In the pantheon of storytelling, there is one arena where the stakes are perpetually life-and-death, yet the weapons are often just a whispered secret or a loaded glance across a dinner table: the family. From the tragic house of Atreus in Greek mythology to the boardrooms of Succession and the kitchen tables of August: Osage County , family drama storylines remain the most enduring and universally relatable genre in fiction.

Write the argument you’ve never had. Write the secret you’ve never told. Write the family reunion you dread attending. Do that, and your readers will see their own scattered, loving, infuriating families staring back from the page.

Now, pass the potatoes. And please, don’t mention Uncle Frank.