We are all stories in the end...

 2021: Year of Forced Introspection

I am writing another book. Yes, it has magic. Yes, it has snark. Yes, it is also about the people you consider family. Do I have a brand to uphold? Yes. Will you ever see it? Maybe. 

It is technically the ninth novel I have written as professional author with people outside of myself editing and conceptualizing right along with me. Nine books professionally, and it still hasn't gotten any easier. 

So like I do when I'm supposed to be doing #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I'm thinking of a million ways to distract myself. And since this is the year of forced introspection, I thought I would go back to the beginning. Like human evolution beginning, because in a time heavy with false narrative, we need to know why we are susceptible to them and our responsibility to use narratives
properly because story telling is a powerful tool. 

Lisa Cron, author of WIRED FOR STORY and STORY GENIUS, is probably way better at explaining all this, but basically, just like food and sex, stories are key to our survival as humans. Food tastes good, Sex feels good, story entertains us, but all three evolved that way because they were key factors in keeping us alive. Food nourished our bodies, sex secured a lineage and children, but stories taught us how to survival on our own. 

The human brain has developed in such a way that once it is keyed into a story and hit the pause button of reality, it is searching for meaning, for a lesson, for a heart, that it can hold on to and take back into reality and make reality safer/better/stronger. In fact, our brains actually activate in the same manor as what is happening in the story, it is so deeply invested. We actually are FEELING what the hero feels when we are lost in a good story.

We as humans are all searching out how to survive this crazy world, and books/movies/comics allow us to gain the wisdom and experiences of a thousands lives find the answers to it all. 

Wow, that got heavy really fast. 

So, as a story teller, I take the art of storytelling very seriously. Knowing how humans work and feel and struggle. I want to honor the time and trust that a reader gives to me. I want to help them on their journey, give them something entertaining that their brains can chew on as well. 

But I am also a human on a journey. I am still actively
journeying myself and I think the one thing that keeps me writing all these novels is that I still have questions about how people survive in this world. I still have experiences that I need to figure out for myself. I am still seeking ways to help make my own reality safer/better/stronger. Ways that I can be safer/better/stronger.

Even when life gets too hectic, I am always writing, I am always structuring my experiences through character and plot and setting. I am always trying to find a way to articulate what I am learning about life, what struggles have come, and what lessons I have learned so that someday, I can pass that along to someone else. And yes, it always has a little magic in it. 

Nine novels. Nine major questions. And I am still curious. 

Until next time, Keep Calm and Make it a Good Story. 

Amanda Arista

Author, www.amandaarista.com