Whenever I’m writing, and especially when I’m editing, if I ever slow down and really think about what it is that I’m doing with my time, it’s pretty easy to go down a slippery philosophical rabbit hole and end up madder than a hatter.

What are stories in the first place? Why do we read and write them? What does it mean for a story to be “good?” What exactly am I doing when I’m editing one to make it “better?”

And in a world with a vast array of storytelling traditions, past and present, are there any such things as universal storytelling principles? Are there common threads that underpin “good” storytelling?

I don’t fully know the answers to these questions, and I’m no philosopher or anthropologist, but I can tell you where I landed after years of these questions rattling around in my brain. These are the ideas that underpin the work I do trying to help writers improve their writing.