Shakespeare didn't write stories. He wrote plays. Plays are very different from stories. Imagine if you took your favourite story and left out everything except the things that the characters say. That's what a play is like.
Shakespeare was encourage to write plays because it was his job. The more plays and the better plays he wrote, the more money he made.
Being paid for it.
There's no evidence to suggest this.
Write poems, stories, and plays.
Actually Shakespeare wrote very few stories. Most of his plays were written using stories other people had written. The stories he did write, like A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, were often fairy stories. He also wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor, which is a bawdy farce.
It is misleading to suggest that Shakespeare wrote stories. With very few exceptions, Shakespeare made plays out of other people's stories. He also tweaked their stories and made them better. But he did not write or even make up stories.
Being paid for it.
The possibility of making money out of doing it.
There's no evidence to suggest this.
Write poems, stories, and plays.
Actually Shakespeare wrote very few stories. Most of his plays were written using stories other people had written. The stories he did write, like A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, were often fairy stories. He also wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor, which is a bawdy farce.
It is misleading to suggest that Shakespeare wrote stories. With very few exceptions, Shakespeare made plays out of other people's stories. He also tweaked their stories and made them better. But he did not write or even make up stories.
Mainly he wrote tragedies, but he also wrote comedies.
Shakespeare wrote at least thirty-eight plays and two narrative poems which all tell stories. In fact, the plays often tell two or more stories at the same time. You can find summaries of the stories in an encyclopedia or a book about Shakespeare or in a book like Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare which tells them in a form designed for Victorian children.
John and Mary Arden, Shakespeares parents, did encourage Shakespeare
Shakespeare encouraged people to pursue literature
They were encouraged to write. Henslowe's journal shows that a playwright could get an advance on his payment for a play once he had explained the basic outline of it. The balance of their pay came when the play was done, so there was a great incentive to write it, and quick.
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare was created in 1907.