iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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EconomicsInTen @economicsinten.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Finally some sunshine in the UK. Time to get into the garden & have a read. We're currently gripped by @willstorr.bsky.social's book 'A Story Is A Deal' & we know that by posting this, we're hoping to bring you into our story, so we can connect with people-like-us. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

This week's free-to-read essay is IN DEFENCE OF MEN: The rewards and sorrows of life as a success object "If we’re required to account for what makes us toxic, we must also be allowed to celebrate the things that make us great." substack.com/home/post/p-...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

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-...

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Dr Lucy Rogers @drlucyrogers.com · 06/09/2025

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

open.substack.com

DUCKLINGS, PADDLING IN THE WATER

Is life a trap? A midlife crisis update

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

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...

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Chris Chibnall @chrischibnall.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

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

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James Shelley @jamesshelley.com · 10/08/2025

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”…

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

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...

willstorr.substack.com

There is no 'just ego'

What Eastern spirituality gets wrong about human nature

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Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

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.

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

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...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

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...

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Deborah Hyde @deborahhyde.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

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...

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Jacqui @jacquijacquijacqui.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

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

Picture of a book by Dr Lucy Foulkes called Coming of Age: How adolescence shapes us

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Helen Lewis @helenlewis.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

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/...

Helen Lewis: The Genius Myth, at The Bookshop, BA1 1NG in Bath

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

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...

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Ben Allen @evodynamics.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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"

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

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

shorturl.at

Scamming Substack?

How to get money for nothing and likes for free on the world’s favourite newsletter platform

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

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

shorturl.at

THE AIRPORT IS A GAME

When should we stop finding meaning in the meaningless?

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

shorturl.at

THE AIRPORT IS A GAME

When should we stop finding meaning in the meaningless?

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

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

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Helen Lewis @helenlewis.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

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...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

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

shorturl.at

This is Why We Smash Teslas (and Shoot Cases of Bud Light with MP5 Submachine guns)

On political vandalism and the extended self

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Richard Starzak @golster.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

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...

theguardian.com

Realising we’re all made-up characters in a story world helps me understand people

Considering everyone is a protagonist in their own narrative brought clarity for Will Storr

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James O’Loughlin @jaoloughlin.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

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

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Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

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..

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

‘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

willstorr.substack.com

You Are a Story | Will Storr | Substack

A newsletter about the stories we live by, launching March 24th. Click to read You Are a Story, by Will Storr, a Substack publication.

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James O’Loughlin @jaoloughlin.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

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

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

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...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

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...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

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...

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Will Storr @willstorr.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

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...

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Prof Nichola Raihani @nicholaraihani.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

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 👇

Excerpt from The Social Instinct on why cancer likelihood increases with age

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