect one major difference in the movie will be a greater emphasis on Cap himself, over anyone else. In the comic book volume, no one character steals the limelight too much, but you do have a lot of panning back to Tony Stark (Iron Man), leading the pro-government faction, and Steve Rogers (Captain America) leading the pro-independence faction.

The story begins with an inciting incident called the Stamford Incident in which a man with superhero abilities blows up a large area of residential homes, including a school while it is in session, with his powers. Congress decides to pass the Superhero Registration Act, which forces all superheroes to reveal their identities and become employees of the government.

Tony Stark has never been coy about being Iron Man, so he's okay with every superhero going public about their human identities. Alternatively, Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, has never let anyone know who he really is in the public sphere and he is not about to now. He can see this is dangerous for superheroes because the attitude toward superheroes is not always positive. He cops a "fight me" stance against the Registration Act and a lot of the Avengers follow him, also not wanting to give up their true identities.

We see reasons why both sides have good arguments for their positions. One superhero, who has been publically open about his true identity all along, gets jumped and beaten to within an inch of his life at a nightclub one night, turning him and his superhero sibling into anti-Registration supporters. Tony Stark gets a lot of influence from a woman who lost her young son in the explosion that sparked the Act into existence. Some of the heroes stay completely out of the fight, like the X-Men.

What we see is how far each side is willing to go to win and when Avengers turn against one another, things get really ugly. Pro-Registration folks turn to hunting down their old friends like dogs, even cloning other superheroes in order to shift the balance of power in their favor. Anti-Registration folks have to resort to trickery and backstabbing to stay afloat because they are the underdogs in the fight.

In the end, things get cleared up, but it feels too neat and tidy after everything they go through, trying to and actually succeeding in killing each other. I wish the series had lasted for more than only seven issues because it was just too dang short. I wanted to know more about why Tony was willing to become a government lap dog and why Cap was so staunchly opposed to any sort of superhero regulation whatsoever. We never explore their feelings, and theirs mattered more to me than the other characters' feelings.

My other peeve with this comic book is that the action scenes aren't really drawn in a way that makes me feel like the characters are even fighting each other. I'm used to reading Japanese comic books for boys (shonen manga) with loads of fighting that looks like the real thing, but this volume makes everybody look like when the group fighting begins, they're all just having a dance party. It's kind of unintentionally hilarious, but annoying when I want to see just one person drawn actually landing a punch on someone's face.

Despite these niggling irritations, I liked the story, but if it had had more issues, it would have been more believable how things get resolved and would have allowed for more insight into the main characters' actions. I know the movie will differ in that the law being enforced is a United Nations treaty, and Cap is trying to help his old friend Bucky, who does not appear in the comic book at all. I hope the movie is more to my liking and, while I know their reasons will differ from the comic book's version, I also want to see a deeper delving into why Tony and Cap are taking their respective sides on this issue.

Anyone else excited to see the movie? 

My Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (HP#4)

This post is a sort of review/discussion of this book. I feel like talking about the books I've been reading lately, seeing as how I'm finally reading some really amazing novels this year. Last year's novels all kind of stunk, for lack of a better phrase.

I admit, a bit embarrassingly, that I didn't start reading the Harry Potter books until 2012, and I was not 12-years-old only four years ago. I could have and probably should have started reading them way back when the first book was published in 1997, when I was 21. The thing is, adults didn't read children's books back in those days. For those who may be a bit younger than myself, the Harry Potter books were the first children's books read on a massive scale by adults as well as children. (Unless I'm overlooking something else.)

So, knowing how my oldest brother, much older than me, was loving even the first book, after buying it for his daughters, really puzzled me. He was in his forties at the time and I just couldn't believe a book meant for 11-year-olds was so good, even parents were obsessing over it. A totally bonkers situation, and I wrote it off. I figured I didn't need to bother because I wouldn't really like them, anyway.

