Impact Fiction exists to encourage and empower authors to make a difference through sharing heart-stirring, thought-provoking stories with a world desperate for hope and light.
Now more than ever, we need stories that are bigger than an escape. We need stories that take us by the hand, lead us on a journey of discovery, and continue to walk beside us and draw our gaze to new wonders when we return to reality.
We need true stories.
“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
Aslan (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)
Values
The following are the five foundational qualities I believe are essential to meaningful and enduring storytelling. These are the things I look for in the stories I read, seek to encourage in the writers I interact with, and desire to pursue in my relationships with clients and colleagues. I hope this vision will inspire you as you consider your purpose and direction as a storyteller.
CURIOSITY opens our minds to discovery and prepares our souls for wonder. The pursuit of curiosity requires the humility to acknowledge the limits of our understanding, relinquish the need to possess all the answers, and embrace the call to explore unfamiliar territory. When we are confident in the knowledge that truth will never compromise in the face of the unknown, we have the freedom to ask difficult questions without fear and dive deeper into the understanding of our foundation. Healthy curiosity allows us to explore wisely, carefully evaluating all the options rather than settling for the easy, obvious path. When we let curiosity lead us, we find new eyes to rediscover the ordinary and be fascinated by the magic in the overlooked.
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
― Plutarch
COMPASSION desires the success and well-being of others and actively gives of itself to make that desire a reality. It transforms writing and editing into acts of service, with the goal of encouraging, enriching, and challenging the reader. A compassionate writer engages in communication out of the desire to reach out to and empathize with other people rather than to simply be heard. Compassion sees the valuable souls behind the manuscript, the comments, and the receiving end of the published page. It respects characters as people instead of using them as pawns. A relationship built on compassion puts building and preserving relationships ahead of winning arguments (and this is just as true when it comes to the relationship between author and reader.)
AUTHENTICITY means writing what you know and inviting others into your exploration of what you’re only beginning to understand. Authentic storytelling finds its heart in your unique perspective—in the experiences, emotions, and questions that have moved and changed you. We’re usually not the greatest judges of what other people most need to hear, but if we pay attention to the landscape of our own journey, we might just find that other people are walking the same path. At its core, authenticity is the courage to honestly pursue the answers to the questions that scare you, and the willingness to be vulnerable and genuine with your readers—to give of yourself by offering your friendship and perspective to others who are asking the same questions.
COMMITMENT is the awareness that producing a worthwhile story requires hard work, willingness to invest the energy to do it well (not perfectly,) and confidence that the result will be worth it. A writer (or writing instructor) who is committed to their craft takes responsibility for making the most of the learning opportunities that arise from sharing their work and receiving feedback. Commitment to the search for truth cultivates the patience to think deeply and observe with discretion. Lasting change, whether across a culture or within a single life, is less often the result of a single cataclysmic revelation and is more often brought about through commitment to consistent, simple acts of grace and kindness.
“It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
Gandalf (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
HOPE is convinced the good in this world is worth fighting for and valiantly holds to what is right, lovely, and true. Hopeful storytellers battle the darkness by portraying virtue and truth as winsome, beautiful, and desirable. Their stories remind us that the high cost of selfless love is worth the rewards, and that right will ultimately be victorious. Honest storytelling demonstrates the emptiness and futility of evil, but hope completes the circle by pointing readers to the truths that replace that emptiness. Even when characters tragically reject the truth in the end, hope points the reader to a different path. Hope refuses to downplay the brokenness of the world or escape into empty wish-fulfillment, instead choosing to honestly represent the resilience of goodness in the face of profound challenges, and the power of beauty in the midst of pain.
“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”
—Sam Gamgee (The Two Towers)
Does this vision resonate with you?