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The Mind Of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction
The Best Fiction Has a Mind of Its Own&break;&break;How do you create a successful story that captures readers from its first page and never lets them go until the final page is turned?
The secret is a delicate balancing act between allowing a story a mind of its own and holding tightly to its reins.
Award-winning author Lisa Lenard-Cook takes you through the entire writing process, showing you how to:
-nurture your ideas―the seeds of your fiction―so they bloom more fully
-develop nuanced characters with distinct voices that intrigue readers
-manage your story's "mind"―carefully pacing your scenes
-navigate the intricacies of the revision process―so your own edits are more efficient and effective
Combining practical advice with down-to-earth candor, The Mind of Your Story illuminates the often-elusive elements of fiction and helps you turn your creative obsessions into that mysterious yet undeniable connection with readers.
The secret is a delicate balancing act between allowing a story a mind of its own and holding tightly to its reins.
Award-winning author Lisa Lenard-Cook takes you through the entire writing process, showing you how to:
-nurture your ideas―the seeds of your fiction―so they bloom more fully
-develop nuanced characters with distinct voices that intrigue readers
-manage your story's "mind"―carefully pacing your scenes
-navigate the intricacies of the revision process―so your own edits are more efficient and effective
Combining practical advice with down-to-earth candor, The Mind of Your Story illuminates the often-elusive elements of fiction and helps you turn your creative obsessions into that mysterious yet undeniable connection with readers.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published April 30, 2008
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63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 17, 2012
When you've finished reading all the books on how to write, and still can't seem to grasp the magic, read this book, take a step up to the next level, and discover the secret behind success.
Lisa Lenard-Cook's own writing style is what I think of as flowery – soft petals and perfume. Certainly not my style, but her solid methods, addressing both the creative and logical sides of writing, apply to every style. As I read through this interesting and inspirational book, with the odd pieces of jig-saw falling into place, I found myself nodding and agreeing, most of my own techniques confirmed. Just what I need to give me the confidence to carry on.
Having said that, her main message is dauntingly clear: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Writing is an obsession and requires hours, and hours, and hours of dedicated work.
This book should be compulsive for all budding writers. I thoroughly recommend it.
Lisa Lenard-Cook's own writing style is what I think of as flowery – soft petals and perfume. Certainly not my style, but her solid methods, addressing both the creative and logical sides of writing, apply to every style. As I read through this interesting and inspirational book, with the odd pieces of jig-saw falling into place, I found myself nodding and agreeing, most of my own techniques confirmed. Just what I need to give me the confidence to carry on.
Having said that, her main message is dauntingly clear: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Writing is an obsession and requires hours, and hours, and hours of dedicated work.
This book should be compulsive for all budding writers. I thoroughly recommend it.
August 3, 2015
It almost seems unfair for me to review this book at all.
I met Lisa and had a class from her before I got to her book.
However, this book reinforced so many of the lessons she taught.
And, having read it while camping, I got the time to digest the lessons.
The insights I gained into the book I am working on were invaluable.
I met Lisa and had a class from her before I got to her book.
However, this book reinforced so many of the lessons she taught.
And, having read it while camping, I got the time to digest the lessons.
The insights I gained into the book I am working on were invaluable.
September 19, 2017
Quick review for a somewhat quick read. I picked up this Writer's Digest published book from my local university library - mostly to research and read more authorship books to see what I could glean from them. "The Mind of Your Story" is a mix of personal narrative and authorial advice from Lisa Lenard-Cook's experiences. The book is divided into three parts as follows:
Part I: Seeds and their Nourishment - goes into the nuts and bolts of the compositional pieces of a story: ideas, character, plot, dialogue, etc. I thought this was the most helpful part of the book as it walks the writer through different examples and cites references from other compositional books to illustrate her points on each aspect.
Part II: The Mind of Your Story - discusses pacing, scene construction, setting, and inspiration. This was the shortest of the sections in the book, though helpful in concept.
Part III: Start All Over Again - covers revision, editing, proofreading and submissions. This section felt a bit all over the place and less concrete than the other sections to me. Well intentioned, but very general, non-committed advice.
To be honest, it wasn't the strongest of compositional/authorship books that I've picked up, and even took some of its citations from other authorship books that I found to be stronger and more comprehensive on the matter of writing fiction. It would be fine as a supplemental resource though, and one could find a helpful bibliography of the books on writing, fiction resources and non-fiction that Lenard-Cook references in the back of the narrative. Unfortunately, it wasn't a resource that I'd peruse more than once.
Overall score: 2.5/5 stars.
Part I: Seeds and their Nourishment - goes into the nuts and bolts of the compositional pieces of a story: ideas, character, plot, dialogue, etc. I thought this was the most helpful part of the book as it walks the writer through different examples and cites references from other compositional books to illustrate her points on each aspect.