I saw all the movies and really enjoyed them (despite forgetting most of them by now), but they didn't inspire me to read the books. One day at Wal-Mart, I happened to pass by the collection for sale and decided to buy Book 1 in paperback on a whim. It sat on my shelf, collecting dust, until about five years later. I had started keeping a book review blog by then and decided it was time to just read the dang thing. Keeping up with the book Jones's, and all that....

So, I read it and it was really great! I think these books are the best you can find in children's Middle Grade fiction. I love the voice used to narrate the story and all the little ingenius fantasy, magical elements Rowling invents for the world building. It's astonishing and gets more so in later volumes.

But, the problem for me with Book 1, and Books 2 and 3, is that they are really, at heart, just children's books. Middle Grade novels for kids. Me and this reading grade don't get along very well. When I read books written for these younger audiences, I always feel like something is missing and falling flat. While I can see their merit--it's hard not to with the HP books!--I can't help but always feel underwhelmed at the end of the day. I am a lover of Young Adult and Adult fiction because that's what resonates with me best, and Middle Grade cannot be anything other than what it is.

After reading the first three books, I moved on to Book 4 and it started out very similarly to all of the others that came before it--except that it was very, very detailed and verbose. The book is over 700 pages long, nearly twice as long as Book 3! I couldn't begin to comprehend why at the beginning. Everything was going along as usual as I read it--enjoyable and always worthwhile, but a little "meh."

Until I got about two-thirds finished. Suddenly, I felt like I was reading a different novel altogether. As many of you know--just abut everyone else has read ALL the books except me--the book takes a startlingly dark turn towards the end! Harry is going through experiences that would terrify even the most hardened mature adult in the world. I won't write spoilers just in case, but, let's face it--I don't need to worry about spoiling anyone.

I finally started to get really into the story at that point. Harry's world becomes truly grim and he finally goes from being a mostly well-protected protagonist by his author-mummy to being fed to the wolves. Fantastic! While the writing stayed simplistic as it had been from the beginning, the content turned into a Young Adult novel, and now I'm hooked!

I was considering quitting the series as I trudged along in this book before getting to the really juicy stuff, but I change my mind. I'm going to read the heck out of the rest of them, now! I even have Book 5 waiting for me on a shelf and I sneaked a peak at the first two chapters because I couldn't wait to see what was in store. I can already tell it's a YA novel in every way, shape and form. Hurray for teenage Harry!

Anyway, needless to say, I loved this book and found even the most mundane, pointless thing, like Hermione pulling a wayward beetle out of her hair, had been counted for and wrapped up in a neatly tied bow by the end. What a near-masterpiece this book is. I have no doubt I'll love the rest of the series.

 
What are your thoughts on the Harry Potter books? Read them, love them? Or, not so much?

Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Time for me to write a review and shout about another amazing book I just read!

 

Shadow and Bone

 by Leigh Bardugo

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Genre: High Fantasy

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Every now and then, you read a book that makes you remember the reason you love to read. Shadow and Bone is just this kind of book for me. It’s one of those novels you can read and read, and keep reading without even realizing how much time is actually going by in real life as you read it. When you have to put the book down and go do something else that needs your attention, you want to read just one more page, or chapter….

Shadow and Bone is a high fantasy young adult novel set in a fictional world based on Imperial Russia. Yep. Right there you already know you have something different, probably even special (and you do). It’s about a teen girl named Alina Starkov from a country called Ravka who discovers she’s a Grisha—basically a person with magical abilities. She’s not only a Grisha, but the special kind that comes around every century, or even less often. Because of this, she is whisked away to the capitol of Ravka for her own protection and to be trained to use her powers.

There is, of course, romance, but it’s not heavy-handed as you would expect. Let’s face it—YA tends to focus so much on the romance that not much else about the stories have any substance. Not the case here. There is plenty of plot and real things going on, political things even. The author finds little opportunities to sneak in a bit of romantic tension here and there without making it all about those moments. It’s done so artfully.

