Tag Archives: Non-fiction

Why Do We Tell Stories?

Woman's-hands-folded-on-top-of-book

“Why do we tell stories? To try to make sense of a world that can be terrifying and enormous.” – Brennan Lee Mulligan

It’s a quote that comes back to my mind every so often, as someone who works in a house full of stories (aka the library) and as a writer. You could say it’s a favorite quote of mine (and I promise it has nothing to do with the fact it comes from one of the best Dungeons & Dragons live play sessions I’ve ever watched). Every time I get struck by the dreaded writer’s block and every time I start fretting over the words in my blog posts for more hours than can actually be healthy, I hear those same words in the back of my head.

Why do we tell stories? Because the world can be terrifying, and enormous, and so hard to make sense of.  

Mulligan’s answer is one of many, but don’t worry, I’m not going to delve into more horror picks this month as much as I want to focus on the “terrifying” part. His words usually get me thinking about the question itself. Why do we tell stories? The habit of storytelling is as old as recorded history, if not older, and yet we still do it, from amateur weavers to lauded professionals. We have places where you can buy stories and places where you can get them for free. Even the internet has curated spaces and websites specifically meant for telling stories (here’s looking at you, fanfiction auteurs).

With November coming up, which for the past eight years has been Buckle In and Get Writing Month to me, I was going to make this post about the usual writing guides, tips, and tricks that the library and the internet have to offer. Instead, I would like to shift gears and make a miniature investigation into storytelling, with you readers as my honorary Watsons. I hope you all have your deerstalkers on.

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Instant Gratification with Hoopla

The cover of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

We’ve all been there: it’s 2:00am, you’re fighting a losing battle with insomnia and decide it’s time to give up and do some reading. But alas and alack! You finished your book earlier that night!1 You don’t worry, though, you know Vaughan Public Libraries has you covered with digital resources. You check Overdrive, but everything you want to borrow is already checked out. While you’d love to learn French, you’re not there yet, so you give Cantook Station a pass for the moment. And because it’s just one of those nights, your headphones are in another room, and bed is too cozy to leave, so an audiobook from AudioBookCloud is out. TumbleBook Library and TeenBookCloud are aimed a little young for your tastes that evening. So your next place to check is Hoopla to see what they’ve got in the Instant Borrow category and… oh! You’ve heard of this The Midnight Library book, and instant borrow means there’s no wait to get it, perfect! And then, suddenly you’re halfway through the book and it’s time to get up for the day. This has happened to everyone, right? I’m not alone? Eh, fine, my readers know I embrace my weirdness.

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Honour Among Thieves

French Netflix poster of season 3 of the Lupin tv show
image via Variety

On October 5th, part three of the acclaimed Lupin series will finally air on Netflix. One of my favourite shows, Lupin is an adaptation of Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc, a classic French story about a world-famous gentleman thief and master of disguise. (Heads up: the show is also in French, but since I’m pro-subtitles even for my native English, I don’t mind this.)

Lupin had me thinking about the allure of gentlemen thieves—criminals with hearts (and motives!) of gold—and I thought it’d be fun to feature media of similar noble crooks.

But first, let’s define the term. According to TV Tropes, a gentleman thief has “…roguish good looks coupled with a breeding and style that manifests as a suave and debonair manner. He’s usually a charmer, too—think James Bond without the government authorization. He steals for the challenge/pleasure of the job and generally avoids violence while restricting his targets to those who can afford the loss.”

While gentlemen thieves are usually male, that’s not always the case. No doubt, several examples of such thieves have jumped to mind, but first, let’s start with some real life representatives of this trope!

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