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

Chances are at this moment your protagonist feels that he has things under control—his life might not be exactly the way he’d want it, but it’s working. Life, up to now, has taught him what to expect, and he’s pretty much figured out how to safely navigate it. What he doesn’t know is that you’re going to make sure his expectations aren’t met, catapulting him out of his safety zone into the world beyond his trusty map. But remember, the novel isn’t simply about how he navigates that uncharted world; it’s about the quest he’s spent most of his life suiting up for. He just doesn’t know it yet. The point is, your protagonist doesn’t start from “neutral.” He starts from a very particular place, with very particular, deeply held beliefs that your novel is going to force him to call into question. So in order to figure out what those beliefs are, what that quest is, and how his expectations will, in fact, be upended, you have to know where he was before the quest began, when he had no idea what you have in store for him. The goal is to write a paragraph or two that sums up who your protagonist is at that very moment—just a short thumbnail sketch. Think of this sketch as a loose outline that you will be filling in as we move forward. As with your What If, it will tell you where to dig for the specifics that will bring your protagonist to life.