What Is Your Story? Or should I ask, what genre is your story? Today I’m sitting in an airport waiting for my flight. Anyone who travels often will tell you much of traveling involves waiting. Much of life involves waiting but it is what we do and who we meet while we are waiting that makes our story more interesting.

Life is an adventure. Somedays it’s a thrill ride of rushing to the hospital with a child who broke his arm during a wrestling match or searching the shopping mall for a stroller escapee who was belted in tight when you stopped to look at just one more thing before taking them over to the toy section, other days are rain drops on tin roofs and snuggling by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. Life varies with many ups and downs.

A good story has the ebb and flow of excitement and serenity, laughter and tears. Whether we’re telling a story or living it, the best stories have variety, unique characters, dreams, goals, and plot twists.

People often ask me where I get my ideas for my stories, but story ideas are all around us. I meet someone with an interesting name or an interesting story, someone tells a joke or I watch a couple interact while at a restaurant or while sitting in the airport. I hear a snippet of conversation or see someone dressed in a unique outfit. Everything has the possibility to be a story.

As a writer, I am always looking for unique stories or unusual versions of a familiar story. How can I tell Cinderella’s story with a basketball player, or the story of Oliver Twist set in the American Wild West, or maybe I can tell My Fair Lady set in a fantasy land.

Readers often want something similar to what they just read but different. If they are reading a favorite author, they want the next book to make them feel like the one before. We often look for authors who write similar stories in order to have that feeling again and again whether it is fear, romance or adventure.

What makes a good story is subjective. We each have our interpretation of what a good story needs. I read a wide variety of genres and subgenres. I like any story with compelling characters doing tough and dangerous things. Of course, that is the opposite of what I want in my own life-story.

What is your story? What ingredients do you need to make your own story all that you want it to be? Share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.