A LONG Post Talking About WAY More Than Writing…I Invite You To Read And Comment

In 2008, I discovered how little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. To learn more – and to satisfy my natural tendency to “teach stuff”, I started a series of essays taking the wisdom of published writers and then applying each “nugget of wisdom” to my own writing. During the six years that followed, I used the advice of a number of published writers (with their permission) and then applied the writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda to an analysis of my own writing. Together these people write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers, columnists, and teachers. Today I add to that list, Lisa Cron who has worked as a literary agent, TV producer, and story consultant for Warner Brothers, the William Morris Agency, and others. She is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences, and a story coach for writers, educators, and journalists. Again, I am using her article, “A Reader’s Manifesto: 15 Hardwired Expectations Every Reader Has for Every Story” (2/16/18 http://blog.creativelive.com/essential-storytelling-techniques/)

3. The reader expects a glimpse of the big picture from the very first page.

My sister forwarded me a link to an article on writing by Lisa Cron on the CreativeLive Blog, which highlights classes and other things encouraging artists of various sorts. Her first point was that “…we aren’t consciously aware of what our hardwired expectations are, when we write stories we tend to substitute what we’ve been taught those expectations are. And a whole lot of what we’ve been taught is flat out wrong.”

She was talking about “hardwiring”, which is a neurobiological concept (though it didn’t start out that way. The word came out of computer design. The history of it is fascinating and if you’re a geek like me, read about it! http://www.dictionaryofneurology.com/2012/01/hardwired-history-of-word.html)

What did neuroscience have to do with writing stories? Talk about right brain/left brain! Art and science mooshed together. Sort of like me…

After reading the article, I checked out WIRED FOR STORY  from the library and was using Post-it Notes® (the long ones) torn into thirds to highlight the important points.

There were already about sixty points by the time I reached page 76. I just got my OWN copy of WIRED FOR STORY and am permanently marking the meaningful passages.

So, why do readers like me have that kind of expectation? Because according to Cron and neurobiology: “…we’re wired to turn to story to teach us the way of the world.”

Instead of using reading as an escape from reality, our brains appear to try to pull meaning out of the written word as well. Not just textbooks, but out of fiction! Every time I read, I read in order to learn how to deal with situations in the world. I think that this is manifesting itself in the current scramble by YA, speculative fiction publishers and according to a story on NBC Evening news last night (15:21, https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/nightly-news-full-broadcast-july-7th-1272281155513), Hollywood screen writers to include the viewpoints of people of color. In order to become better people, we desperately need to see the world from the viewpoints of people who we are NOT.

Personally? I think this is driving force of everything that is going on in the world right now. According to this article: https://litlab.stanford.edu/how-many-novels-have-been-published-in-english-an-attempt/, something like 10% of books published are fiction. Fiction (in my mind) equals story. Less than HALF of all Americans buy ANY kind of book at all in a year; so let's just say that less than half of all Americans (note: ALL, that includes senators, judges, police officers, and young adults ALL Americans) read any kind of story at all.

So if so few people are reading fiction, that means so few people are learning how to deal with issues and problems ranging from how to get along with people who have differing points of view to learning how to cope with depression…

And that leaves us where?

With a marked inability to see the big picture; to see where things are going; to see trends in American society.

It leaves us, in my mind, with the way things are right now…

At any rate, what does this mean for me as a writer?

I’ll tell you that my major in college was biology and my master’s degree is in school counseling – right there, it seems I’d be a natural for the concept of a neuroscience-driven theory of writing. I am. This seems to be THE most significant book I have read about writing EVER, and I’ve read most of them and have twenty or so of my own.

For example, after reading those first 76 pages, I’ve almost completely re-written the story I was talking about here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/04/writing-advice-lisa-cron-1-start-with.html

The opening line is now: “‘How much can you lie about yourself and still remain yourself?’ Agnew snarled at Igaluk Abumayaleh-Jawai just after Second Sunset.”

That’s the motivating question. It’s the question that, not only will I have to answer eventually, it’s also a reason for a reader to keep on reading because we ALL have multiple personalities. I’m most real with my wife; I’m entirely “other” with my gifted and talented writing classes; I’m someone else again when I’m talking to students with struggles. While I’m not a total different person, I don’t behave the same in different situations. Have you ever pretended to be someone in order to either get another person or group’s attention and then felt afterward that the person or group you were targeting DOESN’T KNOW THE REAL YOU?

This is what will draw people into the story. This will give them an opportunity to LEARN something useful. “We’re wired to turn to story to teach us the way of the world.”

As readers we need a notion of the big picture, so we have an idea where we’re going, why, and what’s at stake for the protagonist. This not only triggers the sense of urgency that catapults us into the story, it’s also what allows us to make sense of what’s happening from beginning to end.

It’s a tall order, but why not try to follow John Irving’s admittedly glib suggestion: “Whenever possible, tell the entire story of the novel in the first sentence.”

Ask yourself: What is the scope of my story? What journey will my reader take? Have I made it clear? Don’t be afraid of “giving it all away” on the very first page. Be specific, be clear, don’t hold back. Remember, you’re giving readers what they crave: a reason to care, a reason to be curious, and enough info to understand what the stakes are.

And I think this is why we are where we are – not politics (WHATEVER your stripe); not race (whatever your race); not poverty (whatever your financial state); not national borders (wherever you live)…we are not reading story.

We, Humans, no longer understand the world because we no longer turn to story to  make sense out of the world. What, in fact, do the leaders of the world read? What stories have they internalized? I would venture to say that their response would be -- "I don't have time to read!"

Neither, apparently, do the most of the rest of us...And that is THE problem.

Image: https://barefootmeds.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/read-the-world.jpg