What's your origin story?
and why is it so powerful?
I don’t know if I’ve fully captured all I wanted to say about this. I’m teaching a graduate creative nonfiction workshop this semester, and as I listened to the podcast, I kept thinking I want to ask my students to write their own origin stories (plural! we all have many!)—and then interpret them, and mine them for insights about their present and future.
And I realized how much my graphic memoir The Keeper relied on my excavation of origin stories. Years ago when people sometimes asked how I became a writer, I would jokingly say that it all started on the soccer field: I was a goalkeeper with a lot of time to think and make up stories. But saying that made me realize that I’d always felt I could only pursue writing after I’d given up sports—I believed they were distinct pursuits and in competition with each other. By identifying the soccer field as part of my origin story as a writer, I could more deeply explore the connections and similarities—and embrace my passion for sports again.
Another of my writerly origin stories is about how, although I was an English major, I was too afraid to take a creative writing class in college. But then I started teaching high school English, and one of the writing pedagogy books I read suggested that the teacher should write along WITH the students. So I did. A lot! I got hooked on doing the “creative writing” I never did in college.
Here’s another of my origin stories! How I started my daily artmaking habit
Feel free to share your origin stories in the comments!
EDIT: To clarify, Julie did not make up the story! It’s just that her parents didn’t remember it, so it called everything into question. She talks about it very thoughtfully in the podcast, give it a listen!
Here’s the episode of the #AmWriting podcast: Raising Your Voice, Claiming Your Story (It just aired 2 days ago!)
The host I mentioned is
of The Art Business of Book Coaching; her guest with the fab origin story is of Julie’s Wyrd Words. I hope I’ve represented their conversation accurately!
Thanks for reading The Habit of Art by Kelcey Ervick, a Substack Featured Publication (twice!). I love writing and drawing these posts and am grateful to everyone who follows along. Some of you are new here, so, welcome! I’m a writer and professor in Indiana. If you like this newsletter, you might like my graphic memoir, The Keeper, where my writerly origin story begins in a soccer goal. It was featured in the New York Times Book Review’s Holiday Gift Guide and happens to be 40% off at the place that rhymes with Wham-a-zon. If you’re interested in making comics and visual stories, check out my edited craft book, The Field Guide to Graphic Literature. I have other books too! Thanks for your support!
I am absolutely captivated by your illustrations and your writing and literally just everything about this story and your page. Truly phenomenal.
Love this. There’s a Toni Morrison quote that helps me immensely: “First of all, I must trust my own recollections.”