What is an Inspired Writer?
The definition is evolving. I’m learning how to become the thing I see in the vision. My journey to become an Inspired Writer is like any good story, I keep turning the page because I need to know what comes next. In some ways I’m making it up as I go along.
Here is my working definintion of an Inspired Writer:
The inspired writer co-laborers with the Holy Spirit to create stories that not only entertain but also bring transformation.
It makes sense to me and I’m putting it out there to see if it makes sense to you. The statement needs unpacked. But before I do that, I want to start with a story.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had found the love of his life. In his tribe the bride price for getting married was a nice big, fat pig. He didn’t have a pig though. So he goes to his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, can I have a pig so that I may go and pay the price that I might marry this girl who is the woman of my dreams?”
The grandfather tells him, “You’re not ready for that. I’m not going to give you a pig. But, what I will give you is a piglet. Now, take this piglet up to the top of the mountain where the best grasses are. Feed this pig every day up there and you will gain the desire of your heart.”
Reluctantly, the boy agreed to follow the wisdom of his grandfather. He carried the pig up the mountain. His grandfather was right, he was still only a boy. Even though only a piglet carrying it was hard and arduous. Every day, though, he fed the pig on the fine grasses on the mountain top. Each day the pig grew.
The more the piglet grew, the more work it became for him to carry. As the piglet grew into a full grown pig the boy had also become a man. He was worthy to pay the price and gain the love of his life.
I heard that story from Ted Dekker. As I typed this, looking for pig images, I realized that story was also in the movie Holes. I totally forgot that. But I digress, it’s a good fable and the story really clicks with me because that is me. That’s why I’m on this journey to be an Inspired Writer. That’s why I’m writing this post. When I was five I was so inspired by the power of what can happen in a story I asked for a typewriter. What five year old asks for a typewriter for a present? Me. Even though I was marked by the power of story and drama it’s taken till now, many, many years past five, to only start to realize why story is so powerful to me. I’m just now grasping what was speaking to me at five. I finally recognize what calls to me still. It’s the very heart of God. God is in the power of story.
Storytelling is at the very heart of God.
I’ve been working, carrying the dream of it, up the mountain, all this time, to be at a place where I could steward well the gift of God that is storytelling. This is my journey to become an Inspired Writer.
Now let’s unpack the definition of what an Inspired Writer is.
An inspired writer co-labors with the Holy Spirit
It’s labor. It takes work. It takes sincerity and intentionality. You have to make yourself sit still long enough to get the job done. Like Eustice submitting to the claws of Aslan when he rips the dragon flesh off of his body we have to endure the pain of the process. It’s a painful process of putting in the time to get better, to put in the work to learn how to be a good storyteller. It’s more than that, though. Eustice didn’t go back to the boy he was. After Aslan was done with him he became the boy he was meant to be, a better version of himself.
Just as Eustice didn’t get a clear picture of himself until after he became a dragon I’ve had to co-labor with the Holy Spirit to overcome the ugliness of my past.
Wounds of rejection were my excuses for things in me that needed to be cut off and removed. I’ve come to realize what I was wrestling with was my own self worth. One of the first steps on the journey of becoming an Inspired Writer is gaining an understanding of my identity. Though I’ll never fully arrive, not this side of Heaven, I have a much better understanding and clearer picture of who I am. I am the Son of the Most High King of Kings, Jesus. Though the truth of it has always been a free gift it’s taken many trips up and down the mountain to own it, to grow up enough to carry it well. Now I’m also taking up the journey of understanding my identity as a writer. That’s the next part of the definition.
To not only entertain but also to bring transformation
A good story has got to entertain — or else it’s no good. There is skill that’s involved but it’s a skill that can be learned. Over the years I’ve tried to learn how to tell a good story. I’m on my third book now and with each new work I try to better apply what I’m learning from the people I admire. I know I’m not there, yet. There’s lots of room to grow. I’m going to do my best to enjoy the ride. If I’m entertained by the writing of it then others will be entertained in the reading of it.
So it’s got to be entertaining but the key, the thing that sets this apart, and why I feel like it’s important to write this post, is that inspired writing is transformational.
Story is woven into our very DNA. It comes from the very heart of God. Every culture across the planet has great value for storytelling. It is so important to who we are and we can be transformed by stories.
I know many of you reading this have been transformed by a powerful story.
For some of you it was a story that caused you to get up out of your seat and go forward when the preacher gave the invitation. For some of you a story changed the way you saw yourself. It gave you perspective, hope. It’s the movie you watch and, every time at that one scene, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, even though you know it’s coming, you cry.
Story touches us at the heart level, it connects with who we were made to be. I sincerely believe that storytelling is building connections with the very heart of God. If that’s true, if we’re releasing that into the world, and co-laboring in creation alongside the Holy Spirit, then the same things that are true about who God is, will be revealed through our stories.
Good storytelling is one of the keys to His will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
So being an inspirational writer, being an Inspired Writer, is someone who expects testimonies of transformation, first in ourselves, but then in those that connect with and enjoy our stories. I know people who have been transformed, been healed, by looking at a painting. Maybe you do, too? Maybe you have a story like that as well? Acts of creativity have the power to bring transformation in people’s lives. Jesus spoke in parables for a reason. His stories stick with us, they stick in the culture, regardless of where you go to church, or what you were taught growing up, if you’re reading these words chances are really high you know at least one story Jesus told. Stories are powerful, they move us to do things, they connect us from one heart to another. That’s the transformational aspect of being an Inspired Writer.
Why go through all the trouble?
Why this? You know that line in Fellowship of the Rings?
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
That’s where I’m at. This is me being intentional, documenting my journey into becoming an Inspired Writer and living up to its definition. There’s a level of accountability in this. I’m also putting this out there because I really want to serve. I want to serve the people who connect with this message. If I can flatten your learning curve in any way, then that’s what I want to do. I have spent years and resources learning the key components of a good story. When I find a good story I’m doing more than reading it, or watching it. I’m pondering, examining, asking why was the plot set up that way? Why didn’t they have them do this or why didn’t they do that? I’ll track down interviews and commentaries of the story makers. I’ll study what other people have said. Getting an MFA was not on my path. I didn’t get to go to film school. Not yet anyway, who knows, maybe someday? I’ve always been one to look under the hood of any good story to see what’s there. I want to take what I’ve learned, what I’ve picked up, and I want to talk through it with you. One of the best ways to learn is to teach what you know to others — even if you’re still learning as you go. That’s what I’m doing here on Medium, that’s what The Inspired Writer is about.
I want to love well. I want to gather a community. One part of what I’m doing is sounding a trumpet and raising a signal saying come over here, let’s do this together. I want to come alongside you on your struggles up the mountain.
I want to encourage you to say you can do this!
There’s never been a greater time to be an Inspired Writer. The harvest field is ripe! The world is clamoring for stories. Examples abound. Just for the screen Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Hulu, every network, Disney, Apple, even MailChimp — they are all clamoring to tell new stories (this list barely scratches the surface and continues to grow). Thousands of new stories are published on Amazon and other sites every day and they are being read by millions of people. Not all of these stories are good. Not all are inspired.
I’m throwing the challenge out there. I’m calling you to join me on this journey.
Are you with me? Let’s do this thing together.
You can find me on the socials at fb.me/authorjiglover, twitter.com/jiglover, and instagram.com/jiglover. I’m also vlogging my journey to becoming an Inspired Writer here. Subscribe. Follow me. Lastly, early drafts of my writing can be found here.
