"There are a ton of amazing stories to inspire writers," Aidan Moher, who started the thread, told Bored Panda. "But it's important to make sure you remember and acknowledge where that inspiration came from, and go through the appropriate methods of getting permission to use those stories."
"I think the big takeaway for me as a writer is that life is full of coincidences and just as weird, unusual, and wacky as anything an author can come up with off the top of their head. So, writers should go big, but also think about how those stories impact the people in the moment and later into their life."
When asked if he'd gotten any stories that went beyond unbelievable and were just... not very believable, Moher said there was one rather risque trend.
"I've had... more than a few men making outlandish claims about the size of their sexual anatomy. Those are probably the most obviously fake. Otherwise, while I'm sure there are lots of embellishments and outright fake stories, I'm having fun because I think the majority of these stories are genuine."
Another reason Twitter trends like this take off so hard (see all the beginning vs. end of the decade posts plus any meme asking people to share facts about themselves) is because they tap into people’s penchant for talking about themselves.
Harvard researchers looked into what it is about talking about ourselves that lights up pleasure centers in our brains, and found that we enjoy not just sharing information about ourselves with other people, but self-examination in the first place.
Basically, there’s a reason why asking people questions about themselves is one of the most popular pieces of advice for being a good conversationalist, said to make people more likable. Try asking the same question Moher did next time you’re at a party—some of your acquaintances might have their own stories that they’ve been waiting to share.
