It’s my guess that every writer wants to learn how to write a book that will change lives.
You’re a writer. You’re also a reader. Whatever you like to read, from page turning, genre-bending pulp fiction novels, to deeply philosophical treatises on the human experience, you know the power of books.
Think about a book that has changed your life.
I think the fiction that had the most significant and wide-reaching impact on me has been The Handmaid’s Tale, which I first read in 1999. I was nineteen years old, just on the other side of having my life fall apart if I hadn’t made some serious grown-up decisions and changed direction. I’d had a three year period as a high school drop out, landed in some dark places, and now I was back in school, older than all the other kids, scared out of my mind, and my new, incredibly intimidating, English teacher handed me this 80s novel about some weird religious dystopia where women were imprisoned to make babies according to the literal laws of the bible….
I didn’t choose to read it. I didn’t even want to read it. I didn’t think I could read it. When it was handed to me, I still remember that fear but on so many levels. When I look back now, I feel like it was more a case of the book itself doing the choosing, the eleventh grade English curriculum was just the catalyst.
I fell so hard into that novel. It re-kindled a love of reading I hadn’t even realized had gone out. It made me pay attention to serious things. It helped me remember how to learn. It also turned me into a life long Margaret Atwood devotee. If I hadn’t done so well with that English class thanks to starting with that novel, my first class in my return to high school, I might never have graduated. I might never have graduated with top grades. I might never have gone on to get an English degree, and a few other degrees after that. I might never have become a writer.
Writers dream of having that kind of impact on readers. Every writer wants to write a life-changing book.
But there’s no way to guarantee the book you’re working on will even be read, let alone be a life changer for a reader.
Depressing, but true.
Once that book is out into the world, it’s out of our hands and the effect it will have on readers in anyone’s guess.
Yet, by writing your book, any book, you can guarantee to change one life.
Your own.
When a writer writes their first book, something quite magical happens.
This is the most significant life change for writers. This is where the aspiring writer becomes a writer. This where “I would like to…” and even “I will…” becomes “I can…” and “I have…”
The power of that change is transcendent. Empowering.
When a writer writes their second book, the magic continues.
And the third and the fourth and the twentieth and the fiftieth.
Every book you write changes your life for the better.
Every book you write teaches you something about yourself.
Yes, I can do this.
Yes, I can do this again with a different story.
Every book you write teaches you something about the world. New settings, histories, you’ve researched, the new human dimensions you’ve explored.
Every book you write teaches something about the writing craft. Even when you’re on your tenth novel, there’s always something else to learn, something else to try.
Working with this attitude of change means living in an atmosphere of constant personal growth.
It’s empowering, and it’s satisfying. It adds another dimension to work towards that means so much more than bestseller lists, rankings, and income.
When we work with this attitude, telling the stories that matter to us, we write for ourselves. We become authentic writers, and this authenticity translates into better writing, powerful writing. And this is when our books resonate with readers.
This is when we start to change the reader’s lives too.
If we want to learn how to write a life-changing book, we must write the books that will change our lives first. That’s the only guarantee.
