Based on a Michael Chabon novel by the same name, Wonder Boys is my favorite movie about writers. In it is an exchange that’s apropos of this review. Grady has lost the only copy of a novel he had been writing for years and tries to explain the gravity of that situation to Vernon. When Vernon asks Grady what the book was about, Grady can’t summarize the plot. Vernon asks, “Why did you keep writing this book if you didn’t even know what it was about?” Grady answers, “I couldn’t stop.”

For the past few years, I, too, have been writing because I couldn’t stop. I have several manuscripts so far off-base that they’ll be lucky if I don’t delete them out of shame. I tried to pinpoint what went wrong and traced some issues to buying Scrivener, which is great software that makes it too easy for me to write out of order. Doing so created logic problems in my writing. To be clear, this is a “me” problem, not a Scrivener issue. That method likely works great for other people.

I convinced myself I would find the words if I could manage a few key scenes. I jumped in cold, exploring ideas on the page that didn’t have full plot potential, and did so with little forethought about the characters.

I know better. Still, I tried to build a better mousetrap. Fewer drafts. Increased productivity.

I came to Story Genius humble after repeated false starts and failures. I needed a way to outline without outlining. Lisa Cron calls her method “blueprinting.” It is an exploratory write-as-you-go model that makes sure every chapter has a purpose, often a sub-purpose, and that the characters and plot are so carefully intertwined that the cause-and-effect relationship comes naturally—as long as you can answer a few key questions about what you’re going to write before you write it.

I have so many ideas for my upcoming novel, many of which beg further questions. Some will be scenes. Others will not because they don’t pass the test. That I didn’t ask these questions about purpose and how one thing leads logically to the next toward a loose ending is beyond me. The author gives examples throughout that are helpful for those who hear “Show don’t tell” and don’t quite know what that means in practical application.

Read the whole book before applying the advice. Each chapter builds on the next, the later chapters helping guide the writer away from pitfalls. I read it with a notebook in hand and jotted down notes about my work-in-progress for down the road. Achieving a flow state is akin to a writer’s nirvana. I am there, finally. I can’t recommend this guide strongly enough. I enjoyed it so much that I picked up Wired for Story to read next.

( )

When I write plot comes most naturally to me, but I tend to find character-based stories more compelling. This book is all about creating your story from the emotional core outward, so it's perfect for me. Create tension between what your protagonist wants and the beliefs they hold that make them get in their own way. Put them in a scenario that forces their desire up against their troublesome beliefs and watch them go on a grand adventure about it.

There was a lot of hand-wavy pseudo-science about the origin of stories in our species and why stories are so important to us, but it was easy enough to skim past them and focus on the method. ( )

Helpful, clarified things for my writing project, even though it is non-fiction. It you want to write, definitely add this to your list. ( )

Dear fellow writers,

This has been the best of the (several) writing advice books I've tried. I've even recc'd it on the Reddit r/writing community several times. Why? Because while some readers enjoy the world a writer creates, most of us want to connect with characters (whether we're aware of that or not), and this book will take a writer through exercises to teach us how to create that emotional resonance every time, whether the character is "likable" or not. My library has it, try yours if you can't afford it right now. What can it hurt? :)

Love,
Your future favorite author and/or reader ( )

I like the beginning of the book. But it gets too complicated for my ADHD brain as it goes on. ( )