I love to read. But I will be the first to admit I’m picky when it comes to fiction. It’s hard for me to pick up a book and get lost in its pages. Occasionally, it happens. I start reading a book and the story sweeps me away, transports me to a different time and place. Even less occasionally, quite rarely in fact, a book comes along that doesn’t just sweep me away, but leaves a fingerprint on my soul, leaves me different from when I first started reading. It changes something inside me. Gets me to look at the world and my faith differently, alters my lenses.
The books I consider life-changing, for me, are few and far between – easily counted on the fingers of my left hand. Recently, I’ve added one more to the ranks. Havah: The Story of Eve, by Tosca Lee. A month after finishing, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. About Eve. About how real she became between the covers of that book. About the pain and hardship she had to endure. Talk about taking the story of creation and breathing life into it.
Contrary to what you might be thinking, I didn’t write this post to give a glowing review of Havah, no matter how deserving. I actually wrote it to reflect on life-changing fiction in general. What makes it life-changing? Is it the prose? The story? The theme? The characters? A mysterious combination of all four, plus the Holy Spirit moving in the reader? And can I write life-changing fiction?
I think I can write engaging fiction. I think God has given me the ability to tell a good story. But life-changing? Not sure if I’ve reached that place yet. Not sure if I will. Not sure if every author who pens a story is meant to. Or needs to. But wow, when it happens, there’s something very magical about it. Something very profound. Something very….well, life-changing.
Questions to Ponder: Do you want to change lives with your writing? Have you ever read a life-changing fictional book? If so, please share!
I'd like to think God will use my writing to touch lives but I'm not sure it will ever be that good. My intention is to write my best and leave the results to him.
I can't say I've read any fiction that made a life-changing impact on me but some stories have stayed with me for a long time. For instance, Jane Kirkpatrick's series about frontier women in the 1850's filled me with awe at their faith and endurance.
What a great post, Katie. Very thought provoking. I loved Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.
I've thought about this subject before, and I think it's impossible for every writer to write life-changing novels, but there are also readers out there who just want to be entertained.
Peony in Love was haunting!
With some of my mainstream fiction books I most def. do. With my chick lit, I'd like to make them laugh through a thrilling romance. With my YA um…ditto the chick lit! BTW, I love Krista's thought on the Lord's will being done with my writing. I'm all His. I trust Him so.
I don't expect my writing to change anyone's life. However, I do hope it will make people laugh when they read it.
Hey Katie, I decided it was high time I followed you, since I seem to bump into you all the time out here in the blogging world. 🙂 Yes, I would love to write that kind of book, though I think I'd have to have been at the novel-writing thing quite a while before pulling it off. I do aspire to that, and I think the key is writing from a place deep inside — a very emotional place. If you connect with that part of yourself that has experienced a significant change and can somehow convey that on paper, it could be transforming for many. But I do think that in some ways such a book would require all the elements you mentioned.
I agree with Sherrinda… FRiver's Voice in the Wind… oh my gosh, completely life changing! Like you said… I didn't shave my head and go on live off of nuts and berries because of it (ha) but wow… It just totally rocked my world to see that simple love for God, and to see God use a girl who was full of fear in such a huge way.
Do *I* want to write life-changing fiction? I think, for Christians, are hope is ALWAYS that God will use our books to impact someone's life.
For me, my goal of writing is to make people smile while still giving them something to think about. Will this "change" a life? I dunno, but if a mom who is completely stressed out, gets a few hours of giggles and destresses a bit… then I feel God has used me. If someone relates to one of my characters and God uses it to speak to them… then WOW WOW cool!
I am NOT the next Tosca Lee or Francine Rivers. I am not going to write some epic novel that in 20 years people will still read and be blown over by, but I trust God will use my books in his timing, as he wills.
Love the comments! Keep 'em coming.
Just a little ramble of thought. I, too, think life-changing is subjective. What's life-changing for me won't be life-changing for others.
I also wanted to clarify what I meant by life-changing. AFter reading Havah, I didn't sell my home or decide to have ten kids or anything drastic like that. It just brought light to something I hadn't given much thought to. It made the fall of man so real. The idea that one act of disobedience could have such far-reaching consequences. It has made me think about sin in a different way. God in a different way. The way I look at His relationship with us has altered, or expanded, a little. This is why this book was life-changing for me.
