Popular participation—whether as activism, social media activity, or in literary and media representations—was largely defined by elite actors and articulated with political progressivenessprogressiveness, artistic vanguardism, and colourful street festivals. Months before a referendum was officially confirmed, discussions in the press discursively ascribed Scottish artists and writers a central function in the referendum debate as well as a pro-independence bias (cf. Thomson in J Scott Thought 8:63–87, 2016: 63). Related assumptions were repeatedly performed in press coverage throughout the campaign; these performances discursively centred a cultural and intellectual elite in political debate and marked them as political representatives while also assimilating them as ostensibly voiceless symbolssymbols for independence—from Bissett and Lochhead, Morgan and Gray to Stevenson, Scott, and BurnsBurns. By analysing how popular participation was, paradoxically, negotiated in elite cultural, media, and political discourses, this chapter further develops concerns around representation and elite influence with a specific focus on how “the stories we tell of ourselves” affect national politics and perceptions of the nation from within. The chapter analyses interview data, newspaper coverage and publications to establish writers’ and artists’ discursive role in the referendum debate and addresses how their involvement has shaped and performed cultural identity, elite power, and representations of popular participation in the referendum.