Part II: The Mind of Your Story - discusses pacing, scene construction, setting, and inspiration. This was the shortest of the sections in the book, though helpful in concept.
Part III: Start All Over Again - covers revision, editing, proofreading and submissions. This section felt a bit all over the place and less concrete than the other sections to me. Well intentioned, but very general, non-committed advice.
To be honest, it wasn't the strongest of compositional/authorship books that I've picked up, and even took some of its citations from other authorship books that I found to be stronger and more comprehensive on the matter of writing fiction. It would be fine as a supplemental resource though, and one could find a helpful bibliography of the books on writing, fiction resources and non-fiction that Lenard-Cook references in the back of the narrative. Unfortunately, it wasn't a resource that I'd peruse more than once.
Overall score: 2.5/5 stars.
December 29, 2019
Great book for writers which really lays out the steps needed particularly for drafting and revising, but also takes another approach by looking at the science and the mental process of both writing and reading. It took me a while to get through this because I had to absorb some of the info and advice. She includes exercises and 'assignments' so you can make progress whether you are beginning a draft or working with old WIPs. Really a lovely book too, with illustrations and graphs as well as extra features.
January 22, 2016
Do not read this book.The advice is sound, but nothing new. It isn't re-packaged in a new or unexpected way.
Read, read, read. Try other points-of-view. Don't head hop. Cut the adverbs. Focus on the conflict. Etc.
The only reason really to read the book is that it is pretty. Good font, nice paper. Plenty of illustrations. Hard cover.
So, why should you avoid the book? The voice.
"It's possible (in fact, it's likely) that your brain doesn't work precisely the way mine does. For one thing, I have an eidetic memory (this is a fancy term for a photographic memory), which means I can pull up "images" of things I've seen and "recordings" of things I've heard."
Not very bad. She has a special talent that is helpful for her. However, (1) how is this relevant to a book one writing? (2) It gets worse.
"Do I do this [fill out a character chart] for all my characters? I'm often asked this question, and I used to insist that I didn't do it at all. That's because my characters seem to arrive fully developed, like Aphrodite on her half shell. But while this is true for me, I've come to realize that my original answer is disingenuous. The truth is I simply create my characters differently; the character development I'm suggesting you do on paper instead takes place in my right brain--at the same time those fictional seeds are germinating." (18)
Note: I am not pulling out every line and aside that irritated me. I'm browsing back over what I've read and pulling out a couple examples that catch my eye.
At one point she gives two examples of the view outside her office window, the second of which is correct. Here it is:
"Rising two-dimensionally from the eastern foothills, the ever-changing rocky face of the Sandias forces the city to an abrupt end. Sunsets briefly paint the mountain a watermelon pink, a color that lent them their Spanish name, but the mountains change from moment to moment in the aching clarity of desert light."
This was written on the spot ("which, in my defense, I've made up just this minute"), but still. All I could think reading this was-- (1) watermelons are not pink; (2) good for you for knowing the origin of the mountains' name.
The next bit came after a friend rejected the author's advice:
"I still smile when I think of this wonderful, stubborn friend and her equally stubborn narrator--along with her book, which could have been something if she'd wanted to invest more time in it."
From the section on pov:
"Finally, please understand that I personally adore writing multiple-limited point-of-view novels. But because I understand the above limitations, I've tried to use the method in ways that haven't (to my knowledge) been tried before and to create fictions that are surprising and new."
Chapter 6:
"So affecting was this character that I suggested she try writing a novel from his point of view. I've been working with this group a long time and such suggestions don't terrify them as they might students less familiar with my workshops."
At one point she wrote a sentence that was intended to be difficult to understand and abstract:
"Linguist S. I. Hayakawa's original Ladder of Abstraction was a political model that illustrated how the more nonspecific language used is, the more capable it is of obfuscation."
Honestly? Until she explained what she'd done, I'd not noticed. Look over the other examples of her writing I've provided, does this "intentionally high on the Ladder" sentence stand out at all?
But I also find that much of the time a writer uses a big word, he's simply showing off, and I find such displays both obnoxious and annoying.
Really now. She also hates and becomes angry when she meets a word she doesn't know.
And this is as far as I've read. These are not the only examples (and maybe they only seem so annoying to me because I've read all the pages in between). I do not recommend that you read the book to find the rest, however.
There are so many other books on writing out there; avoid this one.
Read, read, read. Try other points-of-view. Don't head hop. Cut the adverbs. Focus on the conflict. Etc.
The only reason really to read the book is that it is pretty. Good font, nice paper. Plenty of illustrations. Hard cover.
