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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)

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Story Genius

By: Lisa Cron
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
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About this listen

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.

©2016 Lisa Cron (P)2020 Random House Audio Words, Language & Grammar Writing & Publishing Brain Science Writing

Critic Reviews

"Using brain science, Cron busts the myths of good writing to help you find the real story behind all that plot and metaphor." (The Writer)

"In [Cron's] new book, Story Genius, she picks up the...theme...that a protagonist's internal struggle makes the story work, and offers step-by-step advice on how to exploit this truth about neuroscience for richer, deeper, better first drafts.... Cron provides exercises and examples to keep writers on track, always highlighting the fact that emotions engage the brain faster than anything else.... The concepts are easy to understand and they are certainly important. Even if you can't go on a retreat, you should try to find time to do the exercises for your own blueprint." (PsychologyToday.com)

"It's a simple question: 'How do you write an effective, engaging story?' Ask Lisa Cron. An accomplished author and story coach, she has just published her second book, Story Genius. A manual of sorts, it teaches cognitive storytelling strategies and uses actual brain science to help make its readers into better writers." (Creative Screenwriting)
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This teaches a much more organic approach to script writing, following the psychology of the protagonist, not just a template of what beat should go on what page like other books.

Better angle on the script writing methodology

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It's worth the look and carries itself very well.. It's a recommend from me.

Nice Surprise

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Read 5 books so far on fiction writing and story structure. This is the only book out of the five I've read so far that goes deep into topics either missed or not mentioned in others. The biggest nugget mentioned and covered in detail is emotional depth and how a characters past (even if briefly touched on in the story itself or not mentioned at all and simply in your characters private bio) and how this effects literally everything they do. One of the most insightful reads I've found so far.

Golden Nuggets Galore

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Seriously, I came in after the amazingly useful webinar on premise to.... This.

There's not much advice here that's useful.
Author brings up examples - give one example of how it could go wrong but doesn't bother to give an example of it working.

The running example she uses about stealing a dog, and her advice as to how to keep the story internal... Is weak and doesn't explain at all a usable thought process.

So disappointed.

Author doesn't Understand Her own Teachings

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