But where do stories come from?

“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”

Muriel Ruykeser

Muriel Ruykeser was a poet, a master storyteller and a political activist. Her words above capture, for me, a deep insight in just nine words. That's real talent.

It also raises a question. Where do stories come from?

We are in a time when storytelling has become an industry, and manufactured stories a commodity, churned out to templates by marketing factories. They are easy to spot for two main reasons - firstly you can see the template underneath the story, often it seems created to a simplistic understanding of Campbell's magnum opus "Hero's Journey", by those who have never gone to to the bother of reading it. Secondly is that the story has a clear intent. It points us not at a possible truth, but a product or service. The story has an agenda.

I think a story is an idea trying to find it's way in the world.

I've always liked the idea I first read in Elizabeth Gilbert's "Big Magic"; that we don't have ideas, they are alread…