Chapter 1 introduces the sociology of nothing, in the context of life-story research. I suggest that negative phenomena—no-things, no-bodies, non-events and no-where places—can be significant in shaping personal identity. Bringing together ideas from phenomenology and symbolic interactionism, I propose the concept of reverse biographical identity work. I discuss the project’s research design and methodology, which focuses on the ‘how’ of storytelling: narrative style, form and composition. I then outline the chapters, identifying five types of tale.