Authors: Lisa Cron
Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence (2 page)
COGNITIVE SECRET:
We see the world not as it is, but as we believe it to be.
STORY SECRET:
You must know precisely when, and why, your protagonist’s worldview was knocked out of alignment.
COGNITIVE SECRET:
We don’t think in the abstract; we think in specific images.
STORY SECRET:
Anything conceptual, abstract, or general must be made tangible in the protagonist’s specific struggle.
COGNITIVE SECRET:
The brain is wired to stubbornly resist change, even good change.
STORY SECRET:
Story is about change, which results only from unavoidable conflict.
COGNITIVE SECRET:
From birth, our brain’s primary goal is to make causal connections—
if this, then that
.
STORY SECRET:
A story follows a cause-and-effect trajectory from start to finish.
COGNITIVE SECRET:
The brain uses stories to simulate how we might navigate difficult situations in the future.
STORY SECRET:
A story’s job is to put the protagonist through tests that, even in her wildest dreams, she doesn’t think she can pass.
COGNITIVE SECRET:
Since the brain abhors randomness, it’s always converting raw data into meaningful patterns, the better to anticipate what might happen next.
STORY SECRET:
Readers are always on the lookout for patterns; to your reader, everything is either a setup, a payoff, or the road in between.
