dustbunnygirl 's review for:

Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron

4.25

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

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I found the information in this on character and connecting the plot and other characters to the motivations and needs of the protagonist very helpful, since I tend to enjoy both writing and reading more character-driven narratives. And while I did take away a few tidbits I'll incorporate into my own process - mostly additional things to include in my pre-existing method - I found the sections on plotting to be...just not as well developed as the sections on character. I know she said early on that she didn't really vibe with things like the Hero's Journey and standard outlining practice, the lack of even a brief mention of structure bothered me more than I thought it would. Yes, it's important to understand why people read fiction, and the importance of story and character, but there's a voice at the back of my head (that might sound a little like Jenna Moreci at this point in my writing journey) that keeps pointing out a story still needs to follow that little diagram I learned in high school creative writing. It isn't as fun, maybe, but inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution are still important.

I did do several of the exercises, though, and I did find them useful in figuring a few things out about characters I've been a little stuck with, and it was a helpful audiobook to listen to while I worked on my project on a blistering Saturday afternoon. If this method works for you, then that's amazing. If it doesn't, it doesn't mean you can't be a writer, it just means this isn't the method for you. What works for you might just be an odd conglomeration of multiple methods that you shoehorn into a OneNote template that you first created back in 2011.