“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” ~ C.S. Lewis
I don’t think of a good writer as one whose prose is necessarily perfect, but one who opens my eyes to avenues of life I’d not considered. Writers like this tell me things I didn’t know. Writers like this reveal something of myself that I needed to see. Their stories pierce with conviction. Their words, at times, arouse in me a sense of the Holy.
Some of these writers have been George MacDonald, Madeleine L’Engle, C.S. Lewis, Dostoyevsky, Flannery O’Connor, Chesterton, among others. While I’ve not always agreed with everything they’ve penned, their words stretch my thinking and stir my passion to write.
What writers, past or present, have influenced you?
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on September 3, 2008 - 10:47 am
Definitely Lewis but in a different but still good way, Lucado. I also really like Erwin McManus. Fiction? Peretti and Dekker. I like Clancy and loved Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. lately I have been into Christian fiction and biographies.
on September 3, 2008 - 5:25 pm
Hey Randy, thanks for visiting! It’s always fun to see what others are reading. Lucado is certainly prolific - haven’t read McManus (I hear he’s rather unorthodox:-) Read Peretti’s older stuff, and passed some Dekker along to my DIL. Saw the Kite Runner movie & enjoyed it; figure the book is probably even better!
on September 4, 2008 - 9:27 am
Ditto here for Lewis, also Francis Schaeffer, Tim Demy, Ken Gire, Chuck Swindoll (but not recently — recently it’s me and God’s Book!). Fiction - Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Clancy, Ludlum (his own works), N.J. Lindquist, Liz Curtis Higgs, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Scottoline … good writing, real characters, multi-layered plot lines, nicely paced. And this is just the tip of the iceburg!
on September 4, 2008 - 7:34 pm
Carrie, Francis Shaeffer - good one. Ken Gire’s writing moves me. I especially enjoyed his Windows of the Soul (which inspired my other blog title). Lot of other good authors you’ve mentioned here, too, although I don’t read as much fiction these days. Thanks for joining the discussion!