What is it with humans and stories!

Why do we always gravitate towards the untrue! The could-be’s! There is something inside the human psyche that enjoys tales so much and I don’t know what it is! Fairy tales and bed-time stories and fan-fiction and “oh, what are you watching right now?” and literature and movies and gossip and! And so much more. Why do I like hearing about happenings as entertainment? Even if I know it’s not true? Even if I know it could never be?

I sit down to plan out my stories and think about each character’s arc and development and the pacing and the themes and I have to stop. And realize that people like consuming stories in a Certain Way. A dictated order. There are good stories and bad stories and meh stories because there’s a criteria solely based upon the way People Like It, and the way People Like It exists because brains are dumb? Is that it?

Doesn’t it fill you with awe? As long as there have been people there have been stories to tell and ears eager to listen. Why? Are there more humane positions than those of the storyteller and the listener? I have my little characters and I think about people having little characters thousands of years ago and realize I’m being traditional, and that I’m not even hesitant about it. I guess I never liked sticking to customs because my concept of tradition was always tied to conservatism and wishing people death, but tradition, at the end of the day, is just what people Do and Have Always Done because They’re People.