Write Your Story Book Review

In Write Your Story, author Allison Fallon tells us the importance of, well, writing your story, and encourages readers to do so through the framework she shares.

If you are not a writer, don’t leave, because just as Allison guides readers through writing their story, I’m going to guide you in the same way through this book review. Before we get to the writing, let’s discuss why someone would want to write their story and what benefits they may get from it. 

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Why Write Your Story?

You may not be a writer, but here are three reasons why you should try putting pen to paper, or fingers to keys. 

1. To Gain Clarity Over A Situation

Life can throw curveballs and get confusing. Sometimes writing about what you are going through is the key to gaining clarity over a situation. I’ve seen this happen myself in my journey. There are times where I’ll be writing away and next thing you know I am reading back this profound sentence that I wrote that puts everything into perspective. 

In Write Your Story Fallon shares stories of people that have taken her workshops. They have also gotten clarity about their situation by going through the Write Your Story framework. So you know that going through this framework can work for you too.

2. To Heal

Sometimes to get past something you need to spend time working through it. By going through this framework and writing your story, you are doing just that. You can heal past hurts, current hangups, and future questions. 

3. To Inspire Others

“When you put the events of your story in the right order and apply meaning to those events, other people can learn from and be inspired by you.” You don’t have to share your story once you’ve written it, but if you’d like to, I would recommend it. It can be scary to put yourself out there, but it’s also rewarding to see how your words can impact and inspire others. It’s definitely something to think about.

The Write Your Story Framework

In this book the author lays out a framework that will help you formulate your story. Whether you are writing her suggested four pages, or your own book, by following this framework you’ll have an easier time writing it all out. Each step has its own chapter in the book that includes stories from others that have written their story, tips on how to complete this step, and more. Here are the steps.

• The Controlling Idea: This is what your story is about. Once you get the controlling idea down, it will be easier to write your story. That is because you now have a central place to go to if you start rambling and getting off track.
• The Opening Line: The Opening Line is where you want to hook your readers. You want them to wonder what is going to happen next after they finish reading it.
• The Hero Who Wants Something: Every story has a Hero who is after something. In this framework your story showcases the journey the Hero takes while trying to get what they want. 
• The One Big Problem: What is the thing that is trying to block the Hero’s journey? That is what we are calling the One Big Problem in this framework. While it’s possible to have multiple problems, for the story to be successful you want to find a big connection between them all, or focus on one singular problem. 

“If the reader can’t see how these problems are connected, or see a clear path that the hero is trying to follow, the story will get muddled and confusing, and the reader will lose interest.”

• The Guide: When all hope seems lost and the problem feels too big, a Guide comes to help the Hero. A guide can be a person, a sign, a song, etc., anything that helps the Hero gain a new perspective.
• The Struggle & Relief: This is where the bulk of your story resides. The tension of going back and forth keeps the reader engaged and helps the hero get stronger as they face the One Big Problem. 
• The Hero’s Transformation:We are heading towards the end of the story now. The hero has made the changes needed in order to face the One Big Problem and has either surrendered to it or has overcome it. Either way, the hero is forever changed.
• The Moral:” Every story has a moral. Even when the moral isn’t stated explicitly in the story.” The moral of a story is the reason why it is being written. You may need to dig a little to find your moral. But it’s there. So what is the moral of your story?

My Thoughts and Review

Overall I enjoyed reading Write Your Story. Allison Fallon has a way of making even me, a writer, look at writing my story differently than before. Seeing how all the elements come together to create a story is something that I only thought worked in the fictional world.

It is encouraging to see that there is also a framework for writing personal stories. I’ve always been a proponent of sharing your story because of the power it holds to help heal you and inspire others, and I loved seeing that in this book as some of the reasons to write your story. Whether you know you have a story to share but aren’t sure how to tell it, or you’re trying to figure out how to process something you’ve gone through, the book Write Your Story can help you with your next steps.

Now that you know why you should write your story, and how to do it, you’ll want to grab Allison Fallon’s book Write Your Story so that you can go deeper as you write your own story. Whether it’s for an audience of one, or you plan on sharing it, I hope that this experience is a good one for you.

About the Author

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