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

Your next goal will be to transform this life-altering turning point into a full-fledged scene—so you know not only what happened, but exactly how your protagonist made sense of it as it did. It might be a huge event, like Wanda discovering her house has been razed. Or something tiny and seemingly mundane, like Wanda’s dad arriving at her student play ten minutes late. It’s not the external dramatic scope of the moment that matters; it’s your protagonist’s internal reaction to it that counts. Your main job is to track how her viewpoint changes throughout the scene. She will go into the scene believing one thing, and come out believing something else altogether. You’re going to show us how the new misbelief clobbers the old one.