What Is A Good Story?

I’m currently re-reading Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It is, without question, my most favorite book. The Holy Bible would have taken the top spot were it not for one, but TWO tedious books of Chronicles.

Side-note: I really hope you guys “get” my sense of humor by now.

ANYWAY. Just two weeks from tomorrow, I fly across the country for Donald Miller’s Storyline conference in Nashville. I’m beyond stoked. It was something I semi-spontaneously registered for this summer despite being in debt, before even purchasing any plane tickets to the Music City.

Wait, is that Nashville’s nickname? The Music City? Or is it more specifically the Country Music City? Or how about just the Country City? Is having “country” and “city” in the same city’s nickname just too confusing?

Whatever Nashvillians call Nashville, I’ll be there in hardly two weeks. When I made the decision not to return to Camp Ridgecrest this summer, I knew my wandering soul would need some kind of adventure before too long. And when Donald Miller himself announced he’d be giving Storyline away, I was all over it like a fish with a hobo stick.

It’s been a couple years since I last read A Million Miles; it hardly took a page for me to fall back in love with this man and his story. His sense of humor, his sincerity, his desire to transform a meaningless life into a thrilling one — for himself, for others.

Donald Miller’s first big book was Blue Like Jazz. A couple years and some less popular publishings later, a filmmaker approached him about turning that bestseller of spiritual essays into a movie.

But how exactly does one turn several scattered nonfiction essays into a story? That’s what Donald Miller himself wondered at first; the filmmaker knew what to do, though. Knew he’d have to take the story of young “Don” and give it — him — a couple tweaks.

He’d have to craft a fictional Donald Miller from the real, “nonfictional” Donald Miller.

Essentially, Donald Miller’s life needed to become less boring to be a good story. A better story.

And so, Donald Miller wrote A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, a book about how he “edited” his own life into a good story worth telling. After attending Robert McKee’s famed “Story” seminar, Miller amassed 11 words to describe every good story:

A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.

THAT’S IT. 11 measly momentous words to change your life.

Because, see, a “good story” doesn’t merely apply to fictional tales of hobbits and horcruxes. A Million Miles isn’t a book about crafting the most compelling fictional characters and fictional plots and fictional resolutions and someday landing among the fictional New York Times bestsellers.

No. Not at all.

This is a book about how to live. Indeed, the same “rules” of a good fictional story apply also to our nonfictional human lives — heartbreaking inspiring stories all in themselves.

A Million Miles is cleverly organized into five sections. After an introduction, the following four sections are titled as follows:

1. A character.

2. A character who wants something.

3. A character who wants something and overcomes conflict.

4. A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.

Oh my gosh, seriously, if you haven’t read this book you need to order it right now. I rarely proclaim something will change your life (while we’re on the subject…In-N-Out), but really, A Million Miles will cause you to reexamine your entire existence.

I remember sitting next to a girl on a plane once, and she was reading this very book. Needless to say: most exciting airplane conversation this introvert has ever had.

With one section already re-read, I can’t wait to dive back into the rest of my favorite book and rediscover the marks of a good life. A good story.

In the meantime, I have a homework assignment for y’all! Fun homework. Not Chemistry homework.

Watch this video. It perfectly demonstrates the aforementioned marks of a “good story.” Jarryd Wallace is actually a friend of my brother’s, and I even ran JV cross country with the guy back in the DAY.

As you watch these five minutes of raw glory, try to spot those 4 marks of a good story. Because good gosh, Jarryd Wallace certainly exhibits a good story:

Among countless chilling moments, my favorite might have occurred at 2:30 when Jarryd spoke of researching the Paralympic world record-holders, pointing to that computer screen and saying, “I want my name to be on this list.”

A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.

The rest is history. His story.

As I re-dive into A Million Miles in these pre-Nashville weeks to come, I hope to unpack more of what it means to live a good story. I’m certain the Storyline conference itself will produce at least one or two illuminating blogs. I can’t wait to share more.

In the meantime, let’s dialogue, shall we?

Do you ever view your life like a good story? What do you “want”? What’s your “conflict”? What will it take to overcome that conflict and get what you want?

Also: have you read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years? Please tell me you have. Or please tell me you just ordered it or checked it out or borrowed it or stole it and left a note saying you’re sorry you’ll give it right back when you finish.