why write – StoryADay

Of Pachyderms & Prompts

When I surveyed the StoryADay community the message was clear: you’d like a little something for the weekend, to inspire you and remind you to write. So let’s get started.

First, a letter from me-in-January-2025, then some writing prompts.

Elephant In The Room

Writers tend to be a pretty progressive lot.

Our self-imposed job is to think about why people are the way they are. This leads to us having compassion for other creatures and for our environment, and it often leads to an urge to improve our institutions and communities.

This is a tough time for the compassionate.

The loudest voices are, once again, telling us that we’re kidding ourselves, that we’re fools, that we’re being taken advantage of.

But we’re not. (You know that, and you’re not wrong).
And we are not the minority.

Those of us who can, must keep, as cheerfully as possible, reminding everyone of those things.

StoryADay is my sliver of the Writing-sphere and it is resolutely a place where people are welcomed with respect, encouragement, acceptance, and a loving kick in the pants when they’re not living up to their own (sometimes secret) expectations for themselves.

The only thing I will not tolerate is intolerance.

Still here?

OK. I have some more words for you.

Fiction is not about escapism.

I mean, it can be, but mostly creative writing is the spoonful of sugar that helps the truth go down.

The truth of what it is to be human.

The truth of the horrors we see, and the heroes that fight them.

The truth that it is possible to create–and live in–better worlds.

I know you might feel pulled away to pay attention to the news, but remember: your creative writing matters (fiction, or creative non-fiction). Your writing is a lifeline to yourself and others who are drowning in a sea of headlines and clickbait. It’s a respite from the (sometimes brilliant) non-fiction we all consume, daily.

People need a break. Let’s give it to them.

Let’s make good trouble with our writing, as Sen. John Lewis advocated.

And llegitimis non carborundum*, as British intelligence used to say, during the Second World War.

On that note, here are some Story Sparks for you:

Writing Prompts

I’ve been amusing myself by posting Story Sparks as Shorts/Reels this month. Here are the first 7:

I’ve also posted some from my old stomping grounds in Scotland. To see them all (including one with a castle), click here.

I’ll be back next week. If you have questions or fears, or are stuck on anything to do with your writing, or are ready to join me at the writing barricades, leave a comment. I’ll do my best to address your question in an upcoming missive.

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. *Illigitimis non carborundum is mock-Latin for ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’! Words to live by…

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What We Crave

“In a digital world saturated with technicolor brilliance and filtered, unobtainable beauty, modern humans seem unmoored and at sea. We crave stories to tell us who we are.” – Min Jin Lee, Best American Short Stories 2023

When I first logged on to the Internet in 1993, I was thrilled by the possibilities of connection.

When, some time later, I clicked on my first hyperlink (on a page that gloried under the catchy address of something like “74.6.143.25”) I distinctly remember thinking,

“This is exactly how I want life to operate,”

and, at the same time,

“I am in sooooo much trouble.”

Picture me, hunched in front of a mushroom-colored 14-inch monitor, clicking and reading, and clicking and reading, and leaping down the rabbit hole

We Were Warned

That first hyperlink was the start of something that changed the world and I was there for it.

But it turns out I was Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer’s hat, summoning a wave I couldn’t control.

I was the old woman with the magic porridge pot.

I was King Midas.

We all were.

(It’s 1999, and the distractions have only got shinier! Like my cheeks!)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice thought he wanted power. What he really needed was control.
The old woman with the magic porridge pot thought she wanted an endless supply of food. What she needed was ‘enough’.
We thought we wanted endless facts, exposure to more people, more ideas. What we need is the wisdom that comes from enough knowledge.

The stories tried to warn us.

Writers Have A Head Start

Yes, we get distracted by the glossy online world sometimes, but writers really do have a huge advantage over other mortals.

We go out of our way to make time to create worlds and characters who wrestle with big human questions:

What if I break the rules, just this once?
What if I had everything I ever lacked?
What if they won’t love me?
What’s beyond the fence at the end of the garden?

Believe it or not, most people are rushing through their days NOT staring into space and thinking about these things.

But when they do have time to unwind, they all want to do it with stories: in books, on screens, in song.

Because stories — not facts, not reels, not personality quizzes — tell us who we are.

Your Turn

Make some time for your writing in the next three days.

Use this prompt if you need a nudge.

And please believe me when I say

“You are a writer. Stories are what make us human. Stories keep us safe. Stories show us how to be human. Stories are the way we learn. No matter how ‘big’ or ‘small’ your stories and your subject matter, your stories matter.”

