Story Power

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by Julie, suffering through spring allergies

We all tell each other, and ourselves, stories. Some of these stories impact the way we live our lives, and the choices we make. Most of us question those stories at some point, and may even change them. The “I’m the youngest so…” story can be dismantled when you’re fifty with a conversation that helps you see how that story has impacted parts of your life.

For many folks, these stories aren’t identified as stories. They are their personal truths.

Then there are writers.

Writers harness story power. We collect stories about ourselves and others, and use them. At some point all writers understand that not everyone daydreams incessantly, makes up narratives about strangers, takes notes on conversations they’ve overheard, or falls down rabbit holes of research. Not everyone imagines ten different outcomes for real life scenarios. Not everyone uses planning a crime a stress relief and an imaginative spark.

A writer persuades people to take a leap of faith. That leap requires people to trust that we can put it all together. That the story will be worth their investment of time and treasure. Writers don’t take that lightly. We twist, turn, and massage our stories until we’re satisfied. Then we take the brave step of publishing them.

Stories have power. That power fuels writers. Yesterday we talked about our Wicked retreat. One of the wonderful things about spending a weekend with writers is that we all know we could use the same prompt, and we’d all write completely different stories. You would like some, not all. But that’s the power of story. It affects people.

Writer friends, tell me about the role of story power in your life. Readers, do you marvel at how writers use story power to suck you in?

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Published by J.A. Hennrikus

One woman, three names, many books. As Julia Henry I wrote the Garden Squad series for Kensington. As J.A. Hennrikus I wrote the Theater Cop series, and as Julianne Holmes I wrote the Clock Shop series. I've been an arts administrator for my entire career, mostly in the performing arts. Currently I'm the ED of Sisters in Crime, a wonderful organization that promotes and supports crime writers. www.sistersincrime.org Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram! @JHAuthors

25 Thoughts

  1. Yes. We’re different from normal people! That’s why its so important for us to have communication with other writers. It’s hard to imagine a writer being isolated from the rest of us. That’s one of the reasons we love writer’s conferences and writer’s blogs and critique groups where there’s a gang of us–or even just a cup of coffee with another writer

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  2. Hi Julie,

    Spending time with fellow writers reminds me I'm not alone in a lonely profession. It takes me eons to finish each novel I write. Luckily, I Belong to two writing groups that understand and support each other through this process. I

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  4. What a lovely essay, Julie – all so true! I’m constantly making up stories about people I spot in public. I love playing the “Suppose…” and “What if?” game.

    What I find interesting in my revision process (deep in it right now) is the balance of story and craft. I might be indulging in a flight of imagination about a new or secondary character, but then I have to pull myself back in and make sure I’m moving the main story – solving the crime – forward.

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  5. As a reader, I am ALWAYS amazed with writers’ imagination and story-telling power! All the characters, towns, historical/logistical information that flow from one book on to another in a book series especially is a work of organization and persistence. Must make you looney tunes sometimes lol!

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  6. Most definitely! It always amazes me when an author succeeds is pulling you in with something, like a crime, then has you falling in love with the characters and while reading you find yourself not to being able to turn the pages quickly enough, but not wanting to have the story end either. That’s a keeper and one you can’t wait to tell everyone about. That’s absolutely what I find in the Wicked authors!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  7. One of the many things I love about our retreats is the retelling of old stories and the sharing of new ones. There’s always some surprises in there.

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  8. One of my current obsessions is the TV show Mr. Bates and the Post Office on PBS. The four-part series gave narrative structure to a true, sprawling, decades-long scandal which many call the worst miscarriage of justice in British history. The series played in the UK on 4 nights over the New Years holiday. Public reaction was enormous and outraged and finally progress is being made in giving restitution to the victims. To me this his a demonstration of the power of story.

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  9. Writers are absolutely not normal people. My SinC chapter has a visit to the Allegheny County morgue scheduled for July. There is the possibility I may miss it – I may have to be in Murray, Utah for a work meeting that week. When my boss asked me if I could reschedule my time off, I said not really – it’s a meeting with my writer group. She asked what the meeting was about. I said, “Oh, we’re going to tour the morgue.” She had no response to that.

    Being able to tell a story takes away a lot of the stress that can build up in my work day. I don’t know what I’d do without the release valve of fictional crime. Speaking of which, time for me to work on revisions of the last pages of my WIP to send to my critique group.

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  10. As writers we are blessed to live our lives on multiple levels. We see what others see, but somehow it morphs into what ifs, and maybes, and could bes, until we make it our own. It’s the same thing that makes writers so empathetic. A nice side to our profession.

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  12. Nothing like a good story to entertain us. And they don’t have to be true. I have no problem with changed or embellished stories as long as no one is hurt by them. As Peter Noone (Herman of Herman’s Hermits) says about his stores: Some of them are even true.

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