Listen free for 30 days

  • Story Genius

  • How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
  • Written by: Lisa Cron
  • Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
  • Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)

1 credit a month, good for any title to download and keep.
The Plus Catalogue—listen all you want to thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
$14.95 a month plus applicable taxes after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Story Genius cover art

Story Genius

Written by: Lisa Cron
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $35.09

Buy Now for $35.09

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story. 

It's every novelist's greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story has no sense of urgency, no internal logic, and so is a page-one rewrite. 

The prevailing wisdom in the writing community is that there are just two ways around this problem: pantsing (winging it) and plotting (focusing on the external plot). Story coach Lisa Cron has spent her career discovering why these methods don't work and coming up with a powerful alternative, based on the science behind what our brains are wired to crave in every story we read (and it’s not what you think). 

In Story Genius, Cron takes you, step by step, through the creation of a novel from the first glimmer of an idea, to a complete, multilayered blueprint - including fully realized scenes - that evolves into a first draft with the authority, richness, and command of a riveting sixth or seventh draft.

©2016 Lisa Cron (P)2020 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"Using brain science, Cron busts the myths of good writing to help you find the real story behind all that plot and metaphor." (The Writer)

"In [Cron's] new book, Story Genius, she picks up the...theme...that a protagonist's internal struggle makes the story work, and offers step-by-step advice on how to exploit this truth about neuroscience for richer, deeper, better first drafts.... Cron provides exercises and examples to keep writers on track, always highlighting the fact that emotions engage the brain faster than anything else.... The concepts are easy to understand and they are certainly important. Even if you can't go on a retreat, you should try to find time to do the exercises for your own blueprint." (PsychologyToday.com)

"It's a simple question: 'How do you write an effective, engaging story?' Ask Lisa Cron. An accomplished author and story coach, she has just published her second book, Story Genius. A manual of sorts, it teaches cognitive storytelling strategies and uses actual brain science to help make its readers into better writers." (Creative Screenwriting)

What listeners say about Story Genius

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow. A Series of Advice that Needs Interpreting.

If you look at google, you will find a lot of mixed reviews for this book on writing a novel. and, a lot of it is well warranted, but some of it is just people getting their feathers ruffled. you see, creative types don't usually like being told what to do, and this novel gives you a fully fleshed out, complete, and also tedious framework for how to write a novel.

And I guess that could be a good thing if you are a first time novelist, but on the other hand I would definitely not recommend this if it's your first go around. it's just too excessive. you would probably end up giving up on noveling all together, at least for a little while, because this book gives you so many steps to follow before you can even start the first letter of the actual manuscript.

I've seen others call this planning on overdrive, and that's kind of on the mark. so let me tell you what's actually inside of it. Lisa outlines a method of novel planning that revolves around a two-tiered Scene Card setup.

There is no way I'm using this elaborate scene-based setup, or creating all sorts of folders on my computer to manage it. however, it's the two-tiered part that could be used by anybody.

See, throughout this book the author pushes this idea that your story needs a secondary element, which she calls the third rail alluding to the fact that subway trains have a third rail that actually provides the electric power to the train. in an awful, she has decided that the third rail is the mental life of the protagonist.

And thinking about that, adding this second tier or second layer to my noveling process, one being the external conflict and the other being internal conflict, help me strengthen my book considerably. Especially since the way that it's set up, there isn't a whole lot of action for the first couple of chapters. what there are instead, is big decisions and big discoveries. these can have some external effect, but they have a much larger internal psychological effect on the characters.

This meant that before I read Story Genius, the opening of my book was just a little bit lacking. and now I feel like my entire novel has an extra layer of substance, namely internal drama. and that is more or less how this book works. there is this hulking and excessive framework that shows you how to write a novel from beginning to end. and it's so massive and as I said before tedious that you probably won't finish that novel for a couple of years. keep in mind that if you want to go full-time you're going to have to write one to four novels per year, so this is honestly a pretty horrible approach.

However, this is why I said it is probably a better book for people who have already written one or two books themselves, there is a whole lot that can be found in this intimidating Jungle of a book that can be harvested, separated from its source, and applied in your own way to your own writing style.

And so, while I understand why there was a lot of pushback in the reviews, I also think that there's a lot to gain from this book. It just takes a little extra work.

