I adored Wired for Story but Story Genius has taken my favorite place! It truly has transformed my writing - and so many of my writer friends. LOVE getting to know our character better by rooting his story in his misbeliefs BEFORE his story begins. Great interview!
Woohoo, I loved this interview! Story Genius changed my whole approach and mindset toward writing a novel. Hearing Lisa talk through her book at length helped tie it together even more, as I'm an auditory learner. Thank you both for your insightful questions and answers.
Wow! Thank you for the great information. I'm excited to pick up your book Lisa. I'm very much inspired by you. I absolutely agree with what you said about story. There's no such thing as mindless entertainment. We turn to story to help us navigate the world. We are looking to see what we're going to learn. And we love it so much because it feels like an escape. Stories are so powerful!
WHAT a LiveWire this woman is, her website is aptly named!!! Such good information and I'll have to view this a couple times to get it all!!! Thanks you two! Buying Lisa's book now, can't wait to get it!
I like how she mentions the hero's journey being plot based; I was interested in different constructed theoretical models that deviates from the typical norm and creatively rearranges the archetype and scene variables a lot and exploit pattern to create and reinforce suspense and emotional cathartic effects that keep the series going. I want to create a model that exploits the patterns of the story with the reader to catch them off by surprise by rearranging those said variables around effectively to keep them interested in the narrative as it continues to keep going on. Stuff like One Piece, Gintama, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, Death Note and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei are some of my top biggest influences in this regard; relative to this medium.
Wow, she is fantastic. On my wavelength, but where I want to be. Thank u for giving a great interview to someone that just helped me understand that I'm not crazy, but also showed me that I'm not as smart as I think I am lol
I started, but didn’t finish Cron. I think it’s due to several things: 1) The novel she is workshopping in her book is just incredibly self-referential and dull (a writer writes about herself?), which has been noted by readers in other spaces as sappy sitcom-grist; 2) Her material seems like a lot of repackaged/modernized The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri (what he called the premise she calls the 3rd Rail with some pop neuroscience/Gladwellisms thrown in; 3) Right now we’re in an IP era, especially in screenwriting, where concepts and characters are already ESTABLISHED, even down to their backstories. Additionally, the people in charge of these properties/decision makers/producers/CEs have very distinct ideas they want for you to put in, that you tailor your take to fit. So in that sense, Cron offers NOTHING for the reader and prospective scibe, not even novelty. 4) In the interview, you literally stopped her dead in her tracks, Joanna, when you mentioned Reacher, but Cron pivoted and you let her off the hook. Cron can’t talk about Reacher because what Lee Child does, the so-called “pansers” approach, enact the EXACT opposite of her approach. Andy Martin spent most of a year with Lee Child as he wrote the 20th Jack Reacher novel and Child LITERALLY has no idea what happens next. So much so, that Lee Child will often stop work for the day because he needs to sleep on it and start up again. Doesn’t sound like Cron does it? I hate to come in so hard at Cron but she really has some harsh takes on Anne Lamott who does a different kind of writing than Cron describes for the most part, and yet unlike Cron, doesn’t have a braggadocio about what she does, is entirely honest and self-critical (unlike Cron) and because we know Lamott is a genuine writer dedicated to her craft, that she’s going to be wake up today, tomorrow and the next day trying to write something meaningful (again also unlike Cron) bird-by-bird, in the trenches with the rest of us.
Thanks for your considered comment. I love Anne Lamott, but I also love Lisa Cron - and I certainly don't agree with either of them about everything! We can take tidbits of interest from everyone, and that's my aim with this show.
I can't really hear someone rubbish 50 shades of grey without suspecting the person being resentful of the success of the book... BTW I haven't read it myself
Sometimes I like it when a baddy is just a baddy, like Pizzazz and Roxy in Jem and the Holograms or Jafar in Disney's Aladdin. But I suppose even with these baddies, you always know what they want so their motivations are always clear.
Beyond that which is clearly terrible, it boils down to publishing luck. Bloomsbury had zero expectations for Harry Potter, which is well enough written.. Fifty Shades is poorly written (a little more poorly than a Danielle Steel or a Nicholas Sparks, for example), but it is well structured, with a good sense of narrative drive (for the 60-pages that I could stick, of it, and/or a DS or an NS book :-). The Hunger Games is well written, as per its prose, but is nonsensical in its logic.
Luck clearly plays some aspect in the breakout successes - but you can't build a business on luck. Luckily, you CAN build a business on consistently creating good books for years :)
