The power of true life stories

𝓣𝓡𝓤𝓔 𝓛𝓘𝓕𝓔 𝓟𝓞𝓦𝓔𝓡

Stories have the power to captivate a reader – dazzle them into anger, or happiness or bewilderment. They grip the imagination, and can transport you into a different world.
“Stories are important, the monster said. They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth.” Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

Still, we all have that one friend who won’t read a book or watch a film if it isn’t based in reality. Why? Why does it matter if these stories are true or not? This blog article explores this very question.

𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖

Reading a fantasy novel about a heroic knight, brandishing his sword and embarking on quests to save x,y or z can be thrilling escapism and enjoyable to read. But it doesn’t have much relevance to modern life.

True life stories on the other hand, give people something to relate to, no matter how extraordinary the story is:
‘This actually happened to someone, you know. This could happen to you or me’.

Take Penguin Lessons, a true story published in 2015, in which an adventurous young teacher befriends a penguin he rescues from an oil slick in Uruguay. After naming him Juan Salvador, he transports him to an Argentinian boarding school. A series of improbable encounters (such as a Penguin becoming a swimming coach) take place, as the bond between man and bird deepens.
As a book, it appeals because although far-fetched and incredible, it actually happened. It gives you hope that something out of the ordinary could happen to you.

🆃🅷🅴🆈 🅸🅽🆂🅿🅸🆁🅴 🅴🅼🅿🅰🆃🅷🆈

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 – 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒚? ‘𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆?’ 𝑩𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏’𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚. 𝑩𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. ‘𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓…𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍’. 𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑨𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒍, 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓.

🆃🅷🅴🆈 🆃🅴🅰🅲🅷 🆈🅾🆄 🅰🅱🅾🆄🆃 🆁🅴🅰🅻 🆃🅷🅸🅽🅶🆂:

True life stories can teach you about things you know nothing about. This could be about a person’s experiences that you didn’t know they’d had, a place ‘I didn’t know that had happened there’, or an era that you weren’t a part of.

Her book, Into the Light, details the sudden change she experienced from a happy if somewhat impoverished childhood, to be cast adrift in the midst of the Sudanese Civil War. Her book is set against a backdrop of political unrest, and while it is her story, it is also the story of her country at this time.

Whilst Into the Light teaches you about Teresa’s life, it also gives insight into a wider area. True life stories have this power to teach us about people, places, the present and the past.

True life stories are important and it’s important that you tell yours!