In his poem “Tell Me a Story,” Robert Penn Warren lays down a dictum (intended or not) for what all writers should do:

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

(h/t: Mark Singer)