Storytellers are prophets

A story is a kind of prophecy.

It comes through a revelation, out of nowhere, instantaneously. It contains a truth about the human condition. And it seems as if it chooses you; precisely you.

A storyteller is then a kind of a prophet.

You didn’t find the idea by thinking long and hard. You were blessed with it. And now you feel a duty to share it with others. You need to tell it to the world, because keeping it to yourself would be selfish, wouldn’t it?

If you are obsessed with your story, if you cannot stop thinking about it, and if you just feel a need to share it with the rest of the world – I am glad this article has found you.

The storyteller, you, in other worlds, is a mediator between the divine realm and this physical reality. Precisely because of this role as a mediator, the same role religious prophets had throughout the millennia, is why you feel such an urge to reveal your story to the rest of the world.

Storytellers don’t spread religious and divine messages to people like true prophets, but they do spread truths about the essential human experiences. They do prophesize how a life should be lived.

To understand our roles as storytellers, we need to understand our role as prophets.

It is more important to understand who we are as storytellers, than what we actually write about.

And why we tell stories is more important than how we tell them. As Nietzsche famously said, a man who has a why can bear any how. Likewise, a storyteller who knows why they write, will be able to writing anything they need to.

We, therefore, have to understand our mode of being as storytellers, rather than just the mode of doing, which is the act of writing and the application of different writing tools and techniques.

I listened to too much advice on how to write or sell movies to Hollywood, but I never got any answers on what it means to be a storyteller. I never got a clarification on why do I want to write in the first place, aside from the fame and money I thought Hollywood or success would bring me.

What I always wanted and needed to know was: why am I haunted by my stories? Why am I obsessed with those worlds and characters that inhabit my imagination, to the point I care more about them, then about this reality? Why does it feel like I discovered an important truth and why do I have this urge to show it to others?

Have you also already noticed this about yourself? That you are different? That your view of the world is completely different than that of most other people? You are obsessed with the world of ideas and stories and you spend most of your time in your mind trying to answer deep existential questions… but everyone else is concerned more with the immediate material world, everyday problems and what they will eat tomorrow.

If you face the same existential dread as I do; if you are haunted by the questions of your purpose as a storyteller, whether you are good enough and whether you will ever succeed, then I want to help you find the meaning behind these questions.

First, we have to understand why we write, before we actually learn how to write.

You, my friend, need to write because you are a kind of a prophet.

The story that revealed itself to you is a kind of a prophecy.

You have a duty to share your story with the world.

If you are a young screenwriter, maybe this article convinces you to take your calling seriously, hopefully more seriously than I did. You have an important role to play in this world.

Storytellers are prophets

What does it really mean that storytellers are “a kind of a prophet”?

This might seem blasphemous to you, or too far-fetched.

But once we realize what a story is and how we gain access to it, then it starts to make sense.

A Story is an eternal idea. It is universal. It is unchanging. It is a Truth about the human condition. It resides in the Platonic realm with every other truth, be it of mathematical, philosophical or spiritual nature.

All ideas human beings have come from this realm.

On the other hand, everything in this material world is divided, particular and ever-changing. One moment it is here, the next it is gone. Without an eternal realm to impose structure on this world, it would be impossible to make sense of it. Hence, the platonic realm exists and it is in contact with this world.

But the only way to access that realm and grasp the Ideas is through Revelation. We cannot think or work our way to this place. We can only be invited there, but never find it on our own.

And this is the key to all prophecy. Revelation.

It is that feeling as if the curtain has been lifted and the light finally breaks in.

All great ideas and truths are revealed to us. We are nothing but a convoy in service of them. We are blessed with them.

All great artists talk about this creative, or even divine, inspiration. And that’s exactly right.

You should have realized it by now as well.

How did this great story you want to tell come to you? How did you come up with this idea?

There is no causal chain within this physical world which will give you understanding of this process. You won’t be able to follow any train of thoughts which led you to this great story idea. You, by the sheer power of your mind, are unable to grasp the ideas.

The Idea was revealed to you. It chose you, not the other way around.

Puff.

It just came to you. Like flipping a switch. A second before, there was nothing there. The next, you consider yourself a genius.

This is the nature of prophecy. This is what makes you a prophet.

The story was revealed to you, and only you, and now you have to share it with others.

The nature of prophecy and revelation explains the existential condition of a storyteller. It explains how you are the mercy of being blessed by an idea; why the idea seems clear in your mind, but whenever your try to put it on the page, it is never good enough; and why you need to share it with others and can’t just keep it to yourself.

I want to liken revelation to a disease. But it is closer to what nausea represents in Sartre’s novel of the same name. It is more of a sickness awakened by sheer existence itself.

Revelation is the nausea of the mind. The nausea emerges from the interplay between the universal and the particular. The universal idea you grasped in your mind and the particular manifestations it tries to latch onto, mix and intertwine until everything is jumbled up and it is no longer understandable what is clear, but insignificant and what is important, but too vague.

The mind gets confused because it can no longer discern which manifestations mirror the universal idea and which do not. If you sometimes feel overwhelmed by your idea, then know that its a consequence of revelation as such.

I know this feeling quite well. It feels like I’m missing something, but also that the solution is at the tip of my tongue; it feels like I know a character perfectly well, but whatever I write about him sounds wrong; or I can clearly see the scene play out in my mind, but wherever I start it, it feels clumsy and boring.

