The art of story telling has existed as long as human civilization has existed. Every culture, everywhere, throughout history has evolved its own forms and traditions of story telling. In addition to entertaining humanity, story telling is also a vehicle that provides continuity of culture from one generation to another - gives us our sense of history.
But the difference between history and a story, is the Why. Who did what, when, and where is what we read in a history book. But as soon as we discover why they did what they did, the journey from history to story is complete.
Finding the Why is what excites me about story telling. For once we understand why a person in a story acts the way he/she does, we gain an understanding of why the world works the way it does. And perhaps, by understanding stories, we can reach a better understanding of all humanity.
