Bookworm · Mike Schmitz and Cory Hixson

245: The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

March 27, 2026·1 hr 29 min·5 clips

He warns listeners to skip ahead before spoiling Lost's ending, calling it 'the worst ending ever.'

1. Bookworm reviews Will Storr's 'The Science of Storytelling,' a book built from a science-based storytelling course aimed primarily at fiction writers. 2. Hosts Corey and Mike Schmitz co-review the book, with Mike admitting he didn't realize going in that it was specifically about writing fiction. 3. The episode asks whether a research-driven approach to fiction craft — character, curiosity, and immersion — has value even for non-novelists writing newsletters, YouTube scripts, or sermons. 4. The book has an introduction, an appendix on a 'sacred flaw' approach, and just four dense chapters: creating a world, the flawed self, the dramatic question, and plot, endings, and meaning. 5. The introduction argues that plot can never work in isolation, so writers should focus on character, and that knowing the rules lets you break them intelligently. 6. Chapter one, 'creating a world,' claims unexpected change is what fascinates the human brain, and lists four ways to involuntarily trigger curiosity: posing a puzzle, an unresolved sequence, a violated expectation, or hidden knowledge. 7. The hosts compare these curiosity triggers to Robert Cialdini-style persuasion techniques, debating whether deliberately triggering curiosity in an audience feels manipulative or simply engaging. 8. The book claims metaphor is the dominant way people understand abstract concepts, but that the more familiar a metaphor is, the less effective it becomes. 9. The hosts illustrate this with Star Wars' 'Kessel Run in twelve parsecs' line, arguing that not explaining unfamiliar details is exactly what fuels deep fan engagement, wikis, and debates. 10. They extend the point to Tolkien's invented languages in Lord of the Rings and unexplained backstory in the Harry Potter series as examples of immersive world-building through omission. 11. In chapter two, 'the flawed self,' the book argues that 'who we are is how we're broken,' and introduces five personality traits — neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness — for building flawed characters. 12. One host, with an explicit on-air spoiler warning, criticizes the ending of Lost as proof that withholding information has a breaking point past which audiences deserve resolution. 13. The hosts agree that the book's advice is an implementation problem rather than a knowledge problem, and that experienced feedback from writing groups matters as much as following the framework. 14. They debate whether a character's flaw must be moral, noting the book explicitly says it can be either a flaw in thinking or a moral flaw, using Iron Man's Tony Stark as an example of a non-moral flawed character. 15. The book claims Western stories favor individualist, self-determined endings, while Eastern stories often leave meaning for the audience to decide for themselves. 16. It also argues humans build 'mental models' to make sense of stories, then defend those models once formed, contributing to biases like a 'hero maker bias.' 17. The tone is analytical and playful, mixing genuine enthusiasm for storytelling craft with pushback on the book's academic, literary-fiction-heavy examples. 18. One host repeatedly contrasts the book's literary references (Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane) with his own frame of reference in Marvel superhero stories. 19. Writers, content creators, teachers, and communicators looking to make ideas and messages more engaging. 20. Listeners looking for pure entertainment analysis rather than a craft-focused, research-heavy breakdown.

As heard by us

A practical look at flaws, pain points, and short stories built to carry a message.

Bookworm turns the flawed self into a working question for short-form storytelling: what makes a story useful when it only has a few minutes to do its job?

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a sharper way to turn a character flaw into a three-minute story that can communicate a message, teach a point, or sell a product?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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