I just finished Story Genius! I enjoyed hearing your take on this. I absolutely AGREE that part one is rough....ugh...girl...I skimmed it! Part two was very detailed and definitely called me out on some of the errors I was making with my own writing. I liked that scene card/blueprint thing she included further on in the book too. I SO agree about Lisa Cron not having published work and that being a con. That stuck out to me as well. Even though Lisa Cron (from what I've read online) is a writing coach, I like reading writing craft books from published authors for many obvious reasons lol. Just like you, I would recommend this to newbie writers or individuals who want to just consume writing craft books. Literally, the way you recommended Save the Cat first and then this book is EXACTLY what I did. Thank you so much for making this video! You rock Nicole!!!
Awesome!! I’m so glad you got something from the book and it’s so funny that our experiences were so similar 🤣 Yayyyy thank you for watching!!! Happy writing :)
I really agree she has a lot of really important stuff in the book! I also really agree it works well in tandem with a book more focused on story structure. Also, thank you so much for the shout out!
I've heard a lot of good things about the book, but I only read a few pages before giving up on it. You made me curious about Part 2 so I'll definitely go check it out.
A real science book about story. The Primary Colours of Story: A storyteller's guide to what stories are, why stories exist and how stories work by David Baboulene. Great book.
Hello, Nicole. Thank you for your video. The thing that makes me wonder how good this book is and whether I should invest in it (both in terms of time and money) is the fact that Lisa Cron hasn't written any books aside from these how-tos. I feel this is a great con! In Spanish we have a saying: those who can't do, teach. Is this the case with Cron?
Hmm that's a great point and it's something I don't tend to think about honestly. It doesn't put me off because I think of the agents and editors who are big influences in shaping books, who (probably mostly?) haven't published their own. But they still have great insights because they understand the industry and audience expectations! On Lisa Cron, her bio is: "Lisa has worked in publishing at W.W. Norton, as an agent at the Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, as a producer on shows for Showtime and CourtTV, and as a story consultant for Warner Brothers and the William Morris Agency." I think craft books BY writers are super valuable, but in her case, if she doesn't write fiction, she has a more outside-looking-in view which I think is super valuable!
Of all the "craft books" as you put it, this one has proven the most useful. I understand the author Lisa Cron is deeply motivated by what she repeatedly refers to as "how the brain is wired" (which you correctly downplay: I substitute my own beliefs in cultural hegemony as a way of explaining the historical need for stories, so I just substituted "how our historical culture has wired us" every time I saw physiological reductionism being used, and "Story Genius" and I were all set). Of all the craft books, this one goes the deepest, even Part I is useful to bear in mind (given the above substitution) and is the most usefully iconoclastic compared to purely mechanical approaches available everywhere. Part II, yes, is brilliant, as is the whole conception of starting the actual scenes of your novel in "media res", and it gives whole new meaning to what others refer to as simply the backstory. The only other treatment equally useful I have seen is by K.M. Weiland (not as deep, in my opinion, but very very useful) in her treatment of story, theme and character and finding the character arc in her books and on her website. Part III of course is extremely useful in terms of the "blueprint" approach. Both of these authors urge people to use an iterative and incremental approach (something I'm used to from software development), that is, going through all the process several times in stronger and deeper passes, not at all necessarily in the order the process is presented in the craft material. Much Thanks for the video!!!
I'm gad you loved the book! I agree it goes deeper than most other craft books I've read. Thanks for the recommendation on KM Weiland, I will have to check them out! With a software background myself, I love the incremental/iterative approach and was excited to see that mindset applied to fiction - equally excited to try it out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts !!
i have read the introduction to "Wired For Story 5 times" and gave up. You get boredom ptsd from introductions to How To Write books. But I downloaded Audible and started listening to Story Genius last night - same thing. I came here to watch your vid, so will keep listening. You're more entertaining for the next few minutes though lol. Not sure when you reviewed this but in hindsight, did it ( story genius) help? "One Last Stop" Did you say? Ok, will look that up too!
Omg haha SO true - the intros are all so similar!! Haha glad I could entertain for a minute! Yes, I found Story Genius SUPER helpful. It really helped me nail down my main character and made writing her and her arc super clear. One Last Stop is by Casey Mcquiston - great book!!
This is the ONLY...I repeat...the ONLY book that helped to create the blueprint (as Lisa calls it) for a story that I am excited to write.... I have read most of the other ones. I can't recommend it enough despite her writing style being a bit off-putting.
That's awesome! She has this one (Story Genius) and what's the other called? I really do love this book - it helped me with my character and her arc SO much!
I just finished Story Genius! I enjoyed hearing your take on this. I absolutely AGREE that part one is rough....ugh...girl...I skimmed it! Part two was very detailed and definitely called me out on some of the errors I was making with my own writing. I liked that scene card/blueprint thing she included further on in the book too.
