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A review by rebeccarennerfl
Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron
I feel very mixed about this book. I teach creative writing, and I've tried to make a study of "what works" in popular stories. Liza Cron both hits and misses in this book.
The strongest section by far is Part II "Creating the Inside Story." One of the things I've noticed many of my students do is create short stories that encompass a series of exciting events that don't really matter. Cron says essentially that it's the character's internal struggle that makes the external struggle important. I totally agree with that.
For me, there are two major things that make a story work:
1. Characters that the reader can feel for, who want something and do things to get it; and
2. A promise is made in the beginning that the story fulfills.
Cron says those two things more or less. The major problem with this book is that Cron goes on and on and ON belaboring each and every point as if her reader must be thick in the head. The pretend novel that was being developed throughout the book fueled this fire. Those parts were so boring and useless that by the end of part two, I mostly skipped them. The examples Cron uses from actual books, like The Great Gatsby and A Prayer for Owen Meany (okay, okay, I know I'm being biased here, because those are two of my favorite novels; Cron has good taste) do a much better job of illustrating her point than the crappy in-development stuff she's padding her word count with.
Basically, that's what this book read like: a little bit of really stellar advice that was almost eclipsed by the rest of the junk surrounding it.
My advice? If you read this, check it out from the library. Read pages 35-123 and skip the rest.
DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
The strongest section by far is Part II "Creating the Inside Story." One of the things I've noticed many of my students do is create short stories that encompass a series of exciting events that don't really matter. Cron says essentially that it's the character's internal struggle that makes the external struggle important. I totally agree with that.
For me, there are two major things that make a story work:
1. Characters that the reader can feel for, who want something and do things to get it; and
2. A promise is made in the beginning that the story fulfills.
Cron says those two things more or less. The major problem with this book is that Cron goes on and on and ON belaboring each and every point as if her reader must be thick in the head. The pretend novel that was being developed throughout the book fueled this fire. Those parts were so boring and useless that by the end of part two, I mostly skipped them. The examples Cron uses from actual books, like The Great Gatsby and A Prayer for Owen Meany (okay, okay, I know I'm being biased here, because those are two of my favorite novels; Cron has good taste) do a much better job of illustrating her point than the crappy in-development stuff she's padding her word count with.
Basically, that's what this book read like: a little bit of really stellar advice that was almost eclipsed by the rest of the junk surrounding it.
My advice? If you read this, check it out from the library. Read pages 35-123 and skip the rest.
DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.