But, the best part about the story is Alina herself. She is full of sarcasm and even a little sardonic humor. She’s realistic and reacts how people would actually react to the strange and fanciful situations she’s forced into. I liked Genya, her sort-of best female friend character, Mal, her crush and long-time best friend, Baghra, her magic teacher, and even the ever mysterious and complicated Darkling. The relationships she has with all of these characters is delicious.

I know this book came out about two years ago and I’m only now reading it, so I feel a little slow. But, it takes a while to get around to certain books with a to-be-read pile stacked to the ceiling, you know? If you haven’t gotten around to this one, I highly suggest you do. Make sure to imagine Alina with a Russian accent as she tells you her story. The entire story will sound so much better and more fitting in your head that way, particularly with her personality.

Book Review: Forgiven by Rachel Morgan

Author Rachel Morgan contacted me recently and asked if I'd like to review her new novella, Forgiven. Of course I wanted to because the book is clean New Adult! Something that seems to be missing a lot of the time in the book industry.

 

Forgiven

by Rachel Morgan

Reading Grade: New Adult (novella)

Genre: Contemporary (clean)

My Rating: 4/5 stars.

Finally, some New Adult fiction clean enough for me to read! I’m very happy about that. It’s not like I feel the need to read all that much contemporary NA, but I like that an author went out of her way to be different from the rest of the NA writing crowd.

I don’t think I qualify as the best person to review contemporary realism because I usually like my stories to have a supernatural or science fiction element to them. For me, there is always this feeling like something is missing when I read a book that only uses the real world for what it is capable of doing. But, I tried my best to weigh this book against what I know makes a good piece of fiction, and I think it comes out very good.

The plot is very interesting and doesn’t have a lot going on in it, but it really shouldn’t, anyway. It’s pretty much perfect for this type of story and considering that it is a novella, you don’t have room for a detailed plot. But, what this story does excel at is a little something called suspense. This is when you have to keep reading because you want to know so badly how everything will turn out in the end. In this case, I wanted to know so badly why Julia suddenly ran away from home without warning, ten months earlier, and why she suddenly decided to go back home for a two week vacation.

Why did she not even communicate with anyone, not even her mother and father while she was gone? Even when Julia does return home to Durban, South Africa from London, she refuses to explain why she left in the first place. It is very serious stuff. The suspense is literally devised to kill you—and for that, I think this story deserves most of its praise. This is one of the best parts about any kind of storytelling and it made me all the more excited to keep reading.

The only drawback I can think of is that it is too short to accomplish what a story like this needs to accomplish, which is character and relationship development. I think these stories do better in a slightly longer format for this reason, mainly, and this story exemplifies why that is. Everything it has going for it, otherwise, is really great—we even have a few great characters, like Nan and little Sophie. But, we don’t get to spend enough time with any of them to satisfy. That’s where I say I’d like to have seen this at least double in length.

I know that this story is only meant to be a prequel novella to a series of novels, so I probably will get my wish. It does succeed as being a great appetizer for the future novels that will have more room for the character and relationship exploration factor. With that done well, these books will be the best clean NA out there. By itself, Forgiven is a great read, but it’s even better knowing there is much more to come after this.

It's also FREE, so go grabby-hands a copy of this puppy..... 

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

Book Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

In an attempt to return to a regular blogging schedule, or one where I actually post more often than once every two months, I am going to start doing some book reviews. I used to do this over on my old retired blog, which was a dedicated book review blog, but I like that I can just shove these reviews in here whenever without the pressure to keep them coming. This is, after all, a writer blog....

The Winner's Curse

by Marie Rutkoski

Reading Grade: Young Adult
Genre: High Fantasy (with no supernatural elements)
Rating: 5/5 stars.

Where is Book 2?!  I find myself actually wanting to read the next book right away, and this is not normal reading behavior for me. This must indicative of how much I enjoyed reading this book.

I had originally given this a 4.5-star rating because it does have some flaws. But, I realize now that the story and characters are kind of staying with me after finishing it, and I want to know where the entire series is going from here. I’m willing to give it the full 5-star treatment because it doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be very entertaining. It certainly is that.