So, why should you avoid the book? The voice.
"It's possible (in fact, it's likely) that your brain doesn't work precisely the way mine does. For one thing, I have an eidetic memory (this is a fancy term for a photographic memory), which means I can pull up "images" of things I've seen and "recordings" of things I've heard."
Not very bad. She has a special talent that is helpful for her. However, (1) how is this relevant to a book one writing? (2) It gets worse.
"Do I do this [fill out a character chart] for all my characters? I'm often asked this question, and I used to insist that I didn't do it at all. That's because my characters seem to arrive fully developed, like Aphrodite on her half shell. But while this is true for me, I've come to realize that my original answer is disingenuous. The truth is I simply create my characters differently; the character development I'm suggesting you do on paper instead takes place in my right brain--at the same time those fictional seeds are germinating." (18)
Note: I am not pulling out every line and aside that irritated me. I'm browsing back over what I've read and pulling out a couple examples that catch my eye.
At one point she gives two examples of the view outside her office window, the second of which is correct. Here it is:
"Rising two-dimensionally from the eastern foothills, the ever-changing rocky face of the Sandias forces the city to an abrupt end. Sunsets briefly paint the mountain a watermelon pink, a color that lent them their Spanish name, but the mountains change from moment to moment in the aching clarity of desert light."
This was written on the spot ("which, in my defense, I've made up just this minute"), but still. All I could think reading this was-- (1) watermelons are not pink; (2) good for you for knowing the origin of the mountains' name.
The next bit came after a friend rejected the author's advice:
"I still smile when I think of this wonderful, stubborn friend and her equally stubborn narrator--along with her book, which could have been something if she'd wanted to invest more time in it."
From the section on pov:
"Finally, please understand that I personally adore writing multiple-limited point-of-view novels. But because I understand the above limitations, I've tried to use the method in ways that haven't (to my knowledge) been tried before and to create fictions that are surprising and new."
Chapter 6:
"So affecting was this character that I suggested she try writing a novel from his point of view. I've been working with this group a long time and such suggestions don't terrify them as they might students less familiar with my workshops."
At one point she wrote a sentence that was intended to be difficult to understand and abstract:
"Linguist S. I. Hayakawa's original Ladder of Abstraction was a political model that illustrated how the more nonspecific language used is, the more capable it is of obfuscation."
Honestly? Until she explained what she'd done, I'd not noticed. Look over the other examples of her writing I've provided, does this "intentionally high on the Ladder" sentence stand out at all?
But I also find that much of the time a writer uses a big word, he's simply showing off, and I find such displays both obnoxious and annoying.
Really now. She also hates and becomes angry when she meets a word she doesn't know.
And this is as far as I've read. These are not the only examples (and maybe they only seem so annoying to me because I've read all the pages in between). I do not recommend that you read the book to find the rest, however.
There are so many other books on writing out there; avoid this one.
May 16, 2014
This book was more interesting in the first half, (or perhaps the first two parts) than it was at the end.
The advice seems to get less practical the further one gets into the book. And while the author is very clear about her opinion that her methods won't work for everyone, she nonetheless spends a great deal of time getting into the specifics of her methods for writing a novel. So specific does she get, in fact, that at times this reads more like an author's memoir than a reference for writing.
I of course can't hold any writer's methods against them. Whatever works for them, works, of course. That being said, some of her methods and practices seem so long and complicated that I couldn't keep straight what she was suggesting a writer do. I'm glad it works for her, but it got not unlike calculus near the end, with all of the read throughs, stick notes, color coded graphs, scene summaries and rewrites, categorized files for discarded material for future use, numbers, cutting, pasting, and wow. I need to get off of this ride.
No, she didn't insist that other writers do it her way. But she did leave hints along the way that indicated she thinks we would all be better off if we did. Saying things like, "You've probably collected hundreds, if not thousands of pages of notes from readers on your draft." Um, no I have not, and I can't think of a single person I know that would have that many people willing to say that much, let alone the time to categorize all of the same.
I also glazed over reading the section about chronos and kairos. This section she did, in a somewhat snooty fashion, insist was necessary to write a novel that will stick with a reader. I disagree. Again it's fine if you want to get into all of that, but plenty a great novel has not divided it's story's length of time by the number of pages it took to write it, and assigned the resultant value of time to every page. In fact, I can't off the top of my head think of a single novel that has done so.
And while the author does refer to other works as examples, (relying heavily on Munro, whom, it would seem, the author has deified), the lion's share of examples she provides come from her own work, which she speaks of and promotes constantly. That's not a sin, per se, but it may be a little more pure if the ratio between one's own work and the work of others was closer to even. (King did a better job of this in his own book, On Writing.)
