An Echoes of Eternity post – seeking the Echoes of Eternity in fantasy and speculative fiction.
A good story.
This simple phrase means something entirely different to each reader. Perhaps for you it’s a book that you can’t put down, where the riveting action or the chair-arm gripping suspense keeps you captivated until the final sentence. Perhaps its a beautifully written book, where heart warming characters and vivid prose cause your world to disappear and transport you into the pages of the story.
Whenever I think of the phrase “a good story,” I can’t help thinking of a scene from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Lucy is flipping through the magic book in Coriakin’s house, trying to find the spell to make hidden things visible. Before she finds it, she stumbles upon a spell “for the refreshment of the spirit.”
The pictures were fewer here but very beautiful. And what Lucy found herself reading was more like a story than a spell. It went on for three pages and before she had read to the bottom of the page she had forgotten that she was reading at all. She was living in the story as if it were real, and all the pictures were real too. When she had got to the third page and come to the end, she said, “That is the loveliest story I’ve ever read or ever shall read in my whole life. Oh, I wish I could have gone on reading it for ten years. At least I’ll read it over again.”
But here part of the magic of the Book came into play. You couldn’t turn back. The right-hand pages, the ones ahead, could be turned; the left-hand pages could not.
“Oh, what a shame!” said Lucy. “I did so want to read it again. Well, at least I must remember it. Let’s see… it was about… about… oh dear, it’s all fading away again. And even this last page is going blank. This is a very strange book. How can I have forgotten? It was about a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill, I know that much. But I can’t remember, and what shall I do?”
And she never could remember; and ever since that day, what Lucy means by a good story is a story which reminds her of the forgotten story in the Magician’s Book.
(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis)
That passage has always captivated me. I have always wanted to read that forgotten story for the refreshment of the soul. Nowadays, I imagine Lewis’ publishers would have given him a hard time over that scene. I can hear them saying, “Readers don’t want you to tell them about this good story, they want you to show them!”
And part of me really wishes that he had showed us the story. But I can’t help thinking that Lewis did this on purpose. Perhaps he meant to show us that this was what he desired his stories to be. To reflect that good forgotten story that Lucy had fallen in love with. Lewis was a Christian. Perhaps, he meant to point to the Greatest Story as the good story that all good stories should reflect.
Perhaps I’m speculating too much! :)
But this passage always sets me thinking. What do I consider a good story? My favorite books come from many different writing styles, genres, and authors. There are many books that I consider good and that I love to read. But when it comes down to those really good stories, those books that stick with me long after I close the cover, the tales that resonate within my soul, I would have to say that they all have one thing in common.
Those books all hearken back to the Greatest Story in some way, shape, or form. They aren’t necessarily an allegory, they’re not trying to preach a sermon, there may not even be an obvious reference to God or the Bible in so many words. But there is a sense of something deeper. A hint of something greater. An awareness that this life is not all there is, that truth is absolute and eternal. A story that reflects the glory and wonder of God. The echoes of eternity.
What do you consider a good story? What are some books that you place in that category?
Ah, a "good story" … I always find that hard to pin down, because I fall in love with stories for so many different reasons. Sometimes it's because of the emotions they can make me feel, sometimes it's because of the charactes who enchant me and lead me along their journey, sometimes it's the wonderful setting and a world I just want to drop into … there's so many factors that it's impossible to pin it down, for me.
But, on another note, I really do agree with you over the sense of profundity that stays with someone in a truly good story. I find that stories that really stay with me often have a message, either about people, emotion, the world, faith, anything, but it's a message that really touches me, and keeps bringing me back to the tale.
A good battle and a dragon or two never hurts either ;)
Hi Gillian,
I've never commented before, but I have been enjoying your writing for a couple of months. Found your blog through Go Teen Writers.
Anyhow, I feel like a story is good when the author succeeds in capturing human nature. People are so multi faceted. Emotions run deep and sometimes make no sense. The same is true of habits. When an author manages to take a character with whom I have nothing in common and make me sympathize with him, that's a good story. When I think, "hey, I know people like that!" – it's a good story.
As far as books that actually make it into that category… Definitely the Chronicles of Narnia. James Herriot's books. To Have and To Hold. George McDonald's books.
That passage from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has always irritated (and delighted) me for the same reason! It also taught me an important writing lesson: whatever is left to the reader's imagination often multiplies in emotional impact. Omission can be just as powerful as inclusion!
I agree with you that all stories that have the power to grip the imagination and the heart have their ultimate source in True Reality (this is capitalized because we all know Who this True Reality is). Even supposedly secular books have shown me distant echoes of truth. Some are not so deep and somber as others, but they still reveal human nature and give me a chance to laugh and ponder.
Some of my favorites: The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis (Perelandra and That Hideous Strength tie for 2nd after the Bible), The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, The Prydain Series by Lloyd Alexander, and (echoing Jordana) the James Herriot books.
Charley – It is hard to pin it down, isn't it? :) I have so many favorites that trying to come up with a common factor was a little difficult. But I'm always a fan of battles and dragons and the like! Add those into a story (with a few other minor ingredients) and it's an instant win… Ok, so it's not quite so easy as all that!
Jordanna – Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you've been enjoying the blog.
Yes, that's very true! When I read a book where the characters are so life-like and so real, I have to just sit back and think about it and try and figure out how I can do that in my writing! Have you read The Hunger Games? The author did a really good job portraying Katniss' emotions and feelings.
Yaasha Moriah – Yes! Lewis' Space Trilogy is really good. I loved what you said about even some supposedly secular books showing you distant echoes of truth because that's been true for me as well. I absolutely love the Prydain Chronicles! This echoes back to what Jordanna said, but I think part of the reason I like them so much is because of how real and true to life Taran is.
Lucy says that the story was about a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill.
The cup in the last supper? The sword that cut off the ear of one of the guards that had come to take Jesus? The tree upon which he was nailed? The green hill upon which the crosses were(or the tomb was)?
I like the fact that C S Lewis kept it a secret. It gives us all an image of what it might have been about yet we will all think something different than the other.
Perhaps it's the story of life for you can't turn back a page, new or otherwise, once you have lived it. Plus every story is seen as precious within the eyes of the Father. That and we seem to see the story, life, of another person through different eyes than the more critical ones we see ourselves through. There will always be something we see in another story beyond our own and they into ours that makes it, at least among, the best of the stories we have read…ones we wish to continue reading. If we are referring to our own, it is just as easy to forget those good points and maybe his intent could be if we don't remember those good points–or important lessons–then we might as well forget the rest. It could go deeper, but I too have the tendency to over-think things. Just a thought that struck me when I read that passage.