Keep 'em coming ladies and gents! I'm enjoying this conversation.
I love reading and writing fiction. I hope that one day my books will change someones life in some fabulous way. One book that changed me and opened my eyes is Sweet Hearts by Sara Zarr.
Yes, I hope I do. I want to. That's my goal when I write–to minister to others. I think the most recent book that ministered to me was the one I featured last week. It was the most perfect gift any book could have given me.
Great post, Katie! Have a great day!
I don't think I've ever read a book that changed my life. What I have done: read something that made me think. About my life. My choices. Etc.
So that's what I want to do. Write something that makes people pause and think, "What would I do?" or something like that.
I think it's rare for one book to be life-changing across the board. I think I could write life-changing fiction for one person but not globally.
I'd like to write life-changing fiction. Whether or not I'm accomplishing that goal in my manuscripts remains to be seen.
Havah also impacted me. I think Tosca Lee did a great job showing the consequences of Adam and Eve's choices. Jane Kirkpatrick, Christina Berry, and several others have also written books that reached me at a deep level.
Blessings,
Susan 🙂
I think that is a wonderful question to consider. One that makes us bring our motives into check. While I pretended to write fiction when I was young, I ended up finding that nonfiction came easier to me when it came time for me to actually write a book from start to finish. I felt I was actually pointing others to 1)Christ and 2)His Word, and that made me feel like my call to writing was truly being played out in a responsible way. The fact that readers were entertained in the process was simply a bonus.
However, lately I feel as if the switch to fiction may be on the horizon for me, and the thing I'm struggling with the most is – will it point people to God and His Word, or will it simply entertain all of those readers in the world who devour fiction but have never read their own Bibles cover-to-cover? I don't want to be the writer that takes them away from time in the Word.
So, I think it's a tricky situation (for me at least). How do you entertain with fiction, but still point readers towards God's Word? Because it is, after all, *His Word* that truly changes lives and not our stories.
http://www.emilyeryan.com
Good question, Katie. Like Tamika, I aspire to write fiction that touches people on a very deep level and stays with them. That's just my own goal, and I enjoy other kinds of fiction as well.
The desire to write powerful fiction creates a lot of pressure. I know that I have to choose the right theme if it's going to work.
I love that there are so many kinds of fiction out there. I love life-changing fiction but there are times I simply want something that is entertaining.
I used to just want to write entertaining books. To draw in readers and leave them satisfied with some interesting characters and a happy ending. I still want that but I truly hope to make a difference with my fiction. To leave a mark on them somehow that pulls them back to my story far after they're done. I think if that's God's will for my writing it will definitely happen.
I have read many books that I found powerful, intense, and provoking but I have yet to read a life changing book. Thank you for sharing a great book rec though as I am always interested in new titles and love to read.
I don't think I want the responsibility of having my book be life changing. I just want to write and engaging story that entertains.
Not every book is going to be life-changing for every person. What touches you deeply might bounce off me, and vice versa. Because we all bring our own history and sensibilities to the books we read.
One of the recent books that touched me deeply is Robin Jones Gunn's Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes, because of the life situation our family was going through and Robin's exquisite skill at weaving spiritual truth with heart-level women's issues.
There's only one Book with the potential to change the life of every person who reads it.
I haven't read any books lately that have changed my life, but it has definitely been an accumulation of a lot of books that have set me on a course.
Katie, I want to make an impact on kids. In other words, I want to show them the wonderful world of books. But my stories are not life-changing. Oh the characters learn and all that. But I just want the kids to love reading.
Now as for me reading those types of books. YES! I love them and someday plan on writing one for big people. 🙂 On my son Christopher.
I'll have to get that book now though. You have my curiosity going.
Love this post. 🙂
I love life-changing fiction books as well. They're the books I'm most drawn to. You're right, they are hard to come by. It would be great to reach that kind of level of writing. Allowing others to soak in our words and be transformed by them. The Shack by Wm. Paul Young was one of those books for me.
