What is going on in our brains when we read a novel that grabs us and won’t let go? In Wired For Story, Lisa Cron argues that our brains are hard-wired to pay attention to well-told stories because paying attention teaches us about the world. Since knowledge about the world helps us survive, compelling stories have been “crucial to our evolution—more so than opposable thumbs.”

Cron says compelling stories have specific characteristics that hook our brains into paying attention. Compelling stories stick to the need-to-know stuff, are emotion-based, focus on wants and needs, concentrate on specific images, highlight conflict, follow a cause-and-effect pathway, weave in difficulties, draw upon memories, and move from setup to payoff.

In this course, we’ll read sections of Cron’s book, and we’ll watch video clips about how fiction-writers use these hooks to transport us into their gripping stories. And we’ll discuss how well (or not!) these brain-hooks emerge from the pages of our favourite dramatic novels. The course objective is not to turn us into writers but to enrich our understanding about how our brains enjoy the fiction we read.