my best earning post ever was one that I made about my first few weeks on steemit and what I had learned at that point. people do appreciate having some background info on whatever a person is posting about.
Even with my colorchallenge and photography posts I always make a point to include at least a short paragraph to give the reader some background info about the picture, when I took it, how long ago, etc.
But you're right about stories being an integral part of our lives. I often get long-winded and feel that sometimes I'm putting too much info in a post or comment but I prefer to err on the side of too much info and people usually don't seem to mind it. I tend to make more when I explain more in general.