Wired for Story

Wired for Story

Author: Lisa Cron

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2012-07-10

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1607742454

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This guide reveals how writers can utilize cognitive storytelling strategies to craft stories that ignite readers’ brains and captivate them through each plot element. Imagine knowing what the brain craves from every tale it encounters, what fuels the success of any great story, and what keeps readers transfixed. Wired for Story reveals these cognitive secrets—and it’s a game-changer for anyone who has ever set pen to paper. The vast majority of writing advice focuses on “writing well” as if it were the same as telling a great story. This is exactly where many aspiring writers fail—they strive for beautiful metaphors, authentic dialogue, and interesting characters, losing sight of the one thing that every engaging story must do: ignite the brain’s hardwired desire to learn what happens next. When writers tap into the evolutionary purpose of story and electrify our curiosity, it triggers a delicious dopamine rush that tells us to pay attention. Without it, even the most perfect prose won’t hold anyone’s interest. Backed by recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as well as examples from novels, screenplays, and short stories, Wired for Story offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it. Each chapter zeroes in on an aspect of the brain, its corresponding revelation about story, and the way to apply it to your storytelling right now.


Book Synopsis Wired for Story by : Lisa Cron

Download or read book Wired for Story written by Lisa Cron and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2012-07-10 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide reveals how writers can utilize cognitive storytelling strategies to craft stories that ignite readers’ brains and captivate them through each plot element. Imagine knowing what the brain craves from every tale it encounters, what fuels the success of any great story, and what keeps readers transfixed. Wired for Story reveals these cognitive secrets—and it’s a game-changer for anyone who has ever set pen to paper. The vast majority of writing advice focuses on “writing well” as if it were the same as telling a great story. This is exactly where many aspiring writers fail—they strive for beautiful metaphors, authentic dialogue, and interesting characters, losing sight of the one thing that every engaging story must do: ignite the brain’s hardwired desire to learn what happens next. When writers tap into the evolutionary purpose of story and electrify our curiosity, it triggers a delicious dopamine rush that tells us to pay attention. Without it, even the most perfect prose won’t hold anyone’s interest. Backed by recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as well as examples from novels, screenplays, and short stories, Wired for Story offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it. Each chapter zeroes in on an aspect of the brain, its corresponding revelation about story, and the way to apply it to your storytelling right now.

Story Genius

Story Genius

Author: Lisa Cron

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1607748894

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Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story. It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.


Book Synopsis Story Genius by : Lisa Cron

Download or read book Story Genius written by Lisa Cron and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story. It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page one rewrite. The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don’t work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). In Story Genius Cron takes you, step-by-step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete multilayered blueprint—including fully realized scenes—that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.

Sand

Sand

Author: Michael Welland

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-01-15

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0520942000

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From individual grains to desert dunes, from the bottom of the sea to the landscapes of Mars, and from billions of years in the past to the future, this is the extraordinary story of one of nature's humblest, most powerful, and most ubiquitous materials. Told by a geologist with a novelist's sense of language and narrative, Sand examines the science—sand forensics, the physics of granular materials, sedimentology, paleontology and archaeology, planetary exploration—and at the same time explores the rich human context of sand. Interwoven with tales of artists, mathematicians, explorers, and even a vampire, the story of sand is an epic of environmental construction and destruction, an adventure in staggering scales of time and distance, yet a tale that encompasses the ordinary and everyday. Sand, in fact, is all around us—it has made possible our computers, buildings and windows, toothpaste, cosmetics, and paper, and it has played dramatic roles in human history, commerce, and imagination. In this luminous, kinetic, revelatory account, we do indeed find the world in a grain of sand.


