Fictional stories are portals. They draw readers across a threshold into other worlds, where characters lead them through human dramas and deliver far more than escapism.
In many ways, stories are magical incantations. An alchemy of the writer’s words and the reader’s lived experience. Jonathan Gottschall, in The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, calls this the “weird and witchy power” of story.
The Witchy Power of Story
We are so immersed in stories that we forget how strange it is that mere words can alter our thoughts, emotions, even our bodies. Gottschall’s phrase—“weird and witchy power”—is an apt metaphor for the enchantment and danger of story: it seduces, reshapes, and ensnares.
Writers, in this sense, cast spells. They shift readers’ awareness and lived experience. Not with malice, but with magic. In my view, this spell is often medicinal, a way stories help us heal what life wounds.
The Irresistible Pull
Gottschall notes that “human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story” (p. 3). We can try to resist, but narrative captures our attention whether it arrives as gossip, a novel, or a binge-worthy show. Stories are alternate worlds we slip into, often without conscious choice.
I believe readers sense, maybe even unconsciously, that stories will soothe them, mending their minds, hearts, and souls.
Suspension of Disbelief
English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the term “willing suspension of disbelief,” describing the tacit agreement between reader and writer. But Gottschall reminds us that will hardly enters into it.
Stories override our defenses. A simple phrase like “once upon a time”opens the door, and suddenly we are inside.
Storytelling as Spellcasting
Gottschall likens the storyteller to a sorcerer casting an incantation. If the spell is strong, resistance is nearly impossible; the only escape is to close the book.
This elevates storytelling from craft to conjuring. Writers wield a powerful wand, entering the reader’s mind and imagination, shaping thoughts and even bodily responses.
Readers as Co-Creators
Reading may appear passive, but the brain is anything but idle. Language centers fire, sensorimotor regions light up as we vicariously experience actions, and the default mode network engages to simulate mental states and environments.
The writer provides the framework. The reader’s imagination supplies the color, texture, and emotion. Stories “work” because they are co-creations between teller and audience.
The Subtle Power of the Writer
The writer guides but cannot fully control what the reader imagines. The paradox of story—that witchy magic—is this: enough precision to bind the reader’s mind and imagination, enough openness to let them weave themselves into it.
A Closing Spell
If stories are spells, then writers are modern-day witches (Alan Moore called them shamans). With words, they seize attention and alter consciousness.
Recognizing this power makes us more intentional about the stories we create—and more reverent of their influence. Storytelling may feel “fun” at times, but it is also sacred work: the forging of unseen, ethereal connections between humans who may never meet.
