Is your story important enough to write?

Every month, I create a half-dozen prompts for writers in my workshops and coaching sessions to use as a starting point. I present a variety of prompts to stimulate different writers’ imaginations, but every prompt list always includes this question: What is the story you most want to tell?

In fact, I think every prompt boils down to that question. It doesn’t matter if you’re working on a memoir, how-to, self-help, novel, article, blog, or recipe…the focus and topic of your writing always comes back to: What is the story you most want to tell? It’s at the root of every piece of writing you do, whether it’s advertising copy or a juicy who-done-it, a love letter or journalism. That one question asks you to reveal the essential story that the rest of your book, blog or poem revolves around. It’s a simple question, but a hard one to answer.

Many writers I work with have a million story ideas, but they don’t know which one to write about, so they never start writing. All their brilliant ideas compete for attention and choosing just one seems impossible. Of course, they can write about all of them, but they must pick one to begin with, so I give them a fast exercise to narrow the field:

• Write one sentence each that describes the three stories you think about most.

• Pick one.

Guess which one they inevitably choose? You got it... it’s the story they most want to tell.

It’s usually a story they’ve been kicking around for a while. It’s important to them and they want to share it with others. They want to document it, save it, and maybe even publish it, but that leads to them to another daunting question:

Is my story important enough to write?

This question prevents a lot of writers from getting their brilliant ideas out of their head and onto the page, where they can grow, thrive, and fulfill their purpose. If they can’t answer with a solid “YES! It’s important!” then they won’t try writing it at all.

But what I wonder is this:

Who gets to decide whether a story is important or not?

Who is the ultimate authority over a story’s value?

It’s not a publisher or editor, not an agent, and not even an eventual reader.

The person who decides whether a story is important enough to write is THE WRITER!!!

And I would argue that if your story wasn’t important, then you wouldn’t want to write it in the first place. You wouldn’t be inspired by it, curious about it, and motivated to put it on paper.

That story is on your mind for a reason. Quit judging it and just write the damn thing, willya? Don’t worry about whether someone else will think it’s important. It’s important to YOU!

Give your story a fighting chance to do what it's meant to do. Write it down, give it a life and then, see what happens to it.

Maybe it’s supposed to document your history or become part of your family archives.

Maybe it’s supposed to teach your brother how to bake your grandmother’s gingerbread.

Maybe it’s supposed to help someone get through a difficult time.

Maybe it’s supposed to help you process your feelings, remember your joy, or heal from heartbreak.

Maybe it’s simply supposed to get out of your head and onto the page so you can start thinking about something else.

And maybe, it’s supposed to be shared with the world so others can be entertained, inspired, motivated, horrified, curious, or educated.

So, let me ask you: What is the story you most want to tell? Will you write it?

Get in touch with me (Jeanne@JeanneFaulkner.com) when you’re ready to write your story and I’ll help you get it out there where it belongs.

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