We relate to stories from the earliest age.

In elementary school, it was the Hardy Boys mysteries and Magic Treehouse books for me.

I wanted to know what case Tom and Frank were going to crack next, likely with the help of Chet and Callie. I wanted to see to which continent the treehouse would send the kids next and what they’d discover there.

Stories take us to another place, allowing us to experience vicariously another life, another perspective.

Good ol’ Medium even calls every post a “story.”

WHY STORIES INTEREST US

They can be real or made-up. The best part is, the story’s legitimacy doesn’t determine its effectiveness, intrigue, or value. This is where the childlike imagination rivals an adult’s insight or “rationale” (ever seen the movie Finding Neverland?). It’s the story that counts.

The point of a story is that there’s a narrative into which we can insert ourselves.

The truth is, we love stories. We get them.

We say things like, “You gotta come here this. My Grandpa tells the best stories.”

To tell a story is far more than explaining the way things are. You can provide a landscape, interaction, history, mood, emotion, and desire with story. This goes far beyond instruction manuals or classified ads. This is how we like to talk and listen. Whether we know it or not, story is our preferred method of communication.

We have a choice: explain, or tell a story.

BRINGING HOME A SEASHELL

Say you find a beautiful large shell on the shore of the ocean, and you bring it home and tell your mom, “Look at this shell I found!”

“Oh, wow!” she may reply, supportively. Its beauty alone is worth a comment, to be sure.

But if you knew the places it traveled, how many countries it visited, how many years the water and sand needed to churn and shape its edges to be just so, that shell comes to life. This is because you now have a story. Tell your mother that story when you get home from the beach, and you’ll capture her.

WHAT ARE STORIES FOR?

Now, let me be clear about something, as I find my mind frequently in a world of advertising and marketing. Any creative agency worth their marbles touts the fact that storytelling is the only way to reach an audience with advertising in today’s environment. They all try to own the “story” idea like it’s something they invented.

But stories are not there to sell things. Quite the opposite, they are here to help someone. To connect with them.

Advertisers may use story to attempt to lure someone into to needing things they don’t yet have. But the best products and services are already in a position to tell a story with you in mind, and they are just there to assist you (Google, anyone?).

If a story doesn’t help you, don’t buy it.

GO WRITE A STORY

For the writers: now it’s time to tell stories. Start with something small. Go out and do something and tell a friend what you did.

Write down what you want to do and turn it into a short story.

Share a failure and what it taught you.

If your story isn’t interesting enough to tell, then write one that is. I’m a white guy that went to white schools and lived for eighteen years in suburbia—my story can use some pizazz.

Mind you, this is no demand to tell stories. Enough bloggers and advertisers online can tell you to do that.

No, this is an invitation. Bring people in. Relive something. Write something new. Share a story with others and make a connection.