Storytelling

Building an entire universe from nothing seems impossible. Even more difficult would be sharing this brand-new world with other people. Transporting from one universe to another does not make any logical sense. Surely it cannot be done.

Yet many people have indeed crafted these new worlds, and even more have jumped into them. Palaces, dragons, forests, murders, first kisses, and so much more live within the telling of a story. Each story is unique, taking place in its own rightful universe and timeline.

Storytellers have been praised longer than history books can remember. Stories are how people share information with each other. Every culture has its own method of passing stories through generations, such as through artwork, writing, speaking or a combination.

Telling stories is an artform, meaning there will always be critics. Perhaps two people do not remember an event the same way or someone disagrees with a particular viewpoint. In these cases, the story becomes a point of controversy. Sometimes critics attack the story itself, but other times they attack the storyteller.

Everyone has participated in storytelling in some way, whether it be listening to Grandma talk about “the good old days” or creating a plot while playing with Lincoln Logs. No matter what the story is about, it serves a purpose such as passing on important information or entertaining a child.

Authors are some of the most identified storytellers since they choose to write down their ideas to share with the general population. However, stories come in a wide variety of media, including music, movies and comics. Even a sequence of pictures can tell a story.

One of the most intriguing aspects of storytelling is how much it relies on the consumer. A story cannot realistically include all of the tiny details, so it often focuses on ones important to the story. This allows the audience to fill in the rest with their imagination. For example, a story may state that the main character crosses a busy road, but the consumer has to decide if that road is in a city or in the middle of nowhere, if the person uses a crosswalk and how many other people are around.

Creating universes from nothing is certainly possible. Anyone can do it. Sharing those ideas may be difficult, but people enjoy consuming them. There will always be a place in this world for all of the worlds crafted in people’s imaginations, no matter how bizarre.

—Sara