Why We Write: Danica Baptiste
Read a new piece in our ongoing series!
Welcome back to Why We Write! Today’s piece comes from emerging screenwriter and novelist Danica Baptiste.
Take it away, Danica!
Why Stories Matter More Than Ever
Recently, I heard someone say that in the age of artificial intelligence, our ideas maybe among the last things that remain distinctly human. I remember feeling relieved by that. In a world increasingly shaped by automation and efficiency, it was comforting to think that imagination, creativity, and original thought might still belong to us.
But the longer I sat with that idea, the more I realized that ideas alone are not enough.
A good idea may spark attention, but a good story changes people. Stories are what help us feel, connect, and remember. They carry our heroes and villains, our heartbreaks and hopes, our lessons, losses, and moral reckonings. They take what otherwise would have been abstract and make it unforgettable.
What is the first story you remember being told? Not just one you heard, but one you felt. One that made your body react before your mind understood why. The story that gave you goosebumps, made you laugh too hard, or left you quiet long after it ended.
That is why we write.
We do not write simply to produce ideas. We write to make meaning from them. We write to turn experience into something another person can hold. We write because facts alone cannot carry the full weight of a life. They can inform, but they cannot always comfort. They can explain, but they cannot always connect.
The first story that changed me was HOLES by Louis Sachar which my fourth-grade Language Arts teacher placed in our hands. I devoured this book at home, half-hoping I could skip dinner so I could keep my nose buried in its pages. My parents didn’t mind because they thought I was just dedicated to my studies, but it wasn’t that. I needed to follow the story of Stanley Yelnats, cursed and sent to dig holes at Camp Green Lake under the blazing Texas sun. I needed the escape. I needed the escape from my own Camp Green Lake. I needed to believe there was hope at the end of the story.
My home life wasn’t a loving environment. Raised voices carried through the walls, which sometimes became worse. Good stories provided a safe haven for me. They allowed me to dream and to hope beyond the reality I was born into. Good stories inspired me to pick up my own pen and discover the power of my own voice.
For me, writing has always been more than expression. It has been a way of surviving silence. A way of tracing what I felt before I had the language to say it aloud. A way of returning to myself when my world felt too combative, too fast, too loud, or too indifferent to hold what I was carrying. Writing gave me a place to be honest before I knew how to be heard.
That may be why I believe so deeply in storytelling now. Not because stories are decorative or merely interesting, but because they are essential to the human experience. They remind us that another person has lived through confusion, longing, grief, joy, contradiction — and come back with language for it. Stories help us recognize ourselves in one another. They resist isolation. They leave a trail worthy of following.
In a time that rewards speed, efficiency, and endless output, writing asks something different of us. It asks us to pay attention. To linger. To tell the truth as closely as we can. To resist flattening our lives into bullet points, hot takes, or summaries. Writing insists that nuance matters. That memory matters. That voice matters.
I hope the art of writing and storytelling never becomes secondary to efficiency. I hope we never become so obsessed with producing that we forget how to witness, reflect, and feel. Because to write is not just to say something. It is to leave behind evidence of thought, tenderness, struggle, imagination, and survival.
We write because facts alone cannot hold a life. We write because stories help us feel less alone. We write because being human has always meant trying to leave something true behind.
Danica Baptiste is an emerging writer with a background in blogging and personal essay writing, currently seeking opportunities to grow in professional writing. While she’s not yet published, she’s actively developing her voice through long-form storytelling and reflective nonfiction. Danica is currently working on both a manuscript and a screenplay, with a focus on stories that explore identity, intimacy, resilience, and what it means to be fully human.
Thanks to Danica!
More Why We Write:
Jainaba M. Seckan on creating through loss and finding new purpose
Brandon Carbaugh on writing for his beloved brother
David Roth on how writers can embrace “AI” in their work
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See you in the comments.
I love when you say that stories of all kinds have the ability to hold people. It’s so true. Like making someone laugh by putting pen to paper is such a precious gift to give others. And letting your own words bring you comfort is a self-soothing that not enough people lean into. Thanks for the reminders.