Last fall, I wrote my way to the edges of my own mastery when I realized I couldn’t confidently complete the sentence “a good story is…”
As a lover of both fiction and creative non-fiction, this was disconcerting. For a writing coach, this was terrifying.
For months, I turned inward.
I was writing more than ever, but I wasn’t producing many full sentences. There were lists and notes and lots of arrows slicing across the page.
This was the stuff of discovery, not publication. And yet, something magical was happening.
The hero's quest is realized when she brings home the healing elixir to serve the greater good. And so, it was my mission to understand and then teach what makes a strong story.
First, I had to understand why I cared so much. Only then would I know how to help anyone else understand why stories and storytelling matter.
Stories are how we understand the world.
Stories are how we transmit ideas.
Stories are the building blocks of consciousness.
In compelling stories of growth and transformation, the hero may be may start the story as an innocent, but she is not without skills. (Rey flew the Millennium Falcon, didn’t she?) Instead, the journey is an awakening of latent powers and wisdom.
That’s what this journey into “what makes a strong story?” was for me - a chance to realize that I’d been a storyteller all along.
Ultimately, what I gained, in addition to confidence, was the ability to be a guide. And so, as I did what all modern entrepreneurial heroes do: I created an ebook.
(Do I see the irony that my heroes are Jedis and my great quest involves a subscription to LeadPages. Yes, but that’s a whole other story).
I wrote this guide for you, dear reader, and I would like you to read it. I want you to read it because I know you're a storyteller too (even if you haven't discovered your powers yet) and because I want you to tell your own Strong Stories too.