Welcome back to Writer Groupie! Today marks a special milestone – Episode 10. I’m so grateful you’ve joined me on this podcasting journey, and I wanted to take this moment to step back and look at something bigger than the day-to-day writing grind.

Our guiding question for this episode is simple but profound:

Do stories shape us, or do we shape stories?

As writers, we pour ourselves into our characters, worlds, and plots. (and for those non-fic folks, you pour YOURSELF into every word) Our experiences and beliefs become the clay that stories are molded from. In that way, we shape the stories we we tell.

But it doesn’t stop there. Stories have an uncanny way of shaping us right back. They influence how we think, how we feel, and even how we see the world. Many of us can point to a single book or several, that left a lasting mark on who we are today.

And then there is the fascinating loop between readers and writers. Readers’ tastes and responses spark new trends, which shapes what writers create next. In today’s social media age, that cycle is faster and louder than ever before.

In this episode, I dig into all of these great ideas and invite you to reflect right alongside me.

Listen in as I explore:

• How personal experiences sneak into a writer’s work
• Why certain books leave such lasting imprints on readers
• The feedback loop between readers and writers in today’s publishing world
• Why the answer to our big question might just be: both

A question for you

I’d love to hear from you. What story has shaped you the most and why? Drop a comment below, or join the conversation on Facebook by joining in the group. It is called M. K. Browning’s Scarfies. We’d love to have you!

Listen to the full episode below and you can find the first nine over on this page:

www.mkbrowning.com/podcast-list

Here’s to ten episodes of Writer Groupie and many more to come!

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