Did Neil Gaiman Change My Life?

You’ll often hear people bandying about the phrase that a book “changed my life”.

I was always somewhat skeptical as to the veracity of such a statement – sure, I’ve enjoyed books, but reading something hasn’t changed my life. Well, that’s not entirely true – I’d always been a staunch believer in all things paranormal until I read Paranormality by Professor Richard Wiseman, and now I’m a staunch skeptic.

But Could a Novel Change My Life?

When coming up with the topic for this post, I told Christopher that the book I’d chosen to discuss hadn’t changed my life, that it had simply inspired me to pursue a writing career in a more serious fashion. Christopher pointed out that in essence, the book had changed my life, so here I am, talking about Neil Gaiman’s Smoke & Mirrors.

It’s probably not the first title that might pop into your head when discussing inspirational books, but let me explain. I’d read most things I could get my hands on from a very young age, and I’ve been scribbling stories for as long as I can remember, so I can’t really pinpoint the moment at which I decided I wanted to be a writer.

But there’s a big difference between writing stories for the enjoyment of it, and writing with the goal of “becoming a writer”.

I had been writing short stories, some of which I even submitted to magazines, but it all seemed very vague. It was something I did more for my own amusement than anything else. Then along came Gaiman.

Falling In Love with Writing

I read the first story, Chivalry, on a bus journey in London, and I fell in love.

Gaiman’s writing was so rich and imaginative, and the stories were so inventive and original, I couldn’t help but want to re-read them as soon as I’d finished the whole collection. There were one or two stories I wasn’t entirely keen on, but the beauty of the story collection format meant I could simply skip onto the next story. If I had a favourite, I could dip into the book and read whenever I chose. Even now, Chivalry is quite possibly my favourite short story ever written – and it’s got some serious competition.

More than that, I could see that there was very much a market for shorter fiction, for stories that could while away a bus journey, or fill in the commercial break in a TV programme. A story didn’t need 75,000 words or more to tell itself – its universe could be contained to 5000 words or less, if that’s all it needed.

All of a sudden, that clutch of stories I’d written didn’t seem so silly, or trivial.

I’d been entertained and enchanted by Gaiman’s words so maybe, just maybe, someone could be entertained by mine.

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Have you ever read anything that affirmed your own place as a writer? What stories have shown the power of writing to you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Felix.