At the risk of being the minority here, I have to disagree with just about everyone. lol… I think we as writers have life-changing potential in everything we write, esp as Christian writers. We never know how are stories are going to effect someone. Maybe a lady passes on one of our novels to a friend who is a non-Christian, just as something "entertaining, or engaging" to read. That person gets their first look at what it's like to be a Christian, or to be redeemed, or whatever…and it changes their life. One thing to keep in mind is that what is life changing for one person, may not be another. Life-changing is tailored to our current situation, our needs. So, yeah, that's my two cents. 🙂
I don't know how life changing it was, but I loved 'Tuesday's with Morrie ' by Mitch Albom and I am looking for to reading his new one 'Have a little faith. I am like you Katie, I rarely find a book that comes anywhere near to 'life changing.' And Christian fiction and I are not currently on speaking terms. The stuff we get here in Australia is really not that great. There are some exceptions, but if I want good Christian fiction I have to get on line and order from overseas. I just don't know why we don't get more good stuff down here. There is stuff out there I know it. Like your book. I can't wait to read your book. And I liked Deborah Vogts book.
I write because I want to leave finger prints on other people's lives. I hope that is what my words end up doing- in a good way 🙂
I think it's so different for everybody, but all those things you mentioned go in to it, certainly.
I don't know if I'm after life-changing. No, I know I'm not. But I want my readers to feel what I've written. Like when you're at the theater and a trailer for an upcoming movie plays, you get caught up in the story, the characters, feel so badly that you have to see that movie. I want my readers to feel that way through my words.
Katie, I have that book, too, but haven't gotten past the first few chapters. I really must plug along to get caught up in it now.
I tend to agree with you that not everyone is meant to write life-changing fiction. For me, Karen Kingsbury's books always make me strive to be a better person, or see something in a different light that answers a deep question.
Yes. yes I have. very few tho. very few. I think that's why I read SO MUCH. I'm looking for that life changing book.
I get very close sometimes. Some passages in books.. parts are life changing. Books as a whole tho.. different.
Most of them are non-fiction..but fiction IS harder.
Let's see if I can name one or two.. maybe The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (you have to read the entire book to get it).
Also, definitely The Last Battle, by C.S Lewis.
Maybe the Notebook too.
I was a hair away from putting engaging as one of my favorite words in that deal you tagged me in today. Engaging works for me. And yes, I want to impact my readers so much they put the book down thinking anew. Changed.
~ Wendy
"Not sure if every author who pens a story is meant to. Or needs to."
I think this is the key. It's similar to movies – some will change our lives, while others are there for entertainment. Very few will probably change us, but that doesn't make the others any less valuable. Books or movies that are there to entertain us still serve a huge purpose – they still take us away from the "everyday-ness" of our lives. A book that doesn't change my life still takes me away from the stress of work or the frustration of dealing with toddler tantrums or holiday stress. They take my mind off those things even if it's just until I close the book, but I think that's important. And meaningful.
Maybe you will be one of those authors who writes life-changing books, but even if you don't, you'll still bring something important to your readers' lives – a break from their own lives and a chance to escape into your characters' lives.
That can mean the world to some people.
-Tracy
I have to be honest, I don't don't think "life changing" is my gift. 🙂
I'm not sure I've really read a life changing fiction book–thought-provoking, yes.
The thing is we never know what we do or say, write or create will effect someone somewhere.
I'd be lying if I didn't say I dreamed of writing life changing fiction! But you made the important point, that everyone may not be meant to. I trust God will elevate my work and writing how He see fit to bless others.
There have been several books that captivated me with the style of writing, but only two that were life changing.
I'm not sure whether I'm writing life changing fiction. I do hope my fiction entertains the reader and I hope it makes the reader think about something in a new way, God, or love. I love books like that take me away! It seems most of the books imprinted on my memory are ones I read in middle and high school. Not sure why that is.
🙂
Have a great day! Christmas break is coming!!!
I think you're right, Katie. Not every book is meant to be life-changing. Everyone writes for different reasons and passion.
And perhaps the messages/themes of different books leave handprints on the people who need them. So what might touch your particular need, might not mine and vice versa.
Thought provoking post, Katie. My writing won't ever be life changing. I think what I write is just for enjoyment. As for what makes writing life-changing, I think it is all of the above. That mysterious combination with the Spirit's touch is what touches souls.
Francine River's book Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion triology) was a book that stayed with me forever! I love the idea of a humble servant girl who never preached, but served in love, bringing the whole househould to Christ just by serving sacrificially. Oh that I may speak with my actions like that.