As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.
A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.
Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.
We are creatures of story.
The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.