Try it this way instead, with '%s'
% Open a text file to save the string to.
fid = fopen('story1.txt', 'wt'); % Use wt instead of w
% Print string to the file and command window.
fprintf(fid, '%s\n', y) % y is a string. Prints to a file.
fprintf('%s\n', y) % Print to command window instead of a file.
% Close the file;
fclose(fid);