Authorhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3m54nbnk4fs2cThis week's free-to-read essay is IN DEFENCE OF MEN: The rewards and sorrows of life as a success object "If we’re required to account for what makes us toxic, we must also be allowed to celebrate the things that make us great." https://substack.com/home/post/p-17767287808 Nov 2025 12:55 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3m54nbnk4fs2chttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lycxme7cl22lThis week's essay is free to read for all: on midlife, the illusion of freedom and life becoming a trap https://willstorr.substack.com/p/ducklings-paddling-in-the-water08 Sep 2025 10:10 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lycxme7cl22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lxphretvrc2rI’m excited to announce that my newsletter is evolving. As much as I’ve enjoyed writing about the science of storytelling I was beginning to find it limiting. So I’ve decided to change the name of my publication, to allow myself to write about a broader range of subjects. willstorr.substack.com31 Aug 2025 16:06 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxphretvrc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lvxbglfdac2dToday’s free-to-read essay, A Crisis of Mattering, lays out a theory that I’ve touched upon but not fully fleshed out in previous books, that a major cause of modern unhappiness is that our world has grown too big. READ HERE: https://willstorr.substack.com/p/a-crisis-of-mattering09 Aug 2025 07:43 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvxbglfdac2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lvxbglfdac2dToday’s free-to-read essay, A Crisis of Mattering, lays out a theory that I’ve touched upon but not fully fleshed out in previous books, that a major cause of modern unhappiness is that our world has grown too big. READ HERE: https://willstorr.substack.com/p/a-crisis-of-mattering09 Aug 2025 07:43 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvxbglfdac2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3ltqtk65bi22sThis week's free-to-read essay is already proving controversial. In it, I critique fashionable but bad ideas from Eastern spirituality and accuse Buddhists of being "utterly and incurably self-obsessed and self-interested." https://willstorr.substack.com/p/there-is-no-just-ego12 Jul 2025 07:28 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltqtk65bi22shttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lrlgxoevv22jThis week's piece is free to read for all! On the aesthetic construction of self and my midlife identity crisis https://willstorr.substack.com/p/how-art-makes-us14 Jun 2025 17:09 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrlgxoevv22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lrlgxoevv22jThis week's piece is free to read for all! On the aesthetic construction of self and my midlife identity crisis https://willstorr.substack.com/p/how-art-makes-us14 Jun 2025 17:09 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrlgxoevv22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lr3fbzbjek2qThis week's essay is the first in a new series called Most Popular Highlights, in which I discuss the ten top reader-selected storytelling tips from an exceptional book. The first is George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. https://willstorr.substack.com/p/most-popular-highlights-george-saunders08 Jun 2025 07:57 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lr3fbzbjek2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lqk6xcuens2sThis week's essay explores solitude. What do we really want, when we want to be alone? "Life, for many of us, can come to feel like the sufferance of a million tiny stings of social pain." https://willstorr.substack.com/p/without-you-im-nothing01 Jun 2025 11:48 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqk6xcuens2shttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lpbmrpkwks2aTomorrow's essay: SCAMMING SUBSTACK? How to get money for nothing and likes for free on the world's favourite newsletter platform! Why I suspect popular Substackers are using AI to entirely or substantially write viral essays shorturl.at/DTO6E https://shorturl.at/DTO6E16 May 2025 08:36 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpbmrpkwks2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lp5cjebywc2dMy popular SCIENCE OF STORYTELLING masterclass, that began at the Guardian more than a decade ago and produced the bestselling book of the same name, is now EXCLUSIVE to full subscribers of my newsletter! The next masterclass is May 28th. Sign up now to join us then! willstorr.substack.com/about14 May 2025 15:22 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lp5cjebywc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lobdy2lw3223Today’s essay is a Science of Storytelling special on the extremely surprising results of a recent large-scale data analysis of story. Do popular plot structures make stories more successful? And, if not, what kind of plot shape can make your story 160% more popular? Find out: shorturl.at/Eyc4P03 May 2025 12:34 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lobdy2lw3223https://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lnpihk6vp22jDelighted to announce my next SCIENCE OF STORYTELLING LIVE! masterclass, on character and plot. Containing lots of new ideas not featured in the bestselling book. Now EXCLUSIVE to full subscribers of my weekly newsletter You Are A Story. May 28th 6pm SIGN UP HERE: shorturl.at/TpTmo26 Apr 2025 10:06 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnpihk6vp22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lnpbtrdthk2wToday’s essay tells a tragic tale of murder, and explores how the storytelling abilities of our own brains mislead us all the time, with sometimes horrific results Read here: shorturl.at/1X7l326 Apr 2025 08:08 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnpbtrdthk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3ln5pmpwck22pToday’s essay explores our habit of creating stories of Great Significance out of even ridiculously trivial events (via airport queues, ego death and the hidden benefits of religious belief). Free to read for all, for one week only! shorturl.at/ETQHq https://shorturl.at/ETQHq19 Apr 2025 08:26 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3ln5pmpwck22phttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3ln5pmpwck22pToday’s essay explores our habit of creating stories of Great Significance out of even ridiculously trivial events (via airport queues, ego death and the hidden benefits of religious belief). Free to read for all, for one week only! shorturl.at/ETQHq https://shorturl.at/ETQHq19 Apr 2025 08:26 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3ln5pmpwck22phttps://bsky.app/profile/willstorr.bsky.social/post/3lmw76rwwpk2fMy latest essay explores eternal lessons in storytelling that were created at the very dawn of human evolution - featuring Aaron Sorkin, Anton Chekov and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Free to read for one week: shorturl.at/vvxuI16 Apr 2025 08:44 +0000at://did:plc:j6dlybdf6kcfept7zcs4uv2d/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmw76rwwpk2f