Hurling Words into Darkness: A Book Doctor's Dose of Brain Science for Writers

by Peter Gelfan

Overview

Can learning how our minds work make you a better writer?

For thousands of years, writers in all media have been taught theories and rules about writing based on tradition, philosophy, esthetics, poetics, scholarship, mysticism, whim, pet peeves, and arbitrary dictates. Often they’ve been told how and what to write according to subjective preference rather than universal appeal, leaving them lost in a sea of conflicting advice.

Meanwhile, over the past few decades, cognitive science has discovered much about how the human mind sees the world and extracts meaning from it, giving us a better understanding of the role stories and storytelling play in human survival, growth, and evolution. Yet these discoveries have often remained cloistered in the realm of science, out of sight to writers and artists.

In Hurling Words into Darkness, veteran editor, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher Peter Gelfan uses these discoveries to connect previously undiscovered dots between authors’ misconceptions and readers’ expectations. This short but powerful book provides unique and actionable insights for all writers, whether beginners or pros, who are interested in creating a more engaging and effective reading experience. You’ll learn to:

•Create memorable characters by treating them as real people
•Turn an intriguing premise into a page-turning plot
•Use subtext to add depth and complexity
•Choose the best POV and person for your story
•Balance dialogue and narrative effectively
•Discover which of your writing habits work against you
•And much more!

"A fascinating dive into what authors should know about the brain science of how and why we read." - BookLife Reviews

“…the author tackles the fundamentals of fiction in perhaps the most basic way anyone has dealt with them before.… In a crowded genre, this craft guide makes a lasting impression. An illuminating writing manual with an evolutionary focus.”
- Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165888144
Publisher:	Peter Gelfan
Publication date:	09/30/2022
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	663 KB

About the Author

Peter Gelfan is a novelist, screenwriter, book editor, and writing teacher. He was born in New York City, grew up in New Haven and the New York suburbs, and has lived in Spain, England, Florida, and Vermont.

He wrote the screenplay for Cargo, Les Hommes Perdus, which was produced and released in France in 2010. Found Objects, his debut novel, came out in 2013. His second novel, Monkey Temple, was published in February 2019. The first edition of his nonfiction book Hurling Words into Darkness: A Book Doctor's Dose of Brain Science for Writers was published in 2021; a revised second edition will be released in fall of 2022. He volunteers as a writing tutor in a New York City public high school.

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2022

Gelfan (Monkey Temple) connects breakthroughs in cognitive science to effective writing in this incisive guide, focusing on how the brain “extracts meaning” from the world—and what authors can extract from that knowledge. Noting that there’s no one path to success as an author but “some reliably watertight guarantors of failure,” Gelfan undercuts the templates and inflexible rules of many other books about the craft of writing. For Gelfan, compelling writing is about “learning how to think about what you’re trying to do and then coming up with creative and effective ideas for how to do it”—and knowing something about how the brain processes writing helps, too. He urges authors toward innovation, using the power of subtext, and understanding why we read and write in the first place, all while offering some concrete advice, like avoiding too much detail in prose to invite the brains of readers to fill in the missing links.

Gelfan emphasizes character, writing that “nothing revs up our cognitive faculties as much as does encountering an interesting person.” Noting that in fiction characters serve two functions, to play their role in the story and to “act as a channel of engagement between readers and the story’s world,” he investigates what it takes to flesh out characters so that they seem to live and breathe on their own. Especially interesting is his consideration of the human capacity for self-deception: deception, he argues, forms the foundation of literary art, and authors fooling themselves is every bit as important as fooling others.

Gelfan explores some more conventional writing advice, discussing point of view, plot, narration, dialogue, and more—including crafting a compelling narrative voice. These sections deviate from his focus on science but add concrete direction for readers seeking more hands-on instruction. Gelfan encourages authors with the bold claim that they are “advancing the human race” by delivering information crucial to the human brain.

Takeaway: A fascinating dive into what authors should know about the brain science of how and why we read.

Great for fans of: Marie Arana’s The Writing Life, Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook.

Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: B Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

A fascinating dive into what authors should know about the brain science of how and why we read. Gelfan (Monkey Temple) connects breakthroughs in cognitive science to effective writing in this incisive guide, focusing on how the brain "extracts meaning" from the world-and what authors can extract from that knowledge. Noting that there's no one path to success as an author but "some reliably watertight guarantors of failure," Gelfan undercuts the templates and inflexible rules of many other books about the craft of writing. For Gelfan, compelling writing is about "learning how to think about what you're trying to do and then coming up with creative and effective ideas for how to do it"-and knowing something about how the brain processes writing helps, too. He urges authors toward innovation, using the power of subtext, and understanding why we read and write in the first place, all while offering some concrete advice, like avoiding too much detail in prose to invite the brains of readers to fill in the missing links.

- BookLife Reviews

"...the author tackles the fundamentals of fiction in perhaps the most basic way anyone has dealt with them before.... In a crowded genre, this craft guide makes a lasting impression. An illuminating writing manual with an evolutionary focus."

- Kirkus Reviews

Reader Raves for the First Edition

"A wise, witty, enjoyable book, and illuminating in its references to ideas of mind in relation to writing."

"This work proves the point that short books require a higher caliber of thoughtfulness than long works ... the advice offered here is worth many times the cover price."

"A different dimension on creative writing."

"Devoured this book! A true delivery of fresh ways to think while writing."

"If writing hurls words into darkness, Gelfan's book shines light into that void by unpacking the 'why' as well as the 'how' of storytelling."

From the Publisher

2022-09-15
A guide offers writing advice with a cognitive science twist.

There are plenty of books on writing, many of which recycle ideas about art and storytelling that are, in some cases, thousands of years old. “Meanwhile,” argues Gelfan in his introduction, “over only the past few decades, cognitive science has discovered much about how the human mind sees and orders the world and extracts meaning from it. It’s high time we mix some brain science into our thinking about reading and writing.” The author challenges would-be writers to get inside the minds of their very human audiences and ask themselves: Why do people read? In Gelfan’s view, it’s the result of an evolutionary imperative. The human mind is always on the quest for experience, and a book is perhaps the greatest approximation of a first-person adventure that readers can enjoy at their leisure. From applying “theory of mind” to character development to thinking of realism as a kind of “vegetarian meat,” the author tackles the fundamentals of fiction in perhaps the most basic way anyone has dealt with them before. The book is slim—only about 100 pages—which contributes to the sense that it is just covering the essentials. Gelfan’s prose is concise and elegant, as here where he offers some thoughts about dialogue: “Whatever a character says, the dialogue will better serve you and the reader if it adds a new slant, a surprise, a glimpse of how the speaker’s mind works, reveals a hidden element, raises a question, or at least makes us laugh.” The volume is not overly scientific—the author is a writer and editor, not an anthropologist—but it nevertheless manages to eke out its own philosophical bent. Even fairly conventional pieces of advice, like the counsel concerning dialogue, feel fresh when introduced in the context of lighting up different corners of readers’ primitive brains. In a crowded genre, this craft guide makes a lasting impression.

An illuminating writing manual with an evolutionary focus.

Kirkus Reviews