This week's essay is free to read for all: on midlife, the illusion of freedom and life becoming a trap willstorr.substack.com/p/ducklings-...

Every so often something resonates. You may enjoy this by @willstorr.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/willstor...

A Story is a Deal: How to use the science of storytelling to lead, motivate and persuade by @willstorr.bsky.social is a bargain 99p on Kindle today #affiliatelink amzn.to/45GtwD4

I’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.com

Today’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: willstorr.substack.com/p/a-crisis-o...

This is a really beautiful, thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of writing.

Storr hypothesizes that forces beyond us compel us to live in a state of perpetual status anxiety. Pair with Arthur C. Brooks observation that people habitually and chronically choose “being special” over “being happy”…

Today’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: willstorr.substack.com/p/a-crisis-o...

This 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." willstorr.substack.com/p/there-is-n...

This is a very good piece of analysis on AI-generated faux-meaningful essays on Substack which has enabled me to spot quite a few as they were served to me. What it tells me is: we’re desperate for things to be OK. But we’ll settle for calmingly written essays that tell us things are OK.

This week's piece is free to read for all! On the aesthetic construction of self and my midlife identity crisis willstorr.substack.com/p/how-art-ma...

This week's piece is free to read for all! On the aesthetic construction of self and my midlife identity crisis willstorr.substack.com/p/how-art-ma...

Here is @willstorr.bsky.social at @humanists.uk convention 2025. Great talk about the human quest for status and its consequences.

This 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. willstorr.substack.com/p/most-popul...

Bad pain day means I get to read this, rather than wash the kitchen floor. Thanks, @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social

Are you in Bath or near Bath? It's the first stop on my book tour for The Genius Myth, so you can catch me before I become dissolute and jaded: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/bath/...

For those interested in universal MH interventions in schools, there’s a new meta analysis out today by Hayes et al and I wanted to highlight a few points 🧵 www.frontiersin.org/journals/chi...

This 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." willstorr.substack.com/p/without-yo...

Israeli leaders could literally say "we will genocide until there is no more genocide to be genocided" and the world will still be like "gosh it's so complicated"

Tomorrow'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

My 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/about

Today’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/Eyc4P

Delighted 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/TpTmo

Today’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/1X7l3

Today’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

Today’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

My 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/vvxuI

So @aiannucci.bsky.social and I are doing an Intelligence Squared event to talk about genius: June 19, Conway Hall in London. Tickets below. Use my special Bluesky follower code GENIUS25 for 25% off. Rest assured we will be making these faces throughout. www.intelligencesquared.com/events/the-g...

Today's essay is on why we become so enraged about Bud Light, Snow White, and a certain brand of electric car Available to read for free: shorturl.at/JIBzB

Years ago, I went to a series of life changing lectures on ‘Story’ by Robert McKee. Ostensibly about screen writing and storytelling, but they went much deeper than that. @willstorr.bsky.social article in the Guardian is spot on. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Causal storytelling is sense-making for the human brain, which is expert at finding connections between one thing and another, even when those connections don’t really exist. This is why madness never feels madness, but truth. Timely, I thought, from @willstorr.bsky.social

I wrote about the death of my father substack.com/home/post/p-...

All I can find so far is this from Internet Matters: "Over half of young dads (56%), up to the age of 35, have a favourable view of Andrew Tate, while almost a quarter (23%) of teenage boys aged 15-16 are also positive about the influencer" This seems insanely high to me, so I did some digging..

I read some old diaries and had a nervous breakdown. Enjoy! From my latest at You Are a Story Early subscriber discounts available for a short time willstorr.substack.com

From my latest post on You Are a Story Read more: willstorr.substack.com

YOU ARE A STORY has launched today. Every week, I will be continuing my journey into the storytelling brain. Please join me: willstorr.substack.com

‘YOU ARE A STORY’ IS LAUNCHING MONDAY 24TH MARCH! We have a busy first month planned for my Substack, with eight essays ready to go. We will explore the science of storytelling in all its manifestations. First month free, with limited special offer available. willstorr.substack.com

Not even the 1st page and it’s already a banger. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). 👍 @willstorr.bsky.social

Thanks to The Times for a lovely review of A Story is a Deal: 'Clever... compelling... alarming...' www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

PUBLISHED TODAY! A STORY IS A DEAL shows you how to engage and influence your audience to create irresistible pitches, build passionate brand loyalty, motivate teams and lead with effectiveness and charisma. A Story is a Deal is out now in hardback, ebook and audio. geni.us/AStoryIsADea...

Story is a technology for fusing minds together. Humans solve the problems of life in the form of highly cooperative groups. How do you get a bunch of individual minds thinking as one? By telling stories A STORY IS A DEAL 20/2/2025 ORDERS: geni.us/AStoryIsADea...

Finished copies of A Story is a Deal have arrived, and they are looking handsome! The sequel to the bestselling The Science of Storytelling Feb 20th ORDER: geni.us/AStoryIsADea...

Announcing my new Science of Storytelling for Business and Persuasion masterclass! Based on my upcoming book A Story is a Deal, this is an all new take on business storytelling for marketers, leaders and persuaders of all kinds. Feb 20th TICKETS: www.standard.co.uk/masterclasse...

I'm obsessed

Amazing data viz here, with good explainer in the thread. Cancer susceptibility ⬆️ with age also has an evolutionary basis as I explain in my book 👇

Selfie: As relevant today as it was in 2019 when written by @willstorr.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Selfie-Becam...