Welcome back to Graphically Minded, an entirely free publication about writing and storytelling, relating the lessons I’ve learned in a 20-plus-year career as a comic book writer and author.
We’re going to do something a little different this time around (he says about a newsletter that is both intermittent and unrepentantly random). Just this week, I had three different conversations with three different people, and in each, I ended up recommending a different book. As I thought about those books, I realized that I recommend them a lot. And that’s because they’re probably the only nonfiction books I would say have changed my life. (A warning: Only one is about writing.)
So, without further ado, here are three books I think you should read:
1. ‘The Seven Basic Plots’ by Christopher Booker
I stumbled upon The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker around a decade ago. It is one of more than a few books that claim to explain the structure of stories, and I felt that I already had a good handle on story. I don’t know why I decided to buy it.
Then I began reading, and I discovered that it is something far different from those great many books/blog posts/diagrams that give you a fill-in-the-dots map for your stories.
Booker doesn’t offer rubrics. He offers cultural and sociological history, both of storytelling and of the human race. He explains why certain stories resonate so well, and what the general shapes are of those stories, and why they seem to have settled into such form.
He does this while using examples both from the classics and from more contemporary fare. The first chapter, about the “Overcoming the Monster” archetypal story, explains how Beowulf is a near twin of Jaws. (And, boy, it sure is.)
I devoured the book, all 700+ pages. Then I went back and studied it again. I went through a period of obsession with structure, to a degree that probably limited my writing. But it also took me from being someone who intuited stories and turned me into someone who has the knowledge to back up that intuition.
If you are a storyteller or want to be one, it is the only book you need. You can buy it on Bookshop (please go with that option) or Amazon.
2. ‘Mindset’ by Carol Dweck
My real dream wasn’t to write comic books, but to draw them. I drew constantly as a kid. I started out by copying art from the comics, and then I started to draw my one. And by the time I was in my early teens, I was good. Not great, but in my small town, good enough that people knew me as the artist. “You’re so talented,” they would say.
And then something strange happened. I started falling into this trap of just drawing the same stuff. The same riffs on superheroes. And when I tried something new, for the first time, someone told me that it wasn’t that good. I’d been thinking I would go to college and study art, but that one bit of criticism was enough to derail me. I stopped drawing.
I never understood what happened to me. That is, until I read Mindset by Carol Dweck. There are those who would label it a self-help book. I wouldn’t. To me, it’s a book about psychology grounded in hard research. It’s isn’t One Cool Trick to Fix Your Life. It is a deep exploration of one facet of your brain.
And that facet is this: We all tend to divide into two camps. You either think that you are born with a predetermined amount of talent and ability, or you believe that your ceiling of accomplishment is dictated by how hard you work.
The former of those is referred to as being “fixed mindset.” And the danger of it is that, if you have a fixed mindset, you cannot handle failure. You make excuses. You limit yourself, so that you never fail in that way again. Because the failure isn’t just one misstep. It is proof that you aren’t as talented as you thought you were.
The latter group has what’s called a “growth mindset,” and to that group, failure just means you have to work more, and learn more, to become better.
Dweck’s research proves that by praising people as “talented,” she can push them into a fixed mindset. And once in that mindset, people will start to limit themselves. Just as I had done with art.
I apply this book in my own life and work and thinking every day. But I also especially focus on it as a parent. I have never called my children talented. I praise them for their effort. “You worked so hard!” Or, “Looks like we need to keep practicing.”
This past year, our oldest took up baseball. And, I swear, the kid had a knack for it. He was just born athletic. But I never told him that. Instead, we practiced. And then one day he had a bad game by his standards, and his team lost. Afterward, I was worried about how he was feeling after a failure, and I said, “I’m sure you’re frustrated.” He gave me this curious look. “I’m not frustrated.”
You can buy Mindset at Bookshop or Amazon.
3. ‘Knee Ability Zero’ by Ben Patrick
Yep. An exercise book.
So, once I stopped drawing, I got really into basketball. It wasn’t until college that I stopped growing (I’m about 6-4) and my coordination returned to me, and after that point I played hoops probably three times a week for the next decade straight.
But I always had trouble with my knees. After playing, I hobbled around like an old man. I never tore anything or had major injuries. I just hurt. All the time.
In my early 30s I started weightlifting, and I got up to squatting about 400 pound reps. Pretty good! My legs were strong. But my knees…God, my knees.
Eventually, I had to stop playing basketball. I struggled to walk down stairs. In my 30s!
A few years back, someone pointed me toward an Instagram account with the strange name Knees Over Toes Guy. Ben Patrick was similar to me, with terrible knee health. And then he started to do some real research on training and physiology. He developed a new exercise regimen, and after rebuilding his strength, now he’s throwing down insane dunks.
It’s all pretty simple: You have key muscles in your legs that you need to stabilize and give you power, and conventional weight training doesn’t effectively target these muscles. I started doing the routine. A few weeks back was my 40th birthday. I went and shot hoops with my kids…and I dunked. (I posted a video on social if you understandably demand some proof.)
Ben wrote a book that is the 101 version of his training, called Knee Ability Zero. If you are a person with knees and especially if you’re a person with achy knees, you need it.
Only available on Amazon.
As always, I hope this is helpful to you as you write and tell stories. If you’d like to learn more about me and my writing, please visit vanjensen.com. You can like and comment on the post below! Till next time…