Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One photo taken by me, Allison Symes, at an Association of Christian Writers event.
Do you read more or less fiction when the news is grim? Are you conscious you’re doing so? I know I deliberately listen to more classical music, write more, read more. All of these are good to focus on, so unlike the news. I recall there was always a funny or warm hearted story at the end of the main news bulletin. Do those still exist? I haven’t come across them recently.
Now I am biased here. I would love stories even if the world was in a much better state, but I do think tales are especially useful as a source of comfort and harmless form of escapism.
Stories also have a role to play in encouraging empathy. We read to understand the characters and find out what they do and what the consequences of their actions are. In most cases, we know things will play out if not happily ever after as such, there will at least be a satisfying conclusion. We know real life so often isn’t like that. So we turn to something which will deliver on that, at least most of the time – stories.
The Role of Stories
Stories have more than one role, of course. I would include the following:-
Stories entertain.
Stories educate. You can learn so much about what not to do by reading about a character doing the thing you know they shouldn’t and, sure enough, there are consequences they then have to face but at least they face them. It isn’t you!
Stories warn (especially the fairytales and allegories).
Stories can help you understand humanity better. Stories show up our foibles and failings clearly. We are looking into the world of the story and the characters in it. We see where they are coming from. That can help us reflect on our behaviour and attitudes. Haven’t we all come across horrendous characters and think well, we’d never be like that. That’s true. We wouldn’t. But what drove them to be the way they’ve been portrayed? If one motive was, say, greed or a longing for financial security meaning they took any means necessary to secure that, we’d understand that, yes?
Stories help you escape. In turn that can help you unwind. I fail to see how that could ever be a bad thing. The news will always be there for you but I, for one, do get tired of the grimness, the focus on misery etc. With stories at least, I can choose to read a sad book, a grim one, or not, as I see fit. It’s hard to avoid the negativity on the news.
Stories help you imagine. This is especially useful for writers wanting to invent their own tales. Every writer is inspired by their own love of reading and what has come before. Even Isaac Newton admitted to “standing on the shoulders of giants” when referring to his own scientific work and discoveries. Stories are the main way in for writers to want to write at all. We read something we love. We think we want to have a go at doing this too.
Stories, especially those which are linked in any way such as a series, can show character development over time. We read the stories. We see them develop. That helps writers who want to do this for their own creations. You always learn best by reading what the best authors have done here themselves. You work out the techniques and then apply those to your own writing.
Stories can reassure. It is possible to change for the better.
Stories remind us change is often inevitable, it is how a character handles it which can inspire or warn us, and that actions have consequences. It is not necessarily a bad thing to be reminded of the latter!
Stories can get a message across, as my late father-in-law found out when preaching. He could rarely repeat a children’s address because people remembered the stories in them. But for writers, this is what we want. We want readers to remember our characters and their situations.
Stories can and do spark further creativity. Think about how many have gone on to become TV/radio/film adaptations and in those forms bring the stories to people in a new way, especially those who might not sit down and read.
Story Inspiration
Well drawn characters always inspire me. They make me want to find out more about them so I keep reading their stories. Job well done there by the author!
But those characters must have something which encourages me to want to root for them. There has to be the “got to find out what happens here” moment. It’s that which keeps people reading. It’s the biggest challenge for all writers.
There’s a story I’ve heard on Classic FM where a certain renowned film director was watching a movie he hadn’t directed – Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This director asked himself what if one alien was left behind on Earth when the others had gone back to their own world. That director was Steven Spielberg. We ended up with the film ET thanks to him asking that question and exploring the idea further.
Stories spark ideas for other stories. I’ve always loved that idea and even more so since writing my own. I also like to think anyone who writes stories of any length, of any genre, whether published or not, is in some way giving back to the overall world of stories. I like that idea a lot.
Conclusion
Stories are old. Stories help confirm our humanity. There are stories of all styles and lengths to suit everyone. Things like ebooks, audio books etc just get stories to people in different ways and I am all for that.
Stories are to be enjoyed. They can add to our history. When you think of Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales, you think back to the period of time in which he was living. Reading works from past eras can shed light on those eras and that’s no bad thing either.
As for sci-fi and fantasy, they have the potential to show what could be if there were such magical/sci-fi worlds. They can also act as warnings. Think of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein which asks the question who is the real monster? That will always be a relevant question especially as science (maybe especially AI) develops in ways we’d have found it hard to imagine only a few years ago. (Doesn’t mean these things are necessarily bad by the way, though I have worries about AI as many authors and editors do but Shelley was right to sound a cautious note and we shouldn’t ignore that).
Stories then reflect on life as it is lived and how it could be lived. No wonder they’re timeless then.
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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