Since the dawn of humankind we have told stories. We sat around the campfire as they took us away from our struggle for survival. As time passed our stories have become more complicated. Today stories are told in many more ways than was previously possible. Books, theater, radio, television, and now gaming; storytelling is at an all-time high. Stories not only can entertain but they are also used as an instruction manual for the young, helping them learn what is socially acceptable and what is taboo.
Not only are there rules for society, but depending upon the genre, it could be a whole new world with all of it's rules and regulations made up by the writer ... or what we call fiction. Not only are there numerous amounts of stories, but there are many different character tropes to be found for each individual character in the story. For example there is the young hero(ine) out for adventure. The mentor that helps the hero find their way; or the villain who antagonizes the protagonist.
Personally, I find writing morally grey characters with flaws, or even evil characters with motivations the audience finds out later, much more interesting than a totally good or totally bad character, as that is not realistic. I have also noticed that when starting out on a journey as a writer people tend to make their characters extremely attractive almost to the point where they become bleeding heart do-gooders. Looking back at my previous writing, I also did this; it is just one way that stories help us grow. Once the writer has a few stories under their belt or a few fleshed out ideas it seems to me like the character become more realistic. Like the main character has a hooked nose or has a mental illness or even has a cruel streak. People never see themselves as evil, the villain of the story is a person who has struggles just the hero; they just ended up not seeing the world in the same way.
Another thing I love about stories is that they have the power to make you question yourself. In theater, there have been many times where I found myself identifying with the antagonist of the story as well as the protagonist and that in itself makes people uncomfortable - which is good.
For example, I was watching a film called "Das Boot." It is a movie about World War II from the German soldier's perspective. It made me question what I have always been taught. There was doubt, the Germans were people too and not just another way that Hitler antagonized the world. I actually found myself rooting for them when they blew up an ally ship and then I remembered that they weren't the good guys of history. I realized then that what I had thought was black and white had really just been shades of grey and even though they were on the side of Germany they were humans too; they laughed and they cried and they loved just like I do. It changed my whole perspective on what I had been taught. It showed me that being human is a universal thing and even though we demonize them because of the atrocities they committed, at the end of the day, all the men wanted was to go home, have a good beer and be with their families.
Stories can help us explore parts of ourselves we didn't even know we had. They can help us confront demons we had locked away in the deepest parts of our minds. Stories help us better understand what it means to be human. Without stories we cannot grow. Without stories we cannot learn. Without stories we remain stagnant.
