Ever sit down to write the Great American Novel and come up lacking (despite the ream of typed manuscript
and three wasted years that should prove otherwise?)
Writing is hard work.
Writing the novel? Herculean. But it doesn’t have to be…
Lisa Cron to the rescue. The book title is linked to Amazon.
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. 1st Edition, Ten Speed Press/Berkeley. 2016. 280 pages.Earlier this month, I reviewed another writer’s book that focused on Brain Science, so I was a bit curious to see if Ms. Cron’s reference book would simply regurgitate Mr. 
Gerke’s work.
Happily, I can say these two writing books present different and yet complimentary help for the frustrated writer.
I loved Lisa Cron’s thesis and methodology.
She provides a colleague’s own WIP (Work In Progress) to illustrate every stage of her plan or program.
From Cron, you will learn how to take a raw idea and move it into a fully realized first scene, last scene, and then all those between.
Hers is a multilayered approach based on the brain science of readers–and really, without a reader, the writer is just yelling into a hole.
This blueprinting plan should help the average writer rise above the rest of those in the slush pile–because you will be connecting with your reader (the first gatekeeper of many) in more than just a superficial, plot-centered manner.
As I read, I even took notes of my own and replicated Cron’s Scene Chart so that I can use blueprinting method on my latest WIP. I am looking forward to working through the author’s suggested process tomorrow.
That’s right–I can hardly wait. Cron has given me a surefire way to make the elusive writer/reader connection.
So how does Cron writer know so much about the writer/reader connection?
Cron has an impressive resume’–she has worked as a literary agent, a TV producer, a story consultant for Warner Brothers and the William Morris Agency. She teaches at UCLA and has published WIRED FOR STORY, a writer’s how-to book focusing on novel beginnings. She knows what the gatekeepers are looking for first-hand. She has been one.
This book would make a great addition on any fiction writer’s bookshelf.
Happy Writing!
xoxo,
Susan J. Anderson
Foxy Writer Chick
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