Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence Paperback – July 10, 2012

WIRED FOR STORYBy Lisa CronReviewed by C J Singh (Berkeley, California)Excellent Primer on Novel-WritingIn Berkeley, California, we happily have access to four independent bookstores that display literary novels and creative-writing craft books. Browsing, I picked up two books by Lisa Cron on using "Brain Science" for writing fiction. The jacket quote by Caroline Leavitt rivetted my attention: "I'd never consider writing a novel without Lisa's input, and neither should you." As a longtime fan of Leavitt's novels "Is This Tomorrow," " Pictures of You, " "Girls in Trouble," I looked up Stanford Continuing Education where Leavitt regularly teaches online courses. As a Stanford Alumnus (Psychology PhD), I've taken several on-campus and online workshops on fiction-writing. While still at the bookstore, I promptly signed up for Leavitt's soon-to-begin course that uses two coaching books: Cron's Wired For Story and John Truby's The Anatomy of Story. I'm familiar with Truby's book and its nine excellent exercises. See my detailed review on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/R29NU7U6LAHGBV/Here's my review of Lisa Cron's "Wired For Story""WIRED FOR STORY' presents a unique, distinguishing feature among fiction-writing primers: throughout its text, the author includes excerpts from the published works of leading contemporary brain-scientists that validate the principles of narrative craft.Cron explains the principles of narrative craft in twelve well-organized chapters that focus on theme, the protagonist's issue, characters' bios, points of view, rising conflicts, subplots, suspense, reveals, and the arc from setup to payoff. At the beginning of each chapter, she presents sentences in italics that illuminate the cognitive-science underpinnings of narrative craft. Examples follow."Cognitive Secret: When the brain focuses its full attention on something, it filters out all unnecessary information.Story Secret: To hold the brain's attention, everything in a story must be there on a need-to-know basis" (page 23).."Cognitive Secret: Everything we do is goal directed and our biggest goal is figuring out everyone else's agenda, the better to figure out our own.Story Secret: A protagonist without a clear goal has nothing to figure out and nowhere to go" (p 65)."Cognitive Secret: It takes long-term, conscious effort to hone a skill before the brain assigns it to the cognitive unconscious."Story Secret: There's no writing; there's only rewriting" (p 219).Also remarkable are sentences in bold that challenge advice offered in some writing-craft workshops and books. Examples follow."Myth: Write What You Know."Reality: Write What You Know EMOTIONALLY" (p 62).."Myth: Sensory Details Bring a Story to Life.""Reality: Unless They Convey Necessary Information, Sensory Details Clog a Story's Arteries" (p 118).."Myth: `Show, Don't Tell' Is Literal - Don't Tell Me John Is Sad, Show Him Crying."Reality: `Show, Don't Tell Is Figurative - Don't Tell Me John Is Sad, Show Me WHY He's Sad" (p 152).Has the author introduced a Myth of her own? I am afraid so. On page 57, "No matter whose point of view you're writing in, you may be in only one head per scene." In my opinion, the Reality is: No matter whose point of view you're writing in, you may be in only one head per PARAGRAPH. This is the new reality -- virtually every fiction-readers' perception has been reshaped by watching films and TV dramas that imply the camera engaged in frequent head-hopping in a scene.At the end of each chapter, Cron presents a concise series of checkpoints to remind the readers while they develop their work-in-progress. Throughout, she includes many examples from literary works and films. Literary works like Gabriel Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera," Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," and Caroline Leavitt's "Girls in Trouble." Films like "It's a Wonderful Life," "Vertigo," and "American Graffiti."An inspiring citation for writers: " `Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brain is hardwired to respond to story.... It turns that a powerful story can have a hand in rewiring the reader's brain -- helping empathy, for instance - `which is why writers are, and always have been among the most powerful people in the world'. " (On p 239 of Endnotes is the specific citation of three scientists' 2009 article "On Being Moved by Art: How Reading Fiction Transforms the Self" in the Creativity Research Journal vol. 21, no.1 )WIRED FOR STORY fully earns its title with its numerous citations of recent contributions of neuroscience that validate narrative craft. Examples of cited works included are: V. S. Ramachandran's "The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human"; Michael Gazzaniga's "Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique; and Steven Pinker's "How the Mind Works." These stellar books illuminate the nexus between art and science; their shining light reflects on Lisa Cron's book as a five-star primer for novel-writing.

