Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence

by Lisa Cron

stories with it are capable of knocking the socks off someone who’s barefoot.

As a reader,

you owe the writer absolutely nothing.

but now you are also transported, by turns, to many other places, with many other people besides your brother, and to situations that you have not experienced yet that are the products of your informed and rich imagination.…

luck tends to favor the prepared.

the story isn’t in what happens; it’s in how your characters react to it.

And a large part of what readers skim, if not skip entirely, is scenery. Setting. Weather. Why? Because stories are about people,

And that, my friends, is what makes stories so deeply satisfying. We get to try on trouble, pretty much risk-free.

This is crucial, since the protagonist is only as strong as the antagonist forces her to be.

Very often “show, don’t tell” refers to the progression of the character’s inner logic.

It’s Like Math—But in a Good Way

“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out.”17

A digression is any piece of information that we don’t need and therefore don’t know what to do with.

“In many cases we decrease accuracy and efficiency by thinking too hard.”

It’s not you; it’s the nature of the beast. If there is one thing every successful writer’s process includes, it’s rewriting.

“All first drafts are shit.”

Which doesn’t let you off the hook. It’s not a license for unbridled self-expression, or not to try hard from word one because it doesn’t really “count.” It does, big time—because from here on out, it’s the raw material you’ll be working with, straying from, reshaping, paring, parsing, and then lovingly polishing. First drafts count, even if they’re usually pretty bad.

The goal isn’t beautiful writing; it’s to come as close as you can to identifying the underlying story you’re trying to tell.

So, especially during a rewrite when you’re digging deep, it helps to keep track of each character’s version of reality.

In fact, it’s a good idea to make a chart for your entire story, called: WHO KNOWS WHAT, WHEN?

Or, in the case of pornography, sometimes that feeling is a little further south.

This is hilarious

You don’t need to be a genius, although you may well be one. What you do need is perseverance. The one thing that makes a person a writer is writing. Butt in chair. Every day. No excuses. Ever.