It’s well written and high-concept, it has characters will actual depth, and a main character who, despite being a teenage girl, is not drowning in a pool of hormonal emotions over a boy. Kestrel is capable of thinking about other people and other things going on in the world beyond Arin, the other POV character of the novel. She is not so over-wired to procreate that you just want to smack some sense into her. This is practically unheard of these days in YA literature…. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but not really, right?

Kestrel is a character after my own heart because she is a strategist, rather than a physically strong female heroine. I respect female characters who kick major butt, and who doesn’t, but I’m rather tired of them. They are too numerous and becoming less special, as a result. Kestrel is more of the character who can out-think everyone else, and her scene with the Emperor at the end is pretty impressive (although, how someone else didn’t think of it first kind of makes me face-palm). Give me a smart, cunning character any day over one blessed with brute strength, male or female. (Unless it’s Dante from the Devil May Cry video games. It’s so fun to play as him kicking major butt that I wouldn’t want it any other way. ;))

Arin is a slave that Kestrel buys at the very beginning of the story. He and his people, the Heranni, used to be free, cultured and educated before being enslaved by Kestrel’s people, the Valorians, only a decade earlier. Heran is a peninsula guarded by treacherous mountains on land and terrifying storms along the coasts. They never had to worry too much about invaders, until the Valorian Empire, ruling half the world, discovered black powder and blew up the mountains protecting the Heranni. The brutish Valorians assimilated the Heranni culture like The Borg from Star Trek, adding their likeness unto their own and being bettered for it.

It’s not really much of a spoiler to mention that Arin is secretly a part of a Heranni insurrection being plotted prior to the beginning of the story. He’s no ignorant slave boy and that does make him an interesting character. Of course, Kestrel is completely unaware of this, so you can only imagine how badly this will end for her, bringing into her home one of the Insurrection’s top leaders without even knowing it. Her father is the general of the Valorian army. This is just a black powder situation waiting to be ignited by fire.

I like that the political environment of the story is important and truly is the story. It’s not about the romance, although that is important, too. But, it never overtakes the real story, which is about the Heranni revolting against the Valorian Empire. It is interesting to see how it all plays out and even more interesting to see how it all gets resolved. Thankfully, it’s not predictable.

Kestrel and Arin’s relationship is fabulous. I’m not saying they are incredible characters because I don’t find myself attached to them much, but they have an interesting dynamic going on. In the beginning, Kestrel does not want him acting like a slave who just says what she wants to hear. She tells him to always speak his mind, which he does. I wish she had argued with him more—that would have given them better chemistry. But, still it works. The romance is just slow and sweet, never going too far, or just making it seem like all they do is paw at each other all the time.

There were some things I was not super enthused about. Kestrel’s duel with a certain character ended in a rather anti-climactic way. The fact that she even insists on this duel is ridiculous to me. And, how could she not foresee that people would start gossiping about her fighting a duel over her slave? Of course, people would start talking about something like that. Also, there is a scene where her father, General Trajan, is mad at both of them, and instead of throwing Arin out on the street, he just tells him to keep away from his daughter. What? That makes no sense, but it does serve the story to have him stick around to accompany Kestrel to the ball afterward.

So, while not a perfect story—and what story is perfect?—it is still a wonderful read that pulled me out of a major reading slump I had been having for the past few months. Finally, something that made me want to keep turning the pages, eager to pick it back up again after putting it down. I guess I’ll see whether this one sticks with me over the long haul because that will be the sign of a truly great book. I’m inclined to think it will. (I really need to see what is going to happen to Ronan in the next installment!)

P.S. I liked this a lot better than Graceling by Kristin Cashore! If Graceling wasn’t your thing, you might like this high fantasy novel, instead. You might like it even if you loved Graceling. Just give it a try! It is a brand new series and is the first book in a planned trilogy.

Review: Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (Part 3)

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.

  

Here's Part 3 of my very long review of Wired for Story. Read both Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't yet to make more sense of this part of the review.