I SO agree about Lisa Cron not having published work and that being a con. That stuck out to me as well. Even though Lisa Cron (from what I've read online) is a writing coach, I like reading writing craft books from published authors for many obvious reasons lol. Just like you, I would recommend this to newbie writers or individuals who want to just consume writing craft books. Literally, the way you recommended Save the Cat first and then this book is EXACTLY what I did.
Thank you so much for making this video! You rock Nicole!!!
Awesome!! I’m so glad you got something from the book and it’s so funny that our experiences were so similar 🤣 Yayyyy thank you for watching!!! Happy writing :)
I'm working through it now. Glad to find your review!
So glad you enjoyed it!!
I really agree she has a lot of really important stuff in the book! I also really agree it works well in tandem with a book more focused on story structure. Also, thank you so much for the shout out!
I've heard a lot of good things about the book, but I only read a few pages before giving up on it. You made me curious about Part 2 so I'll definitely go check it out.
This is making me feel a lot better at being stuck in part 1 for a month 😂😂
Thank u so much Nicole for this review!!! I was about to put the book down but now I'm going to speed through Part 1 to get to parts 2 & 3.
I really enjoy the next two parts! I hope you find them useful too :)
A real science book about story. The Primary Colours of Story: A storyteller's guide to what stories are, why stories exist and how stories
work by David Baboulene. Great book.
Cool! Thanks for the rec :)
Thank you for your review! Love your style of reviewing by the way.
Aww thank you
I bought this book a year ago and didn’t get out of part one 😂. I think I’ll go directly to part two now 🤣
Haha definitely give the first few chapters of part two a try and reevaluate 😂
Hello, Nicole. Thank you for your video. The thing that makes me wonder how good this book is and whether I should invest in it (both in terms of time and money) is the fact that Lisa Cron hasn't written any books aside from these how-tos. I feel this is a great con! In Spanish we have a saying: those who can't do, teach. Is this the case with Cron?
Hmm that's a great point and it's something I don't tend to think about honestly.
It doesn't put me off because I think of the agents and editors who are big influences in shaping books, who (probably mostly?) haven't published their own. But they still have great insights because they understand the industry and audience expectations!
On Lisa Cron, her bio is: "Lisa has worked in publishing at W.W. Norton, as an agent at the Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, as a producer on shows for Showtime and CourtTV, and as a story consultant for Warner Brothers and the William Morris Agency."
I think craft books BY writers are super valuable, but in her case, if she doesn't write fiction, she has a more outside-looking-in view which I think is super valuable!
Of all the "craft books" as you put it, this one has proven the most useful. I understand the author Lisa Cron is deeply motivated by what she repeatedly refers to as "how the brain is wired" (which you correctly downplay: I substitute my own beliefs in cultural hegemony as a way of explaining the historical need for stories, so I just substituted "how our historical culture has wired us" every time I saw physiological reductionism being used, and "Story Genius" and I were all set). Of all the craft books, this one goes the deepest, even Part I is useful to bear in mind (given the above substitution) and is the most usefully iconoclastic compared to purely mechanical approaches available everywhere. Part II, yes, is brilliant, as is the whole conception of starting the actual scenes of your novel in "media res", and it gives whole new meaning to what others refer to as simply the backstory. The only other treatment equally useful I have seen is by K.M. Weiland (not as deep, in my opinion, but very very useful) in her treatment of story, theme and character and finding the character arc in her books and on her website. Part III of course is extremely useful in terms of the "blueprint" approach. Both of these authors urge people to use an iterative and incremental approach (something I'm used to from software development), that is, going through all the process several times in stronger and deeper passes, not at all necessarily in the order the process is presented in the craft material. Much Thanks for the video!!!
I'm gad you loved the book! I agree it goes deeper than most other craft books I've read. Thanks for the recommendation on KM Weiland, I will have to check them out! With a software background myself, I love the incremental/iterative approach and was excited to see that mindset applied to fiction - equally excited to try it out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts !!
I also procrastinated with this!
Haha it seems I'm in good company!
I wrote the same swear words in the margins in part 1. After six months of looking down on this book, I’ll pick it up again based on your video. 😃
Haha it seems this is a pretty universal experience!!
i have read the introduction to "Wired For Story 5 times" and gave up. You get boredom ptsd from introductions to How To Write books. But I downloaded Audible and started listening to Story Genius last night - same thing. I came here to watch your vid, so will keep listening. You're more entertaining for the next few minutes though lol. Not sure when you reviewed this but in hindsight, did it ( story genius) help? "One Last Stop" Did you say? Ok, will look that up too!
Omg haha SO true - the intros are all so similar!!
Haha glad I could entertain for a minute! Yes, I found Story Genius SUPER helpful. It really helped me nail down my main character and made writing her and her arc super clear.
One Last Stop is by Casey Mcquiston - great book!!
5 star book. read it
This is the ONLY...I repeat...the ONLY book that helped to create the blueprint (as Lisa calls it) for a story that I am excited to write....
I have read most of the other ones. I can't recommend it enough despite her writing style being a bit off-putting.
That's awesome! She has this one (Story Genius) and what's the other called?
I really do love this book - it helped me with my character and her arc SO much!