Losing Magic
“Doesn't it lose its magic?”
I was recently asked this question in relation to a planned trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. I've been there multiple times. My family has been there multiple times. We try to go every year.
My answer: “Not at all."
This got me thinking, however, if something can lose its magic, if it can lose its excitement, its wonder, its power and mystery, did it ever really have it in the first place? Was the thing wonderful or was it just the novelty and newness of it?
See, I can visit that place year after year and never grow tired of it. It never gets old. It never loses its magic, because it is magical and wonderful and fun.
I can sit outside on a dark night, look up into the sky, watch the thousands of points of light twinkling, and never be less amazed, less in wonder, even if it's the thousandth night I've done it.
I can look into the eyes of my wife and children, watch them smile and laugh and play and work and live and love them just as much as I have every previous time.
Things that are lovely and wonderful and magical and excellent remain so, unless they change, but time and familiarity don't change them.
These timeless characteristics are the things that draw us to stories. We all have books that we have read once and will never read again. Truth be told, most of the books we've read we'll probably never read again. Many of us probably have books that we have started reading and never finished. Why is that? Maybe it's because of time, but more likely it's because the story didn't grip us. It wasn't magical. It wasn't exciting. It wasn't wondrous or excellent. It was just so so. So, to return to it again doesn't make sense. We know the story and the story didn't do a whole lot for us the first time around. So why would we go back?
On the flip side of that, we all have books that we have read multiple times. These are stories that grab ahold of us and refuse to let go. We are emotionally invested in the events and characters of these fictional stories and find ourselves rereading and refeeling everything over and over again. These are the books that we purchase and keep on the bookshelf or the coffee table where they can be easily found and jumped into.
Here's the thing though, the books that one person never finishes might be the books that another person reads multiple times. There may be some books and stories that are universally loved or universally hated, but in general stories speak to individuals.
I read Moby Dick a couple of years ago. It took me months to slog through. I didn't enjoy any of it, and I will never read it again. However, I know people who absolutely love that book and think it's one of the best books ever written. As a kid, I read all of The Chronicles of Narnia multiple times, and as an adult, I have read almost every Ted Dekker book multiple times. I love them. I am enthralled by them, but I know other people who really couldn't care less about them.
The point is, message and audience are important. When you write, identify who you are writing to, what you want them to hear, and know, and feel, then write in such a way that they are gripped by your story and keep coming back, time and time again, not because it’s novel and new, but because it’s magical, and it doesn’t lose its magic, no matter how many times it’s read.
What books do you return to multiple times over the years? Why do you keep going back?
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