This contradictory feeling, like the story is at the same time perfectly clear, but impossible to validly translate onto the page, arises because the universal truths blend with the particular instantiations of it and you are torn between how you should convey they properly.

I don’t know whether this feeling ever goes away, but it does become easier to live with it. You will realize you can never do 100% justice to the idea; you just have to make it good enough.

There are 4 necessary components of a revelation. 4 symptoms of this disease. Understanding the nature of a revelation and its symptoms will also lead to an understanding of your existential condition as a storyteller.

Each symptom of the revelation will explain an existential question which plagues true storytellers, i.e., prophets. It will give grounding to why you feel the way you feel and why those feeling are inevitable.

1.) You have direct and complete access to the Truth

Symptom: “Why does it feel like I have found something incredibly important? Why can’t I stop thinking about this idea? Where did the idea even come from?”

Revelations are direct channels which connect the eternal realm and this physical realm.

Therefore, the truth which is embodied in a story, reveals itself directly and completely to storytellers. The pathway, i.e., the revelation, is clear and without fault. You see the whole story as a complete and timeless truth.

However, you can either be in the one realm or the other, never in both simultaneously.

You have access to the complete story, but once you are there with it, you cannot write. And once you do write, you no longer see the whole of a story, but can only see parts of it. Moreover, you have to write it step by step, never all at once.

That’s why storytellers are mediators between these two realms. They enter one realm and then the come back to the other. They move between them and, piece by piece, they bring back something new and try to reconstruct what they find.

2.) Only you have been granted this revelation

Symptom: “Why does it feel like I was chosen? Why have only I access to this truth?”

Revelation only strikes a single individual.

That’s why ideas feel so important. They chose you. They came to you instantaneously, in just a moment. They were not a product of your efforts or your hard work. Moreover, they are more abundant where there is less effort.

This is also why it feels like you were chosen. Nobody else has access to this truth as you do.

However, this is unsettling as well. As if you know a secret nobody else does.

Because the truth was revealed to you and you didn’t reach it through your own efforts, you develop a sense of duty. It is as if someone gave you the task of nourishing this idea.

You are not allowed to do with the idea as you please. You didn’t choose it, it was given to you. Therefore, you have the duty to share it with others.

3.) You have a need to share it

Symptom: “Why do I have an urge to write and share the story with the world? Why does it feel I would betray the idea if I didn’t share it with others?”

Because it feels like you were chosen and like you are the only one who has found the truth, you develop a need to share it with others.

You didn’t find the idea; it found you. So it is not really yours. It belongs to everyone. Because it is a part of the eternal and universal realm, it should be available to everyone, not just you.

Because you are the only one who had the revelation, you develop a sense of guilt if you don’t share it with everyone else.

Keeping the truth only to yourself is a kind of betrayal, because truth is like a seed. Once it is planted, it wants to grow. It wants to spread. It wants to live.

Imagine a mathematician or physicist who discover a proof about the nature of this physical reality. It could change the world. How could they possibly just keep it to themselves? How could they possibly just “enjoy” the knowledge on their own?

Why did Buddha return from his isolation in the mountains, back to civilization and back to the people? He had a revelation about the deeper spiritual nature of reality, but he couldn’t remain in isolation anymore. He had to share these truths with others. It wasn’t because of fame or to establish a religion, but because the truth compelled him to do so.

It is not success or fame that drives prophets or storytellers.

It is the truth that pushes you to share your story. The nature of truth is to spread and grow.

Just writing for a “hobby” is the worst advice you can give to true storytellers. If you just write for fun or for yourself, then this article is not meant for you.

People will try to make you feel guilty that you want to succeed. “If you are an artists you should do your art just for its own sake.”

No. That is selfish. That is not what true artists have to do.

True art yearns for growth. The Truth and Beauty of art want to reach as many people as they can.

Art cannot exist for it’s own sake. Art exists for everyone’s sake.

4.) It is difficult to put into words

Symptom: “Why is it so difficult to actually write it down if I was meant to do this? Why is the story so clear in my mind, but so jumbled on the page?”

You have difficulty in translating the story idea into a written format, because you grasp the Idea as complete and perfect, which it actually is, but have to tell it sequentially and imperfectly.

Nothing in this world is perfect. Nothing is complete.

But the eternal realm is both perfect and complete.

This is the discrepancy between your vision of the story and how it needs be represented in this world. This discrepancy will never go away. The story will never feel as clear on the page as it is in your mind. It is impossible.

You cannot use the same means through which you received the Idea to share it with others. You cannot reveal the Idea to everyone else directly. You have to use words. You have to awake emotions. You have to follow the law of cause and effect. You have to mediate.

If this difficulty will never go away, what should you do? I outline the principles you can follow in my previous article “What storytelling really is”. These principles are meant to clarify how storytelling differs from story, how to make the story understandable to yourself and to the audience and how to make it as impactful as possible.

Conclusion

So what now?

Now that you know why you need to write your story, you have to take the next steps: you have to write it. You have to share it.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Just as we need mathematicians and philosophers and entrepreneurs to share their ideas with the world, so we need your ideas as well.

You are a prophet. You have found a truth about the human condition. The path to a good life. Most people will never understand why you are obsessed with stories, but I hope you now have a clearer picture of your purpose, of your need to write and of your need to share your ideas.

You have an important task. Stories build up a new, better world, because they have a power to transform people- Stories show how a better life can be achieve.

So do your duty and share your vision of a better world.