Art is Storytelling.

In the book "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath, they talk about stories as being like a "flight simulator" for the brain. It turns out that when a person thinks about doing something, like driving or opening a door or singing, the corresponding parts of their brain lights up as if they were doing the actual activity. So when you listen to a story, you are learning about what's happening for real. This is why stories are so important to kids, and why they want to hear them over and over. They are in the flight simulator, practicing all sorts of things. Magic spells! Dealing with bullies! Building a skyscraper!

What about the other side of this coin? What about the process of making your own stories? Does creating your own stories, in whatever form, also grow your brain? I'm willing to bet it takes the flight simulator and makes it even more fabulous, because now now only do you get to create your own flight simulator, but you get to think about how someone else is going to see or hear or read it. So you simulate what's in your story, and you think about someone else experiencing it. At the same time. That's cool. Never forget that art is storytelling.