A Formula for Great Writing

The science of the story

Some will be offended at the very idea that a magic formula works for writing. Writing is an art, they will cry. It can’t be boiled down to a few rules! What is this click-bait bs?

They would be both right and wrong. Writing may not obey rules, but our brains do. The reason we read, be it fiction or non-fiction, is to prepare ourselves for situations we might have to go through in the future, so as to be better informed about them. And the way our brains retain information means that we always find things more memorable when they come from a specific story. We think of general concepts and ideas as specific stories.

When it comes to our brains, following a specific formula when writing a story makes all the difference as to whether your reader reaches the end or not. And ultimately, this will matter even more than the beauty of your writing.

This isn’t to say that writing is not an art form, that beyond the rules beauty can’t be built that makes writing so much more than the rules. I like to see it as a building. I was recently at Crazy House in Dalat, Vietnam. It’s a surreal gaudi-esque, maze-like palace where you climb up staircases shaped like vines, down into rooms painted like the ocean floor. The creativity in the building is absolutely stunning. And yet, the building stands. The foundations are solid. The stairs function, the windows let in enough light, there are no leaks slowly leading to mould. Once the basic rules are followed, you can let creativity soar. If you ignore the basic rules, your creation will end up folding in on itself.

So, then, what are the rules for writing? How does one give a story a solid foundation?

One of the best books I have ever read on the topic is Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story, The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence. I took a long time to start reading it, because, simply from the word science…

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