by Lisa Cron
Genre: Nonfiction/Fiction Writing Skills
Publication Date: July
10, 2012
Source: paperback
purchase
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.
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?
- 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.
- 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.
- The specific memory that a situation invokes in the protagonist is sometimes left to the reader's imagination and, ultimately, never processed.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