My Review – Part 3

Those who are famous for writing often say writing means going deeper in order to dig out the real core of who you are and what message you're trying to get across. In Chapter 5 of Wired for Story, you'll discover just how you can dig up your protagonist's inner issue that drives his every thought, word and deed.

The truth is, everyone of us can only see and comprehend the world around us through our own eyes. We simply aren't privy to any telepathic abilities or technology that allow for reading other people's thoughts, thus we see the world through our own filter. That filter got that way from our personal life experiences and upbringing. We can only see it the way we believe it to be at any given time.

And, so does your protagonist. He will interpret everything that happens to himself and anyone else through his own messed up filter. If he experienced a life-altering moment in his past, then everything from that realization on will be tainted by that shift in his perspective. What you need to do as a writer is pinpoint the moment when that shift in his perspective caused his whole worldview to go off the rails. That's how you dig up his 'inner issue.' And, it's how you will write your entire narrative.

When you develop your protagonist's bio, make sure you pinpoint this moment in his life as well as the time when he first felt the desire to accomplish his story goal. These may end up being one and the same thing. I'll use an example found in the book: in It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey's worldview gets skewed when he watches his father get beat down by the town misanthrope, Mr. Potter. He then believes he'll become a failure if he stays in Bedford Falls, thus spurring him to want to leave town and become the success his father never could be. The story eventually leads him to realize just how wrong he was, both internally and externally.

Even if you never show the reader that scene in real time or a flash back, it should be referenced or implied so the reader understands what motivates the character and shapes the direction of the story. And, when you can zero in on this motivation and its cause, you can lead your character to huge emotional growth by the end of the story. If you know anything ahead of time about how your story will end, it should be what your protagonist will have learned by the end. Give him an “a-ha!” moment of realization, thus knocking his worldview back into alignment, again.

In Chapter 6, the next important thing we learn about telling a gripping story is the need to be specific. The cognitive secret here is that we don't think in the abstract. “We think in specific images,” says the author. What it means is that anything abstract or conceptual must be made specific in order for the reader to care.

But, why is this? Our brains are lazy and will only think about things that matter to us. So, you need to make the general more specific in order to hook the reader to the emotional appeal of your story. If I said, “A lot of people died years ago in a country far away,” how much interest and emotion does this conjure up in you? Not much, I'm supposing. But, if I said, “280,000 people died in Indonesia in one of the deadliest tsunami/earthquakes in recorded history on the day after Christmas in 2004,” your ears perk up. You might actually care about news like that.

In what ways do writers write in generalities?

1. The specific reason a character does something is often neither implied nor stated outright. Without knowing reasons behind actions, those actions tend to fall flat.
2. The specific thing a metaphor is meant to illuminate is often too vague. Metaphors should be instantly grasped by the reader, or they get missed.
3. The specific memory that a situation invokes in the protagonist is sometimes left to the reader's imagination and, ultimately, never processed.
4. The specific reaction a character has to a significant event can be totally left out, leaving the reader wondering if the character is capable of human feeling and emotion.
5. The specific possibilities that run through the protag's mind as he struggles to make sense of what's happening are often absent so the reader can't even infer what the options are.
6. The specific rationale behind a character's change of heart end up completely omitted, so as to leave the reader wondering how Doug went from being a total wad to giving everybody at the office gift certificates to Starbucks.

Writing a good story is all about making the reader care about the story and the characters. But, keep in mind, less is more. If you clog up the story with too many specific, unnecessary details, you will cause your reader's brain to tune out. We can only process so many things at a time. How the brain functions and what its limitations are will determine how effectively you've crafted your story. And, when those specifics have nothing to do with your protagonist and his inner issue or goal, they will be treated like generalities by the reader. Ignored.

That's it for this part. Now, I'm halfway finished with this super long book review! Tune in next week for Part 4.

Have you noticed you have trouble getting to the heart of your story? Do you see areas in your writing where you could be more specific about why your characters act the way they do?

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?

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?