Comments on Wired For Story · 16 November 2024
I do not write that much about books, but a friend loaned me a book that I need to make a few comments about because it is a book that makes me think about my own writing.
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron has been a good book so far. (I am just over halfway through.) I would recommend it for anybody who is serious about writing. Even the introduction and first chapter are worth the time to read. Which is part of the point of the first chapter anyway. You must hook the reader. Get him or her to want to keep reading.
Now, I have said this before, but I am not much of a raconteur. I cannot tell a story orally to save my life. Well, maybe I can, but it either needs to be one I have told over and over and over again or… I guess there is no or. If I am going to tell a story orally, I must have practiced it many times. I must have told it over and over and over again.
Which is an interesting thought. I do not take that long to think about and write my blog. I know… If you have been reading my work for very long, you probably already guessed it. In fact, I have said that I just throw stuff out there. I do not even check to see if anything sticks. I know… It is the internet, so everything sticks. We just do not know if anybody reads it.
But back to the book. Cron weaves a masterful tale. She tells stories to get her points across. And she makes me realize that I might need to change some things in my own story telling. Oh sure. I have gotten some things right. But if you want to get better at anything, you hone your craft. You study it. You practice it. You get better at it. Hopefully.
Which is the point of the book. Keep writing. Keep telling stories. But do it in a way that the reader wants to keep reading. Actually tell the story that you want to tell. Cron gets into the details on how to do just that. She writes about hooking the reader. She asks questions that the writer should ask as he or she is writing. She tells the writer what to focus on. She tells about the conflict between internal and external goals. But perhaps the biggest thing that I have gleaned from the book so far is that story is about change.
Now if you know much about story arc, you probably realize that story is about change. The main character, the protagonist, is trying to accomplish something. That something might not be the real thing that the protagonist thinks he or she wants to accomplish, but that is the point of conflict. But regardless of what else happens, the protagonist must change. If life goes on with nothing changing, what is the point of the story? Everybody starts out fine and lives happily ever after!? That is not much of a story.
Which is the point of the book. At least so far. Change happens. And story is about change.
I am looking forward to seeing what else is in the book. I have enjoyed it even though the author has pointed out many flaws to my writing process. I will, of course, not take all the advice she gives, but I will take to heart much of what she says. After all, I want to write something that anybody would want to read. Just one book that one person might want to maybe read. Is that too much to ask?
Sorry. I got carried away there.
Like I said in the beginning, I do not write too much about other people’s books. But I have commented on a few. Mostly, the ones that I refer to when thinking about writing. And if the rest of the book is as good as the first part, Wired for Story might be a new one of those few. Partly because it is a good story. And partly because it makes me think about my own writing.
© 2024 Michael T. Miyoshi
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