Book Synopsis Sand by : Michael Welland

Download or read book Sand written by Michael Welland and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-01-15 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From individual grains to desert dunes, from the bottom of the sea to the landscapes of Mars, and from billions of years in the past to the future, this is the extraordinary story of one of nature's humblest, most powerful, and most ubiquitous materials. Told by a geologist with a novelist's sense of language and narrative, Sand examines the science—sand forensics, the physics of granular materials, sedimentology, paleontology and archaeology, planetary exploration—and at the same time explores the rich human context of sand. Interwoven with tales of artists, mathematicians, explorers, and even a vampire, the story of sand is an epic of environmental construction and destruction, an adventure in staggering scales of time and distance, yet a tale that encompasses the ordinary and everyday. Sand, in fact, is all around us—it has made possible our computers, buildings and windows, toothpaste, cosmetics, and paper, and it has played dramatic roles in human history, commerce, and imagination. In this luminous, kinetic, revelatory account, we do indeed find the world in a grain of sand.

The Science of Storytelling

The Science of Storytelling

Author: Will Storr

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2020-03-10

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 168335818X

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The compelling, groundbreaking guide to creative writing that reveals how the brain responds to storytelling Stories shape who we are. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions and mold our beliefs. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human. So, how do master storytellers compel us? In The Science of Storytelling, award-winning writer and acclaimed teacher of creative writing Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can write better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers—and also our brains—create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change. Will Storr’s superbly chosen examples range from Harry Potter to Jane Austen to Alice Walker, Greek drama to Russian novels to Native American folk tales, King Lear to Breaking Bad to children’s stories. With sections such as “The Dramatic Question,” “Creating a World,” and “Plot, Endings, and Meaning,” as well as a practical, step-by-step appendix dedicated to “The Sacred Flaw Approach,” The Science of Storytelling reveals just what makes stories work, placing it alongside such creative writing classics as John Yorke’s Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey into Story and Lajos Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing. Enlightening and empowering, The Science of Storytelling is destined to become an invaluable resource for writers of all stripes, whether novelist, screenwriter, playwright, or writer of creative or traditional nonfiction.


Book Synopsis The Science of Storytelling by : Will Storr

Download or read book The Science of Storytelling written by Will Storr and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling, groundbreaking guide to creative writing that reveals how the brain responds to storytelling Stories shape who we are. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions and mold our beliefs. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human. So, how do master storytellers compel us? In The Science of Storytelling, award-winning writer and acclaimed teacher of creative writing Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can write better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers—and also our brains—create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change. Will Storr’s superbly chosen examples range from Harry Potter to Jane Austen to Alice Walker, Greek drama to Russian novels to Native American folk tales, King Lear to Breaking Bad to children’s stories. With sections such as “The Dramatic Question,” “Creating a World,” and “Plot, Endings, and Meaning,” as well as a practical, step-by-step appendix dedicated to “The Sacred Flaw Approach,” The Science of Storytelling reveals just what makes stories work, placing it alongside such creative writing classics as John Yorke’s Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey into Story and Lajos Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing. Enlightening and empowering, The Science of Storytelling is destined to become an invaluable resource for writers of all stripes, whether novelist, screenwriter, playwright, or writer of creative or traditional nonfiction.

Wired for Life

Wired for Life

Author: Susan Pearse

Publisher: Hay House, Inc

Published: 2012-10-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1401933769

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A book which explains the latest research into how the brain works, providing practical tips for training your brain to promote success in all areas of your life.


Book Synopsis Wired for Life by : Susan Pearse

Download or read book Wired for Life written by Susan Pearse and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book which explains the latest research into how the brain works, providing practical tips for training your brain to promote success in all areas of your life.

Author In Progress

Author In Progress

Author: Therese Walsh

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1440346712

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Empower Your Writing Through Craft and Community! Writing can be a lonely profession plagued by blind stumbles, writer's block, and despair--but it doesn't have to be. Written by members of the popular Writer Unboxed website, Author in Progress is filled with practical, candid essays to help you reach the next rung on the publishing ladder. By tracking your creative journey from first draft to completion and beyond, you can improve your craft, find your community, and overcome the mental barriers that stand in the way of success. Author in Progress is the perfect no-nonsense guide for excelling at every step of the novel-writing process, from setting goals, researching, and drafting to giving and receiving critiques, polishing prose, and seeking publication. You'll love Author in Progress if... • You're an aspiring novelist working on your first book. • You're an experienced veteran looking for ways to enhance your career and connect with your writing community. • You've finished your first draft and want to know the next steps. • You're seeking clear, effective advice about publication-from professionals who are "down in the trenches" every day. What's Inside Author in Progress features: • More than 50 essays from best-selling authors, editors, and industry leaders on a variety of writing and publishing topics. • Advice on writing first drafts, conducting research, building and fostering community, seeking critique, revising, and getting published. • An encouraging approach to the writing and publishing process, from authors who've walked this path.