In my 36th year as a would-be and penniless writer, I found myself exiled to a dark rough and tumble city in the Far West, guns blazing as a steely-eyed wordslinger for hire. But then one day I stumbled upon Lisa Cron's book Wired for Story.The book's title had my curiosity. A few sample pages later grabbed my attention and has held it ever since. But the price wasn't right for a poor, humble English teacher living in China upon a Chinese salary. I had bills to pay, a mistress to please, and habits to feed. It seemed to me that Amazon.com was colluding with other dark powers to suck humanity dry; why else would they charge more for a digital book than its paper copy?But then I heard ghostly voices, the cinematic intonations of Morpheus telling me to choose between the red and blue pill; Obiwan Kenobi, "Use the Force"; Nike commercials, "Just Do It!"; and other such shadows flickering upon the wall of my TV room. Even this very particular retail website seemed to whisper across all the vastness of cyberspace, reminding me of my destiny via a personalized showcase of products, that I was not just born to buy...So I added it to my cart. About a download and two chapters later I found that I was still happy after the post-purchase buzz ran its course.This book should be required reading for all writers - and anybody else seeking an inoculation against the raging pandemic of competing narratives spewed out from marketers, pundits, prophets, and others posing as guardians of the truth - most of whom seem to be more enraptured than enlightened.For writers though, Wired for Story is quite different from other "how to" books, as Lisa Cron approaches the craft of storytelling from a neuroscientific point of view. She makes the case that writers aren't just entertainers: they are some of most powerful shakers and shapers of human perception.So if storytellers are like snake oil salesmen, then what is the difference? Both seem to be highly skilled in crafting story, using imagery, and evoking emotions, memories, desires. The difference is all about marketing. Salesmen claim to have knowledge, skills, and expertise, that they, and they alone have whatever it takes to get the facts right and fix things. They market their brands cloaked in story, as if they have a monopoly on truth, or at least the can-do spirit and problem-solving experience needed to improve the economy, save the world, whatever. It doesn't matter that time and time again reality proves them wrong; they will always have another story to spin.The difference between those who would use the power of story to express themselves versus those who would use it for personal gain is, perhaps, a fine red line marking the shadowy borders of between ethics and morality. Storytellers differ because they use words to hook audiences and manipulate a willing reader's central nervous system. They make no claims to knowledge or expertise.Indeed, fiction writers will be first to emphasize their work is fictional, and not based on any real life events or people. Their best writing leaves readers thinking, questioning, minds opening, empathizing, expanding their worldviews, the list goes on almost ad infinitum. Storytellers speak for themselves and let audiences think for themselves; pundits speak for others and tell audiences what to think.What's more, the art and craft of story, as well as the talent and hard time in solitary confinement required for their honing, is estimated to take an average storyteller at least 1,000,000 words or 10,000 hours - not including all the reading, language arts development, and life experience necessary to get to a point one needs to seriously embark on such a ludicrous and un-economical vocation.This means that fiction writers who risk everything for dubious prospects of financial reward must have something else driving them - and a good day job. A presidential candidate though, who has genuinely done the time, and crafts speeches with the skill of a poet or bard, should hypothetically have the critical thinking background, moral authority, and empathy to be a great leader. But in the final analysis, actions contradict words; their ability to spin tales proves the old universal theme that the pen is mightier than the sword.Now when I finish Wired for Story sometime this week, I will be one step further on this endless quest to actually sell stories for a living (i.e. stories fit for the fiction aisle of an actual bookstore, not a review for an online retailer). Until then, I'm probably just a hypocrite acting as if a single book alone makes a smarter man, when in fact I know little of anything (which is why I became a writer in the first place) -- or maintaining such a humble pretense. But I don't know myself well enough to be certain. That kind of exploration would be a whole other story - but it would be unsafe to say that I lived happily ever after reading this book.The End