Reddit reviews Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
We found 4 Reddit comments about Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Someone else recommended this book on here a while back: Wired for Story. It's so focused and clear in its writing advice that I usually make it halfway through a chapter before I want to stop reading and get to work.
Check out Wired for Story and Techniques of the Selling Writer. The latter is dated - as in the guy wrote it from a white, male perspective in the 60s - but the advice on craft is solid. Good luck.
ETA: This is a decent podcast series so far.
by Billy Mernit
by Keith Giglio
by Sheldon Bull
by Scott Dikkers
by William Rabkin
by Jack Epps Jr
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The only non Screenwriter on the list are Scott Dikkers, Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward.
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I'm Currently going through:
And want to read:
>How do I get people to care about my story in the first place?
Therein lies the ultimate question. :) If you're looking on how to make your readers care and how to hook them, I would absolutlely seriously recommend this book. It completely changed how I approached my characters and story, and it's a joy to read!
To help you out a little, and give you a clue what the book's like, here are some notes I made from it after giving it another read today (I fleshed out my novel for NaNoWriMo):
>What does your protagonist have to confront in order to solve the problem set up for him or her?
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>A story is how what happens affects someone who is trying to achieve what turns out to be a difficult goal, and how he or she changes as a result.
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>All is not what it seems. Something to grab us, make us care. Balls in play. Trouble brewing, preferably longstanding, raising questions about how the protagonist is going to win. What are you talking about and why should I care? Curiosity.
>What is this story about?
>Whose story is it?
>What’s happening here?
>What’s at stake?
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>Conflict that is specific to the character’s quest. First page - sometimes even first line.
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>Every single thing in the story must have a clear impact on: will the protagonist achieve her goal; what will it cost her in the process; how will it change her in the end.
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>Everything in a story must be there on a need-to-know basis. What question does the story ask? How does it answer it?
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>A story needs focus: protagonist’s issue, the theme, and the plot. The story question translates to the protagonist’s goal. The story is about what she has to overcome internally to reach her goal.
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>Theme: what your story says about human nature. What does the story tell us about what it means to be human; what does it say about how humans react to circumstances beyond their control.
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>Plot: events that relentlessly force the protagonist to deal with her issue as she pursues her goal.
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>We love to figure things out and we don’t like being confused.
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>Even if the protagonist does not appear on the first page, everything that happens before he shows up must occur with a clear eye toward how it will affect him.
TLDR; In order to make your reader care, you have to understand and care about it too!