The Pleasure of Making up Stories
This is National Story Telling Week – a good time to write a new story?
Stories have entertained humans since communication began, and spread throughout the world before writing and the printing press. Stories were told on street corners and in plays, they were drawn in pictures and written on stones and in sand.
Now we listen or watch stories every day. Stories entertain, but are also reflections of life and a necessary part of the human thinking process. A story can try to make sense of something that we don’t understand.
There is no evidence of fiction in the animal kingdom except to mislead in the pursuit of food. Imagination – the ‘what if ?’ question is a part of the human brain. Storytelling and understanding sets us apart from the animal kingdom. We tell true stories to mirror an event, exaggerated stories to make them interesting and stories which are the product of pure imagination.
This blog is a precursor or opposite of Shed Loads of Money (3 of 6). It’s about making up stories and taking pleasure in the experience and in sharing what you’ve written if you want to.
Great works of literature have come about and stories have been made up just for the pleasure of doing so. Some have hung around in notebooks and others been consigned to waste bins. Sometimes they exist by word-of-mouth, like a children’s story made up in families. Let’s look at some of the reasons to write, dance, act or paint stories.
Using Imagination
Exercising Creativity
A Fun Hobby
Keeping the brain active
Self expression
Communicate a message
Can you add more reasons? (To tell a truth, to impart an idea)
Have you read fiction thinking ‘I could do that’? Well, give it a go. It isn’t as easy as it may seem but none the less a lot of fun.
The pleasure of story creation comes in the freedom and opportunity to do so.
Use triggers – focusing on a creative outcome improves with practice.
Stories can be reworked many times to improve them or develop new ideas within the structure.
If you would like to write a story about A Story Teller add it your blog and enter a link with the title and a 100 word synopsis in the comments so that other people can read it.
Blog 5 Next – Enjoy writing poetry and playing with language skills.
Marriage, A Journey and A Dog 