Why I Believe We Are All Storytellers
Writers, bloggers, course creators, makers and creatives in general are, above all else, storytellers. In the small business sphere, people don’t just buy the thing you’re selling, they buy the story behind the product or service: they buy your story. You are in control of what that story is, how much of it you want to share, and the form it takes. That might be the ‘about’ page on your website, a post you wrote about where your inspiration comes from, the podcast interview in which you shared your creative process, even your Instagram bio. Ernest Hemingway is said to have written a story in just six words - “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” - proof, if it were needed, that it’s not about writing reams; brevity can be just as powerful.
“Stories matter because humans are narrative creatures. It’s not simply that we like to tell stories, and to listen to them: it’s that narrative is hard-wired into us. It’s a function of our biology, and the way our brains have evolved over time. We make sense of the world and fashion our identities through the sharing and passing on of stories. And so the stories we tell ourselves about the world and our place in it, and the stories that are told to us by others about the world and our place in it, shape not just our own lives, but the world around us.”
SHARON BLACKIE, IF WOMEN ROSE ROOTED
Writing and sharing our stories is also an essential step to connection, with ourselves (increasing our self-awareness) and also with our communities. Some of the narratives we weave are unconsciously done; we don’t give thought to every single word choice in a verbal conversation, for instance, or perhaps in every reply on social media. Some narratives are just for us, the stories we tell ourselves about the world and how we feel. Many of these stories are fictitious, or may blend the boundaries between fact and our constructed reality. There are some, however, that we consciously tell, with careful thought, structure and meaning behind what we’re trying to express. These, too, may be fiction - the fairy tales we tell our children, the anecdotes we share about a film we’ve been watching - but usually the stories we craft come from a place of truth, of honesty, of integrity. These are the stories that others believe and repeat, the stories that have power to invoke change and transformation, kindness and humility. These are the stories that are lying in wait for us to tell, if we are brave enough.
Sometimes, being a storyteller is an act of radical defiance. We can’t all tell our stories with ease. I am in the privileged position as a white, heterosexual woman that if I tell stories, I won’t experience the resistance, even violence that many in this world are subjected to. For women journalists in Muslim countries, for instance, sharing stories can result in being silenced and harassed, or even imprisonment, as well as “online harassment and blackmail, defamation of character, unwanted advances in exchange for access, and the expectation to ask softball questions of officials, among other problems.” (source) In an article for the New York Times titled ‘Black Journalists Are Exhausted’, Patrice Peck writes: “it’s an especially peculiar time to be a black journalist. The pandemic has laid bare many of the same racial inequities that generations of black journalists have been covering since 1827 when the Freedom’s Journal birthed the black press. While this pandemic is unique, the waves of trauma crashing down on my community are not.” (I encourage you to read the whole article here.) Storytelling may be the crux of humanity, but while it occupies that space it also exposes the truth about our world and its injustices, which make telling, sharing, or transforming our stories much more complex and problematic for those who experience these on a daily basis.
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
MAYA ANGELOU
Stories can be the same, but storytellers are distinctive. We may feel as though everyone out there is peddling the same tale, but that doesn’t matter. No-one else will be telling it quite like you, and it is this unique approach that gives storytelling longevity. Christopher Booker argued there are only seven basic plots - overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, rebirth - and that each of these can be identified in every story ever told, but somehow there are almost 130 million books that have been published in the world. To tell our stories, then, it follows that they should come from our individual selves, and knowing ourselves is the first key step to this. How are we to express our story if we do not know who we are?
I encourage you to start with your own story, and tell it to yourself with honesty. It may not be an easy story to hear, and you may never wish to share it with anyone else, but if you have clarity in who you are and in your voice, the next step - sharing this story with others, crafting new stories (whether personal, professional, or somewhere in between), reading the stories of others - will follow much more easily.
Other resources you might find helpful:
A History of Storytelling Through Pictures - particularly relevant for any makers out there; storytelling doesn’t have to include words.
Storytelling as a Relational and Instrumental Tool for Addressing Racial Justice - read the short introduction, even if you don’t have time to read the whole thing.
Can Science Explain Why Why Tell Stories? - an article from The New Yorker from 2012.
Time To Change - a series of blog posts from people struggling with their mental health during the pandemic - “By sharing our experiences, together we can end the stigma.”