All and all, some practical advice for beginners here and there in the first third to half. But after that, things get a bit esoteric in a way, and more than a bit biased towards literary and against commercial fiction. (Which the author clearly disdains, without shame.) Unless you have been writing a while and want to try a whole new approach to creating your next fiction, I don't think this book is a good place to start. Beginners will find themselves swimming in what I perceive to be the extraneous advice and systems and formulas and charts and...
The advice seems to get less practical the further one gets into the book. And while the author is very clear about her opinion that her methods won't work for everyone, she nonetheless spends a great deal of time getting into the specifics of her methods for writing a novel. So specific does she get, in fact, that at times this reads more like an author's memoir than a reference for writing.
I of course can't hold any writer's methods against them. Whatever works for them, works, of course. That being said, some of her methods and practices seem so long and complicated that I couldn't keep straight what she was suggesting a writer do. I'm glad it works for her, but it got not unlike calculus near the end, with all of the read throughs, stick notes, color coded graphs, scene summaries and rewrites, categorized files for discarded material for future use, numbers, cutting, pasting, and wow. I need to get off of this ride.
No, she didn't insist that other writers do it her way. But she did leave hints along the way that indicated she thinks we would all be better off if we did. Saying things like, "You've probably collected hundreds, if not thousands of pages of notes from readers on your draft." Um, no I have not, and I can't think of a single person I know that would have that many people willing to say that much, let alone the time to categorize all of the same.
I also glazed over reading the section about chronos and kairos. This section she did, in a somewhat snooty fashion, insist was necessary to write a novel that will stick with a reader. I disagree. Again it's fine if you want to get into all of that, but plenty a great novel has not divided it's story's length of time by the number of pages it took to write it, and assigned the resultant value of time to every page. In fact, I can't off the top of my head think of a single novel that has done so.
And while the author does refer to other works as examples, (relying heavily on Munro, whom, it would seem, the author has deified), the lion's share of examples she provides come from her own work, which she speaks of and promotes constantly. That's not a sin, per se, but it may be a little more pure if the ratio between one's own work and the work of others was closer to even. (King did a better job of this in his own book, On Writing.)
All and all, some practical advice for beginners here and there in the first third to half. But after that, things get a bit esoteric in a way, and more than a bit biased towards literary and against commercial fiction. (Which the author clearly disdains, without shame.) Unless you have been writing a while and want to try a whole new approach to creating your next fiction, I don't think this book is a good place to start. Beginners will find themselves swimming in what I perceive to be the extraneous advice and systems and formulas and charts and...
January 9, 2016
An excellent instructional into the art and craft of writing fiction. Its author (Lisa Lenard-Cook), explains the complexities of crafting stories in simple, easy to understand language and takes you from a story's conception all the way to its completion.
It is a somewhat rare pleasure to find a book that is both a good instructional and very enjoyable to read, but Ms. Lenard-Cook goes the extra mile and gives us an inspirational book as well. I most heartily recommend this work to any writer, but if you are taking your first steps into the infinite waters of writing fiction, this book is for you!
It is a somewhat rare pleasure to find a book that is both a good instructional and very enjoyable to read, but Ms. Lenard-Cook goes the extra mile and gives us an inspirational book as well. I most heartily recommend this work to any writer, but if you are taking your first steps into the infinite waters of writing fiction, this book is for you!
August 9, 2013
I have mixed feelings on this book. I loved the section on seeds and inspiration - I found that extremely interesting and useful.
Pacing, structure and timelines was far less helpful and just not how I work. I suspect this is one of the differences between genre and literary fiction.
Her process for revising was interesting, but again completely different to how I work. Some good tips mixed in, but mostly not as helpful to me as it could have been.
Overall though, I'm glad I read it and it'll hopefully improve my writing.
Pacing, structure and timelines was far less helpful and just not how I work. I suspect this is one of the differences between genre and literary fiction.
Her process for revising was interesting, but again completely different to how I work. Some good tips mixed in, but mostly not as helpful to me as it could have been.
Overall though, I'm glad I read it and it'll hopefully improve my writing.
January 16, 2011
I'm excited about this book. She has a detailed approach to revision and editing, something I have always struggled with when it comes to fiction, and something I intend to be doing a lot of this year. I look forward to giving her methods a try.
April 1, 2009
This is an enjoyable read about writing, striking a balance between helpful hints and a deeper exploration of the creative process.
June 5, 2009
Very helpful.
October 11, 2009
As a writer re-seeing a manuscript is essential for revision. This book leads my mind on new pathways to make my work better.
August 18, 2010
I learned oh, so much from this book. It's a treasure of fiction writing technique while getting to know your story. I think I'll read it again.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews