make it happen stories – What is a make it happen stories marathon?

Everything begins with a thought. A thought might turn into an idea. An idea might be the first seed for a story. A story can inspire and open windows and doors. A story can shape our lives and our world. We can change the stories that damage us and our planet, and we can create those stories that shape a world worthy of a species who has the capacity to think, who has the ability to use their imagination, who is capable of creating instead of destroying, who has everything it takes to empower instead of throttling.

last updated: 26 May 2025

What is

a MAKE IT HAPPEN STORIES MARATHON?

A MAKE IT HAPPEN STORIES MARATHON is sixty hours of creating and posting stories, sixty hours of bending our minds on one topic, sixty hours of unleashing our imagination for our future.

Image hundreds, thousands or millions of people: writers, scientists, musicians, comics creators, gamers, sports people, thinkers, children, grans and everyone else bend their minds on one issue that we, the people of planet Earth need to address, imagine how much can happen.

Why?

Because all change starts in the mind, and stories make both our troubles, potential solutions, our doubts and anxieties and our hopes, tangible, relatable, possible.

We and our planet are in trouble. But this is our world and we can shape it. Let’s find the stories which serve us and let’s do so together.

‘You know,’ Alice interrupted his thoughts, ‘maybe we should fight back after all.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked while slicing a tomato.
‘The smear campaign people invent stories to harm us.’
‘Yes?’
‘Why don’t we do something like it? We write stories about them. And while they tell lies, our stories can expose them as the petty little stinkers they are. In the end, the side with the better stories will win. And I’m sure it will be us.’

@ Charlie Alice Raya, book 2/1, travelling

Three-days marathons

Start
9:00 GMT

End
21:00 GMT

Duration
60 hours

1. Post your start time (You can start and exit any time within the 60 hours).

2. Draft as many stories, songs, images, films on the given subject as you want.

3. Post at least one contribution during your run.

4. Use the #MiHS & #mihsM hashtags to be included in my reviews.

5. Use the #mihsINVITES hashtag to invite other writers, contributors or supporters.

5. Finish your marathon by posting your exit time. (Add a story count and a link to your story snippets if you like.)

6. Take a look at #mihsM and support other contributors with likes, comments and reposts.

7. Share your experiences.

IMAGINE we all bent our minds to dealing with the mess we are in, each of us with the talents and imagination we have to contribute.

Why call it marathons?

In many past years I watched parts of the Berlin Marathon from my balcony.

What fascinated me most was the diversity of the participants: all speed-levels, all strength-levels, all sorts of ability, all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of costumes. Everyone, no matter who they are, had come to together for this event.

The first runners passed my balcony way ahead of the crowds and the final people were still running four hours later, and nothing, it seemed, could keep them from continuing.

What I also like is that all participants have a common goal, to finish the marathon (and if possible breaking a personal record). And in order to reach this goal, the runners are prepared to give their all.

And there was the cheering crowd, lining the street and boosting the runners confidence.

That’s what I want for the stories marathons, too. People of all walks of life coming together, mixing in that huge crowd (creating, contributing, supporting), all with one goal: to do our bit for the future of our planet.