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

It’s easy for writers of all ages to lose sight of one very simple, grounding truth: all stories make a point, beginning on page one. Which means that as a writer you need to know what that point is, long before you get to page one. Especially since the point your story will make is what allows you to pinpoint the one thing all those surface What Ifs are missing: the source of your protagonist’s internal conflict. In other words, the very heart of the story, and what it’s really about. That’s why the first thing you need to do, we told the kids, is to decide what point you want your story to make, because the point will tell you exactly what kind of internal problem your story will be about. For instance: • Friends stick together when times are tough. • Believe in yourself even when others don’t. • Think about how others will feel before you act. All by themselves each of these very simple points suggests a potent internal story problem. To wit: • A group of friends will face a tough problem sure to challenge their loyalty to each other, ultimately teaching them the hard-won benefits of sticking together (or not). Think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. • A character will want to tackle something tough that she’s never done before, and when everyone tries to convince her that she can’t do it, instead of giving up, she’ll muster the inner courage to give it her all (or not). Think Mulan. • A character will really, really want to do something that, okay, might hurt someone ...