2026 New Year's Writing Resolution: Listen

Every year, I make a New Year's Resolution just for writing. I don't bother with personal resolutions, because I never keep them. (Seriously, in what universe was I ever going to give up chocolate?) But, without fail, I always keep my writing resolutions. 

In past years, I have made writing resolutions to Write What I Feared (we must all face our writing demons), and to get more rejections than C. S. Lewis. (He got over 800; I've gotten well over a thousand.) (I'm not proud.) In 2020, I resolved to begin (facing a blank screen is always daunting) and the following year, to finish what I had started. (This is a perennial problem for writers such as myself, who have a wealth of ideas, but short attention spans.) 

I have resolved to read, because it is only through reading and re-reading that we hone our writing skills, and I have resolved to observe the ordinary, because observing what goes on around us is the basis of all subject matter. 

Perhaps most important of all, I have resolved to be true to my own work - that is to say, to not conform to what I think an audience might like (or dislike, as the case may be), but to be loyal to my own message. Most writers may not realize it, but ignoring a prospective audience is actually quite difficult, especially once editors and publishers get hold of your manuscript. 

Where was I? Oh yes... resolutions...

After giving it much thought, I have come to the conclusion, much like Frank Herbert, that as far as writing is concerned, story is everything. I don't just mean the stories in your head. I talking about the stories you hear.

It occurred to me the other day that I could remember every story that anyone had ever told me—even stories from strangers I'd only met once. They had said something to me that resonated., and  I simply never forgot their story. A good number of these stories have served as inspiration for some of my short work, and even a novel.

The question that comes to mind is: How many stories do we miss when we are planning what we are going to say, instead of listening? We tend to remember things that have a strong emotional impact. But what of the other kinds of stories, the more mundane tales of misadventures, the humorous antics of children, travels? 

These are the ones we miss, because when we are focused on adding something similar in our lives, something to continue the conversation, we lose track of what we are being told. 

It is essential for fiction writers to pay attention to the stories people tell. Listen carefully, because while we may believe we are inventing stories, in reality we are telling the stories of all the people we have ever met ... and quite a few that we haven't. Unlike nonfiction (which is sometimes invented out of whole cloth), fiction must, in the deepest sense, be fundamentally true.