Book Synopsis Author In Progress by : Therese Walsh

Download or read book Author In Progress written by Therese Walsh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empower Your Writing Through Craft and Community! Writing can be a lonely profession plagued by blind stumbles, writer's block, and despair--but it doesn't have to be. Written by members of the popular Writer Unboxed website, Author in Progress is filled with practical, candid essays to help you reach the next rung on the publishing ladder. By tracking your creative journey from first draft to completion and beyond, you can improve your craft, find your community, and overcome the mental barriers that stand in the way of success. Author in Progress is the perfect no-nonsense guide for excelling at every step of the novel-writing process, from setting goals, researching, and drafting to giving and receiving critiques, polishing prose, and seeking publication. You'll love Author in Progress if... • You're an aspiring novelist working on your first book. • You're an experienced veteran looking for ways to enhance your career and connect with your writing community. • You've finished your first draft and want to know the next steps. • You're seeking clear, effective advice about publication-from professionals who are "down in the trenches" every day. What's Inside Author in Progress features: • More than 50 essays from best-selling authors, editors, and industry leaders on a variety of writing and publishing topics. • Advice on writing first drafts, conducting research, building and fostering community, seeking critique, revising, and getting published. • An encouraging approach to the writing and publishing process, from authors who've walked this path.

Writing to Be Understood

Writing to Be Understood

Author: Anne H. Janzer

Publisher: Cuesta Park Consulting

Published: 2018-08-09

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0999624830

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Have you ever wondered what makes your favorite nonfiction books so compelling, understandable, or enjoyable to read? They connect with you, as a reader. This book will help you recognize and apply the methods of your favorite writers to your own work. Writing To Be Understood is the thinking writer's guide to effective nonfiction writing techniques, such as: - Using analogies effectively to illustrate unseen concepts - Appealing to the reader's innate curiosity - Balancing humility with credibility For each topic, the book combines insights from cognitive science with advice from writers and expert practitioners in fields of psychology, technology, economics, medicine, policy, and more. Whether you're an expert trying to communicate with a mainstream audience or a nonfiction writer hoping to reach more people, Writing to be Understood will help you expand the impact of your words. Gold medal winner, 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards


Book Synopsis Writing to Be Understood by : Anne H. Janzer

Download or read book Writing to Be Understood written by Anne H. Janzer and published by Cuesta Park Consulting. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered what makes your favorite nonfiction books so compelling, understandable, or enjoyable to read? They connect with you, as a reader. This book will help you recognize and apply the methods of your favorite writers to your own work. Writing To Be Understood is the thinking writer's guide to effective nonfiction writing techniques, such as: - Using analogies effectively to illustrate unseen concepts - Appealing to the reader's innate curiosity - Balancing humility with credibility For each topic, the book combines insights from cognitive science with advice from writers and expert practitioners in fields of psychology, technology, economics, medicine, policy, and more. Whether you're an expert trying to communicate with a mainstream audience or a nonfiction writer hoping to reach more people, Writing to be Understood will help you expand the impact of your words. Gold medal winner, 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards

The Storytelling Animal

The Storytelling Animal

Author: Jonathan Gottschall

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0547391404

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A provocative scholar delivers the first book on the new science of storytelling: the latest thinking on why we tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature.


Book Synopsis The Storytelling Animal by : Jonathan Gottschall

Download or read book The Storytelling Animal written by Jonathan Gottschall and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2012 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative scholar delivers the first book on the new science of storytelling: the latest thinking on why we tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature.

