Exercise 11 of 20 from the Playing With Purpose Student Edition
From Book 6: The Voice (Exercises in Authenticity)
The Parable
Every person has a unique angle of vision. A way of seeing the world that no one else has. It comes from where you grew up, who you love, what hurt you, what you survived, what makes you laugh. The story that only you can tell is the story that emerges from that angle of vision.
A woman once asked a writer: ‘How do I know if my story has been told before?’ The writer answered: ‘Has it been told from your angle? Has it been told by you? Then it has never been told.’ The story matters not because of the plot. It matters because of the perspective. The angle. The voice that tells it.
You do not have to invent a story that no one has ever written. You have to tell the story that only you can tell. The story only your perspective can make true.
The Exercise
Write the first sentence of a story. Not a story you’ve read before. Not a story you’ve planned. The story that wants to come through you. The story only you can tell.
This is just one sentence. The opening line. Not a paragraph. Not an outline. One sentence that begins the story.
The sentence should make it clear: only this person could have written this. Something about the perspective. The vocabulary. The angle. Something that proves this comes from a specific voice.
If nothing comes, start with an image. A person. A place. A moment you witnessed. What would be the first sentence of that story?
Read it aloud. Does it sound like you? Does it have your angle? Does it make you want to keep writing? If yes, you’ve found the beginning.
Reflection Questions
1. The story that only you can tell is not hidden. It is right there. The story you’ve been wanting to tell. The story you think has been told before but hasn’t been told like this, from your perspective. Your angle makes it new.
2. Your voice is not what you say. Your voice is the specific angle from which you say it. Everything changes when the perspective changes. The same story told from your angle becomes a story no one has ever heard.
What We Were Trying to Do
Maya Angelou insisted that the world needs your story because it needs your angle. Your perspective is not a redundancy. It is an addition. The gift you bring is the specific way you see. That specificity is your voice.
Why It Matters
You do not need permission to tell your story. You need to know that your angle is not a liability. It is an asset. The things you notice that others don’t. The things that matter to you that others overlook. Those are your voice.
References & Further Reading
(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Random House, 1969, Introduction and Chapter 1 – on perspective and narrative voice)
Going Further
This is just the first sentence. You are not committing to a novel. You are opening a door. See what’s on the other side. The sentence is the threshold.
This exercise is from the Playing With Purpose Student Edition by Greg Williams. The complete series of 650 exercises across 10 books is planned for publication in summer 2026.
This is practice. Nobody will grade this.
