This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 624th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I hope you enjoy this week's episode, Why There's No Such Thing as Just a story.

Every so often I will hear someone say it's just a story.

Most often I hear this said in situations in which a story is being critiqued in response to comments that a story failed to reach its potential because it lacked theme or plot structure or strong characterization, a person might insist, well, it's just a story.

Usually the sense I get in these situations is that the person, the reader or the audience member, enjoyed the story well enough and doesn't really

appreciate hearing how it might have been better. But in other instances, a person might respond to someone else's elation over a wonderful story

experience with the same words. It's just a story or maybe it's just entertainment.

Listeners of this podcast will find it no surprise that I adamantly disagree with this notion.

First of all, I will state my recognition that what is really being said in these instances

usually has more to do with personal subtext for the speaker.

For example, maybe they enjoyed this story even if it could have been better, don't appreciate a critique that might diminish their own enjoyment, and don't want to feel they have to measure their own opinions and experiences against the parameters of good fiction, which is all fair enough.

However, I feel this statement or any equivalent is not only erroneous, but perhaps one of the most dangerous lies humanity can tell itself.

Why? Because this statement attempts to diminish story to irrelevance.

To me, it is saying stories are empty calories.

They exist merely for fun and should therefore not be expected to offer any value or bear any responsibility beyond that.

Now, although writers may sometimes be guilty of saying this phrase,

it is more likely to emerge from an audience member.

But to my mind, whatever its source, it is an attempt to shrug away the weighty burden inherent

to story by dint of the form's sheer power.

Whether as creators of story or merely participants,

when we interact with story,

we interact with a mighty, even primal force. Even in its smallest

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