This is similar to how I feel about Dean Wesley Smith book writing into the dark, where he also lays out a full framework for writing from the seat of your pants. I definitely do not use his system, but I found hearts of it that I could apply to my own writing approach, and that is what I suggest people do with this book.

Be ready not just for the huge start to finish system that is set up, but also for the rather chatty tone of the narrator.

This casual tone really irritated me, to the point where when I first started I couldn't read for too long because the narrative voice was irritating. it basically reads like a conversational 2000s blog post. or maybe a magazine from the 90s that's trying a little too hard to be conversational, perhaps to relate to a teenage audience or something?

It turns out that she talks like this in real life apparently so I can't really blame her for it. also I did get used to it, so it's not that bad, it's just definitely something you should be aware of before you start.

The idea of the internal conflict symbolized by the third rail is just one of three or four very powerful techniques that Lisa put in the book. it might be worth doing a series dissecting these ideas, but for now all I can say is that it is worth reading this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Wendy
  • Wendy
  • 2021-01-10

As a fantasy writer, this book was not for me.

This book is directed towards people just getting started in writing. If you've never written a story before, and really don't know where to start, this could be could for you.

I'm in the process of writing my third novel, and I personally found this book confusing and frustrating. It claims to provide an alternative possibility to the "Outliner vs Discovery writing" stratagies, but then it just gives you a Outliner 2.0 methodology. As a discovery writer myself, I was disappointed that this book didn't at all value the process that I've already used to write two books, and hundreds of other successful authors have too.

This book has some good advice, certainly. I think it's tutoring works best in a certain genre, a kind of character-centered genre that's more common in real world based stories. When I applied this book's methodology to Fantasy stories that I love, it didn't really work for me.

So if anyone's getting started, go ahead and try out this book. Maybe it'll be better for you than me. But do keep in mind that there is No "One Way" to write a story. This book has some solid science to the beginning of it, but the methodology that it teaches is only One method.

And contrary to what this book does say, the Absolutely best thing that Will Always improve your writing, is just to write. Write more, and write in a way that brings you joy.
If anything you read, or listen to, or are taught makes you feel bad about you're art, if anything discourages you from just Writing and enjoying it, throw that out the window.
You are your best teacher. No class or book is going to teach you better than your own process of trial and error.

So in summary, if you're struggling to get into writing, then this book may be helpful. As with any writing class, take it with a grain of salt, and always seek More opinions. The best way to read this book would be in combination with other writing books, so that you can find what best works for you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

50 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Larry Chambers
  • Larry Chambers
  • 2020-11-20

A BOOK WORTH BUYING

I’ve been a professional writer for thirty years. I have 50 nonfiction books and hundreds of published articles to my credit. I have gone to Robert McKee workshops, Syd Fields screenplay courses, been on Heroes journeys, listen to Arron Sorkin and all the greats on the Master's workshops, and have read almost every book on writing. I spent my summers at Iowa’s writer's workshop and learned a lot about the writing process and the subtle things like why you should save a cat. My rule was if a book gives me one good idea, well, I’m happy.
I bought Story Genius as an audible book reluctantly because I didn’t believe the title; Story Genius? Yeah right. But once I started listening to the book's narrator, Brittany Pressley, I was Gobsmacked, filled with amazement surprised.

Lisa Cron’s book spoke to me in an insightful way like none I have read before. She introduced the concept of misbelief and why I needed to know my protagonist's misbelief and the causal effects that misbelief has on your entire story. Here is another example of what I mean. One of my favorite sayings is John Huston’s “The central idea is one which when struck like a gong reverberates in every scene of the novel.” That makes sense, right? Only I never understood what the thing that makes it reverberate is? Lisa wrote about the protags misbelief about something that happened early in my character's life. I got so excited I picked up my own memoir eluding me for years and wrote the originating scene that the author suggested. The original incident that formed my misbelief about love and how my reactions to events were based on my misbelief kept me from getting what I wanted. OMG! Suddenly, I saw how ' cause and effect' made sense.
Thank you, Lisa, for writing such an insightful and amazing book.
Larry Chambers

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Claire E.
  • Claire E.
  • 2020-12-20

