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Home > Helping Writers Become Authors > S18:E02: Why Writers Need a Sense of Wonder in Fiction More Than Ever
Podcast: Helping Writers Become Authors
Episode:

S18:E02: Why Writers Need a Sense of Wonder in Fiction More Than Ever
Category: Arts
Duration: 00:23:16
Publish Date: 2026-01-19 09:00:00
Description:

We're living in a storytelling moment deeply fascinated by darkness—and for good reason. Stories have always helped us metabolize fear, trauma, and moral failure. But darkness is not meant to be the destination.

In this episode, I explore why writers need a sense of wonder in fiction, not as escapism or denial, but as a way of completing the story arc. Wonder is what allows stories to move through the descent rather than getting stuck there and to imagine a future still worth moving toward.

This is a reflection on how stories work psychologically and culturally, why so many books already carry hope with quiet integrity, and how writers (often without realizing it) contribute to building meaning, courage, and care through the stories they tell.

In This Episode, We Explore:

  • Why dark stories play an essential role in storytelling

  • The danger of getting stuck in the descent

  • Why stories must complete the arc

  • The sense of wonder in fiction as moral imagination

  • How stories help us imagine a future worth moving toward

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