Elliot Kessler

Stories are powerful. They change us. They move us. They shape us. Stories should not be made-up scenarios that sound dramatic. If they’re going to be dramatic, they must have real emotion. People pay attention to the themes and ideas writers put in their stories, whether they’re aware of it or not. It seeps into their subconscious. It changes the way they think, and they don’t know it. The stories that people love change the way they act and think, and it changes their moral compass. But writers don’t even realize this. They simply write stories that sound cool. Writers that don’t understand the power that their stories have are like unsupervised children with sharp knives.

The Power of Stories

I’ve been through some stuff. I’ve done things that I’m not proud of, and I feel the guilt of that to this day. I’m still ashamed of what I’ve done, and I have a hard time moving on. It’s not easy for me. Then I look at the story of Anakin Skywalker, the man who couldn’t move on. He was so obsessed with his past and his guilt that he was led astray from the path of righteousness. He fell to the Dark Side, and he succumbed to the weight of his guilt. He decided that he was irredeemable. He decided that he was going to be evil, and he believed he couldn’t be good anymore. However, when given the choice between the power he has and saving his son, he redeems himself. He changes his mind and becomes who he was meant to be. He does the selfless thing for the first time in decades, and he saves his son, sacrificing himself. As he lay dying, looking at his son, Luke says that he wants to bring Anakin to the Rebellion so they can save him, but Anakin says that he already has been saved. The weight of his guilt is gone. He is redeemed.

It reminds me of me. I’ve done bad things. I’ve seen myself as irredeemable, so I continued doing bad things, thinking that there was no point in stopping anymore. I’m already a bad person, so why give it up? But I can still stop. It’s never too late to turn back. I can turn and do the selfless thing instead of doing the selfish thing. I can return to righteousness if I make the right decisions.

This is the power of storytelling. Without stories, those of us that feel alone in our struggles remain alone. We feel that there isn’t anyone else around us who has gone through what we’ve gone through. That’s the worst thing that can happen to us during our struggles. The truth is that we’re not alone. There are millions, if not billions of people who have been through whatever you’re going through. But how do you let them know that? How do you tell people that you’ve been through whatever they’re going through? Easy. You tell your story, which is, in turn, their story.

The Problem With Storytellers

The internet has made it incredibly easy for people to publish their novels and short stories. Writers don’t need agents or publishing houses or anything like that. There are tons of websites that allow you to publish whatever you want. Writers can throw words on a page, call it a story, and publish it. That’s not a bad thing. That’s beautiful. It’s a demonstration of the wonderful world we live in. But it’s also dangerous.

If anyone can publish anything, then we get stories that mean nothing. They’re simply made-up scenarios and nothing more. We also get stories that are filled with bad messages and morality. They make the readers feel entitled. They encourage selfish behavior. Those stories aren’t even coming from the internet anymore. They’re coming from big publishing houses. I’ve read plenty of books published by the big publishing houses that have awful themes and messaging. The morality is terrible. Take what you want. You deserve it. You’re right and everyone else is wrong. It bugs me. Most authors have no idea how powerful their stories are. They’re wasting the potential of their ideas. They don’t pay attention.

I see a lot of people writing for fame and attention. They don’t care if their themes are horrible. They don’t care about their audience. They write whatever gets the biggest reaction because they want the attention they receive. There are a lot of fandoms centered around series that I’ve tried to get into, but I couldn’t. The messaging and themes were terrible, and the closer I look at the fandom, the more I see that awful morality reflected. It’s unfortunate.

This is a message to any authors reading this. Pay attention to your themes. Don’t publish a story that endorses and encourages selfish action. I see too many readers who are shaped by the wrong stories. We can change that. We must change that. We can create stories about honor, selflessness, courage, and overcoming our most challenging obstacles. I encourage you to use the term “Write what you know” not as a suggestion, but as a rule. Your stories change people. They are powerful. Don’t take that for granted.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.