Cate's Favorite Craft Books #7 - All about Story

 Last March I posted about Lisa Cron's Wired for Story and Story Genius. You can check that out here.

I mention that post again because last week I had the opportunity to attend a virtual workshop that Lisa Cron did for the FHL Writer's group.

If you weren't fortunate enough to catch that workshop, there are several versions online.

Joanna Penn with Lisa Cron

This presentation for the School of Visual Arts covers essentially the same things as the FHL workshop.

Lisa focuses on how to write better based on brain science. 

The key is her focus on STORY.

Lisa talks about how we use story to make sense of things. She posits that "story was more crucial to our evolution than our much touted and genuinely beloved opposable thumbs, because all  opposable thumbs do is let us hang on. Story tells us what to hang on to!"

Lisa goes on to talk about the importance of story in helping us to prepare for the unknown. More on that in a minute.

Don't you love how sometimes life just throws you things that are meant to go together? That happened to me with the Story workshop and a book I was reading called Once Upon a Wardrobe.

Perhaps you are familiar with Patti Callahan's Christy-winning novel Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbably Love Story of  Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis.

This week I was reading her luminous new novel called Once Upon a Wardrobe.

Once Upon a Wardrobe tells the tale of a young invalid named George who is fascinated/obsessed with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. George was born with a heart condition, and at 8 he has already exceeded predictions on how long he will live. His sister attends Oxford, and George wants her to find out where Narnia came from. Megs will do anything for her beloved brother, so she approaches C.S. Lewis to ask that crucial question. Rather than give a simple answer to her question, Mr. Lewis shares a series of stories from his life.

One of the things I loved about this book is that Megs is a mathematics student at Oxford. She is not a reader and has no clue about how stories can grip you. She thinks they are useless, unlike math and physics which provide all the answers. Her growing understanding and awe of story help us to also deepen our understanding of their power.

I don't want to give away too much of the story, but I want to point out how Patti, in pulling out C.S. Lewis's thoughts, gives us so much to think about with regard to our stories and what we are trying to accomplish. In her own way, the message she shares is very similar to what Lisa Cron is saying - stories matter. They help make us who we are. They help us make sense of things. 

There is a line in Once Upon a Wardrobe - 

I can't really understand my life without stories. They offer me...they offer all of us the truth in their myths, mysteries and archetypes" (144).

There is so much discussion in the book of the power and worth of story, and there is magic in the way Megs comes to understand. As I learned about story through her eyes (and her brother's), I couldn't help but reflect on the awesome power we hold when we create our stories. And of course the responsibility that goes hand-in-hand. 

And that ties in so well with Lisa Cron's work, because her study of brain science teaches us how to tell those stories in a way that captivates readers.

I love when something really makes me think, makes me evaluate what I know and what I'm doing. The workshop and novel left me so inspired to go out and create great stories.

What about you?

I should also ask about you as a reader. Have you read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Somehow I never read it as a child, but I read it with a class last year and I was every bit as enchanted with the story as my students were. That experience of reading it with them was magical, so I completely understood George being so captivated.  I have to admit to being slightly envious of Megs getting to sit and sip tea and chat with C. S. Lewis about his story. 

So let's talk about story.