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)

By: Lisa Cron

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

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.

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.”—Psychology Today

“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

“Cron, author of Wired for Story, proposes this new book as the answer to the question, What’s the biggest mistake writers make? She uses psychology and other sciences to explain what makes an utterly compelling story and how to write one. . . . Novice writers looking for a step-by-step guide to how to build—or fix—their novel might find a lot of useful information in here.”—Publishers Weekly

“Lost in the quagmire of trying to write a novel? Well, forget everything you've ever been told about story, because chances are, it's totally wrong. So where to turn? Story guru Cron not only gives you the skinny on why and how stories work (and why and how we respond to them), she also shows you how to craft a novel step by step, working with author Jenny Nash from the germ of an idea to a living, breathing story. I'd never consider writing a novel without Lisa's input, and neither should you.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times best-selling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

Excellent and applicable!

This is great stuff that really helps you delve into the structure, emotion, and meaning of your story. So insightful. But also provides a clear pathway to story development.

Some interesting and good advice

the book is well written and contains good advice, especially those learning the craft. my only complaint is that it didn't get very deep into the brain science or the craft of storytelling. the author took one critical rule of storytelling and spent the second half of the book demonstrating how it could be applied to create a story.

I would say this book is great for learning important principles. I guess I just want more of it because it was good and going deeper into the craft would likely reveal more great info.

Insanely useful

I was struggling to figure out characters and scenes to write, this helped me realize I knew more than I thought I did. The approach to writing helped organize my thoughts and plot/story ideas and create characters with real depth. I’ve listened to each chapter at least three times. It’s not heavy on the brain science part which didn’t bother me at all but offers enough to see how we live with stories.

Helpful For Every Genre

I decided to listen to this audible based on a writer on YouTube. I wasn’t sure if it would apply seeing as I am not writing a novel. It had so much helpful information to be a better writer that I have to listen to it again. If you write novels, this book is something you need to read!

Ingenious

This is the first craft book on writing a novel that makes not only total sense to me, but equipped me with a net of methods to let my story grow organically and authentically.