Every story has the seed for something new. Whether you’re looking to be inspired, seeking for relief, or escaping something, a story can grow in you. We listen, read, watch and play stories – they can be told in many ways. But what you take away from it invariably ends up being the thing you consider important. Sometimes that’s the strange settings, sometimes it’s the implausible but still squee-inducing romance. When we consider stories in this way, we can also see very clearly that different soils sprout different seeds.
Consider the date – the romantic idea, not the fruit, for now. Some people meet and share stories. They share viewpoints, anecdotes, grievances and passions. They usually meet in a way that all parties in some way find appealing: on a beach, in a bar, over some food. There we already learn about each other. We already understand something of another person’s story when they say, ‘let’s meet in the book store’, or ‘how about the food truck at eleven’. With the setting established, the next chapter of the story can define if this story is a novella, a life work, or maybe just a poem on a bathroom wall.
There’s a wonderful and scary optimism involved in dates – like romantic dating, again, not the fruit. You find the boundaries of your shared language, and if the words click and the feelings jibe, you might just write a story.