Story or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life

If you’re going to write a book, know this: your impeccable style, beautiful metaphors, vivid characters, and believability of events may not work if the story itself isn’t interesting. The story has to intrigue and hold the reader’s attention until the very last sentence—because our brain perceives such stories as real-life experience needed for survival. Knowing how the brain responds to this or that plot move—for example, its ability to project the characters’ problems onto the person reading and subconsciously search for the best way out of a difficult situation, or its desire to understand other people’s mistakes so it makes fewer of its own—you can construct a bestseller.

Based on the latest achievements in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Liza Kрон gives writers very important tips and hints. In the book “From the First Line,” written with subtle humor and deep knowledge of the topic, you’ll also find examples drawn from novels, scripts, and short stories. Each chapter examines one aspect of how the brain works and offers advice on applying this knowledge in practice.