Everyone and everything has a story.

Moby-Dick, 1984, The Cat in the Hat, Harry Potter, Batman comic books. All immersive tales that drop you into another world with nothing more than words (or drawings) on a page.

Citizen Kane, Forrest Gump, Rocky, The Godfather, Napoleon Dynamite. All staples of pop culture, with characters that will live far beyond their time on screen.

Apple, Nintendo, Pixar, LEGO, Old Spice, Nike. All successful companies with either extraordinary origins or with bafflingly effective, story-driven marketing campaigns.

Bohemian Rhapsody, Thriller, The Devil Went Down to Georgia,  Lose Yourself, A Day in the Life. All evoke vivid narratives and palpable emotions without ever showing you a single thing.

You get the point. Our entire way of life is driven by story.

A Matter of Perspective

“Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be.”

– George Carlin

Through storytelling there is an almost infinite amount of ways to express emotions through different lenses, which, in turn allow conflict to be approached from different perspectives.

When you are trying to teach someone something, it is often filtered 50 times through circumstances, mood, or your attitude to the person you’re talking to. Stories, while still filtered, allow a more separated and objective look at an idea while simultaneously entertaining. Sometimes distance is exactly what we need to learn a lesson.

Permission to be Ridiculous

Stories allow a degree of fantasy that facilitates the flexing of creative muscles, the right to be strange, or simply an escape from the tedium of life. You can tell a story in whichever way you please, no matter how outlandish.

The Journey

As somewhat of a completionist/perfectionist, it is immensely satisfying for me to see a character start in one place, experience a journey, and end up in an entirely different place. Sometimes physically, always internally.

Often a story ends just as it began, but takes on a new meaning. The same but different. Stories are simultaneously about change and consistency. I think the contradiction is poetic.