MYTH: Withholding information for the big reveal is what keeps readers hooked.

REALITY: Withholding information very often robs the story of what really hooks readers.
Lisa Cron (Wired for Story)

The only true voyage of discovery…would be not to visit strange lands but to possess [new] eyes.
Proust (in Wired for Story)

To create organic, compelling obstacles that work, you must make sure that everything your protagonist faces — beginning on page one — springs specifically from the problem she needs to solve, both internally and externally. This will help you avoid a very common pitfall: using a generic "bad situation" to create the protagonist's goal.
Lisa Cron (Wired for Story)

MYTH: Write what you know.

REALITY: Write what you know emotionally.
Lisa Cron (Wired for Story)

…plot is not synonymous with story. Plot facilitates story by forcing the protagonist to confront and deal with the issue that keeps him from achieving his goal. The way the world treats him, and how he reacts, reveals the theme. So at the end of the day, what the protagonist is forced to learn as he navigates the plot is what the story is about.
Lisa Cron (Wired for Story)

Contrary to what people think, a story is not just something that happens. If that were true, we could all cancel the cable, lug our Barcakoungers onto the front lawn, and be utterly entertained, 24/7, just watching the world go by.

…A story isn't simply that happens to someone either.

…A story isn't even something dramatic that happens to someone.

…So what is a story? A story is how what happens affects someone who is trying to achieve what turns out to be a difficult goal, and how he or she changes as a result.
Lisa Cron (Wired for Story)