Wired for Love

Wired for Love

Author: Stephanie Cacioppo

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2022-04-05

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 125079062X

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From the world’s foremost neuroscientist of romantic love comes a personal story of connection and heartbreak that brings new understanding to an old truth: better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. At thirty-seven, Dr. Stephanie Cacioppo was content to be single. She was fulfilled by her work on the neuroscience of romantic love—how finding and growing with a partner literally reshapes our brains. That was, until she met the foremost neuroscientist of loneliness. A whirlwind romance led to marriage and to sharing an office at the University of Chicago. After seven years of being inseparable at work and at home, Stephanie lost her beloved husband, John, following his intense battle with cancer. In Wired for Love, Stephanie tells not just a science story but also a love story. She shares revelatory insights into how and why we fall in love, what makes love last, and how we process love lost—all grounded in cutting-edge findings in brain chemistry and behavioral science. Woven through it all is her moving personal story, from astonishment to unbreakable bond to grief and healing. Her experience and her work enrich each other, creating a singular blend of science and lyricism that’s essential reading for anyone looking for connection.


Book Synopsis Wired for Love by : Stephanie Cacioppo

Download or read book Wired for Love written by Stephanie Cacioppo and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the world’s foremost neuroscientist of romantic love comes a personal story of connection and heartbreak that brings new understanding to an old truth: better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. At thirty-seven, Dr. Stephanie Cacioppo was content to be single. She was fulfilled by her work on the neuroscience of romantic love—how finding and growing with a partner literally reshapes our brains. That was, until she met the foremost neuroscientist of loneliness. A whirlwind romance led to marriage and to sharing an office at the University of Chicago. After seven years of being inseparable at work and at home, Stephanie lost her beloved husband, John, following his intense battle with cancer. In Wired for Love, Stephanie tells not just a science story but also a love story. She shares revelatory insights into how and why we fall in love, what makes love last, and how we process love lost—all grounded in cutting-edge findings in brain chemistry and behavioral science. Woven through it all is her moving personal story, from astonishment to unbreakable bond to grief and healing. Her experience and her work enrich each other, creating a singular blend of science and lyricism that’s essential reading for anyone looking for connection.

All the Words

All the Words

Author: Kristen Tate

Publisher: The Blue Garret

Published: 2020-02-10

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1734574208

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If you read one book about writing every week for a year, what would you learn? Thanks to the self-publishing revolution and events like National Novel Writing Month, the genre of writing craft books has exploded in recent years. Book editor Kristen Tate set out to read and review one writing advice book each week for a year, from classics like E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to newer works like Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. What she discovered was a dizzying array of approaches to writing: plotters who know even the smallest details about characters before they write a word; pantsers who blithely dive right into a draft without a plan; anti-adverb crusaders and advocates for complex sentences; and, always, that the best way to learn is to read the kinds of books you want to write. All the Words is also a meditation on the challenges and pleasures of starting and sustaining a weekly practice of reading, thinking, and writing. It’s an optimistic, encouraging book that will motivate you to keep reading and, most importantly, keep writing.


Book Synopsis All the Words by : Kristen Tate

Download or read book All the Words written by Kristen Tate and published by The Blue Garret. This book was released on 2020-02-10 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you read one book about writing every week for a year, what would you learn? Thanks to the self-publishing revolution and events like National Novel Writing Month, the genre of writing craft books has exploded in recent years. Book editor Kristen Tate set out to read and review one writing advice book each week for a year, from classics like E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to newer works like Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. What she discovered was a dizzying array of approaches to writing: plotters who know even the smallest details about characters before they write a word; pantsers who blithely dive right into a draft without a plan; anti-adverb crusaders and advocates for complex sentences; and, always, that the best way to learn is to read the kinds of books you want to write. All the Words is also a meditation on the challenges and pleasures of starting and sustaining a weekly practice of reading, thinking, and writing. It’s an optimistic, encouraging book that will motivate you to keep reading and, most importantly, keep writing.