What’s your biggest distraction from your writing? How did you last conquer it. Leave a comment!

Fiction Matters

In which I try to persuade you not to persuade anyone this way…

In which I talk about Mary Oliver and the power of words to lift us out of the everyday.
I also invite you to take part in the January Challenge, a five-day exercise that will make you more decisive around your fiction and every aspect of your writing life.
Sign up here: https://storyaday.org/jan-challenge

Transcript

Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon, Julie from story a day here.

I’m going to be inviting you today to join me next week in a free mini challenge that’s going to set you up for the year ahead for the life ahead. And it’s, it’s a challenge that helps you get back in the groove with your writing helps you stay on track.

I’ll send you five tiny little lessons over the week and you’ll build a tool that will help you in your writing everyday.

Sign up right now and, and we’ll go from there.

Fiction Matters

But I wanted to. Read you something today that I wrote, this week. In case you are wavering in your commitment to your fiction, in your courage around your fiction, in case the world is beating you down and telling you that fiction doesn’t matter and you should be doing more important things.

I don’t think there’s much more. Important work than

stimulating peoples imaginations, giving them hope. Giving them a respite from the world. So here’s what I wrote one morning this week.

When it seems. Like everything in the world is terrible. How can I possibly justify writing about. Or playing with my imaginary friends. When there’s so much news to catch up on to care about. So many causes to champion. Persecuted groups to try and save. How can I possibly find the time and energy for creative acts?

It’s a real question.

But we creative people must be courageous enough to try.

Because we can write beautiful, inspiring. Terrifying. Hopeful things. That lift people out of their everyday experiences and show them how they are part of something bigger than themselves. Not everyone can do this. But you can.

This morning, I read an essay by the poet, Mary Oliver. In which she talked about Walt Whitman as if he really was her friend although I don’t think they ever met. She only met him on the page. She took him everywhere with her and he lifted her when times were difficult.

And I thought about all the times and places where I’ve heard Mary Oliver’s poems quoted, on social media, at business conferences. Poetry is possibly the most exalted and derided. Form of writing that there is: how are you ever going to make money from poetry? Nobody makes money from poetry.

And yet poetry reaches us in a way that sermons and lectures and essays can’t do.

I thought about the pause, the hush in the room, the sense of respite that her words provide.

In March of 2020, what did everyone reach for, to lift themselves out of the fear and uncertainty that the news was dishing up to us? Art. Stories. Stories made up by writers. Stories brought to life by actors. Stories sung by musicians. Wordless music shared from makeshift kitchen stages.

Humans can be rational creatures, but we don’t thrive on logic alone. So today, please, step away from the real world and create something true. Something that reminds me, that takes me into a moment of being human that I couldn’t experience otherwise.

Tell me about the sunrise over Martian mountains, or the houses where you live.

Show me a morning glory flower, unfurling.

Give me a moment of true connection between two characters when one finally learns the care, or terrify me as another character stands to lose everything that matters to them.

The world can overwhelm us and the only way to cope is to avoid or to shut down our feelings. So please write something that reminds me to feel. Remains me to fear. Reminds me to hope. Reminds me to love.

I realize the irony of delivering a kind of persuasive essay and then telling you that fiction is a much better way to persuade anyone of anything. And yet I’m doing it.

I think your teachers misled you. I don’t think persuasive essays should be called that they should be called. Informative essays. Because they don’t change hearts. Emotion persuades. And there is no better way to convey emotion, even though I’m doing it in an essay, than through the arts.

There’s no easier way to create empathy for others than by making me care for your characters.

So no, writing fiction is not an irresponsible use of your time, during difficult teams or any other times in the world.

It is necessary. It’s generous. It’s healing.

It’s a gift.

Thank you for writing.

Other Ways To Increase Your Joy Around Writing

Download the Short Story Framework:

Short Story Framework

Take the 3-Day Challenge

Join The 3 Day Challenge

Sign up for the StoryAWeek Newsletter

StoryAWeek Sign Up

Take the I, WRITER Course

https://stada.me/iwriternow

Join the Superstars Group

https://storyaday.org/superstars

Coaching with Julie

Writing Coaching with Julie

Are You An Overly-Emotional Creative?

I saw a tweet this week, asking ‘am I overly-emotional because I’m a writer, or a writer because I’m overly-emotional?” I have some thoughts…

:LINKS:

This tweet, from author AD Graves, got me thinking (shared with permission)

A link to this episode: https://storyaday.org/episode235

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