With the flight simulator as our metaphor for the adaptive utility of story, how would we program the simulator itself? What kinds of stories would we have it run? We can take the answer from the first page of the Creative Writing 101 curriculum. An axiom of storytelling is the need for conflict. The need for difficulty. The need for trouble. We are drawn in by characters pursuing outcomes that require clearing treacherous hurdles, external and internal. Their journeys, literal and symbolic, keep us on the edge of our seats or furiously turning pages.