Really not good

I was really disappointed by this book- she spends a lot of time telling you what not to do, she is very normative/critical of other writing advice, and honestly, the advice she gives doesn’t seem like it applies to many modern best sellers, which makes it seem like this is advice to write ONE particular kind of book, but not all books. Also, very repetitive and her examples are exhausting and uninteresting. There are some useful tips about developing back stories but, you could probably find those elsewhere without paying for this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for vitotamito
  • vitotamito
  • 2021-08-16

Audio vs. Book

I super enjoyed Wired for Story and this book was more good stuff, but I had one problem, and that's that I was listening to it. A lot of what she has to say needs to be bookmarked to come back to in order to really lock into memory, and it's clear there's some visual aides in the book that get somewhat confusing to listen to in the latter half. I found myself pausing and going out to find a chart in PDF form that someone had made to accompany this book, and from there, things started clicking into place. That's my suggestion for people who want to read this, here's the link to the PDF I found on google:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b9abf9d36099b4b5d5018eb/t/5c7efa6541920249d4055628/1551825510262/STORY+GENIUS+WORKSHEET.pdf

PS. I'd love more in-depth brain science, but I realize that's not for everyone!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Noula
  • Noula
  • 2021-07-28

Before You Send That Query, Read This Book!

I wish I didn't hit send on about 40 queries last year. I sent off my novel to literary agents and received rejections without knowing what was missing. When I listened to this book, everything I wasn't supposed to do, I did.

Now, after listening...I have a better understanding of the craft of writing fiction stories. I encourage other writers to please read this book before you send that query letter. It will save you a chance of representation! Believe me Lisa Cron's books are worth every advice that you will not get out of that Writer's Digest Conference.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Amazon Customer
  • Amazon Customer
  • 2020-11-11

Wow, what did I just read?

I would be lying if I said this book didn't save my novel. I'm writing my debut, and this book showed me so many errors in my writing. Thank you, Lisa Cron. You helped me out and got and got one word stuck in my head: why?
Don't understand? Read to find out.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for markrmorris2
  • markrmorris2
  • 2023-06-13

Save your time for writing

This author pretends to know more than anyone about writing,but has published no stories of her own, one movie. 5 IMDB credits to her name, and she goes on as if she taught Robert McKee everything she knows. The first half of the book is all about how everyone else, those bestselling authors with dozens of titles get it wrong. By the time she gets to telling you what she thinks you don't care, and then, when you go to verify her standing to be so arrogant about it all, you don't find much to back it up. Listen to Stephen King, On Writing instead.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Isaiah
  • Isaiah
  • 2020-08-28

Great for a beginner

I'm new to writing and I am consuming as much knowledge on the craft of writing fiction as I can. Unfortunately many authors in this genre seem more intent on showing off their mastery of language than teaching the skill of crafting story. This book gave me exactly what I was looking for. practical knowledge on story writing and the most important elements of it. I'll be listening to this several more times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for R Scott Boyer
  • R Scott Boyer
  • 2023-04-05

Good Ideas, Bad Examples

This book has some great ideas and suggestions for writers in how to craft compelling stories. Unfortunately, almost all the examples in the book center around the ideas from a writer friend of the author. Not only is the concept of this example novel bad (ie really, really bad) but it deprives the reader of a depth of examples. I’d much preferred hearing hoe authors of famous/successful novels created their stories. At least then, there’s a basis for proof that the concepts pulled together successfully.

To illustrate my point: if you want to borrow a dog for an hour, you call a friend, not go to the local park and Hope to “borrow” a dog left there. First off, ppl don’t leave dogs at dog parks, where other owners would notice and say something if they get in a car and drive away. Leaving a famous dog at a park and no one notices? Forget about it. And yet ppl are obsessed with this dog. Oh, and the owner doesn’t even like his dog. But we’re supposed to like him? No way. You can’t expect a reader to accept these ideas as examples of a good story. They’re not.

All that said, the core of Story Genius is solid: ask “why?” Know your characters. Create folders and files to track everything. Just come up with a better ideas and use better examples when it’s your turn to create a novel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jake
  • Jake
  • 2021-08-31

Spectacular storytelling about storytelling

This is the book I've been waiting for my whole writerly life. I'm so pleased I found Lisa Cron and her methods because I'm gonna be unstoppable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

.