Ficition that has genuinely changed your life

[jimbarrett27]

Hi, I often hear in films and on the television that such and such a book is life changing or blah's film will change the way you think about whatever. In my experience it isn't actually that common to find works of fiction which are actually powerful enough to fundamentally change you.

For me, I can only really think of one book; Hermann Hesse' Glass Bead Game. Before I read that book I was dead set into pursuing a career in academia, but it forced me to call into question all the ideals that I had believed came with that profession. (I'm a physicist by the way).

I was wondering how many others had genuinely life changing experiences with fiction. If so what? and why?

[Sanquin]

I'd personally say Mass Effect. It gave me so many choices where I genuinely did not know what to choose right away, that it really made me stop and think. And that after playing, it really did change how I looked at certain things. It's not entirely the fiction I guess, but it's a large part of it still as far as I can tell.

That, and though I'm ashamed to say it, Avatar as well. The blue people that is. Not because of the story or the actors, but because of the world. I used to be a huge nature lover. That slowly subsided over the years. Avatar reawakened that love for nature again, even if the nature in that movie doesn't actually exist.

[Darkdrago666]

I'd like to say Bioshock, because it's just fantastic. Now, I know it's a game, but the story, the characters, the idea itself, was just something that really made me think of how something can look disturbing, dark, and beautiful at the same time. The idea itself was out there, and I'm pretty sure this game will definitely be remembered. Andrew Ryan? Sander Cohen? Mr. Bubbles and the little sisters? are iconic to this game, especially the Big Daddy and Andrew Ryan. What I truly love about this game, is the emotion I put into this, I started out saving them first to get the good ending, yes, the adam was less, but the ending, was great in my eyes, justified well, it truly ended(not Bioshock 2, although good, it doesn't hold a candle up to the original, in terms of story, mystery, and the general feel when you explore rapture for the first time). When I replayed it, and this time sacrificed those girls, I couldn't do it, I felt bad, it just felt wrong.

While, it did not fully change my life, in terms of how a story, and narration are used within a game, it definitely opened my eyes to what a well crafted world, filled with mystery, and wonder, yet can be dark, disturbing and beautiful, really gives you something that you cannot forget.

That's I believe that Bioshock: Infinite will be a masterpiece.

[Zedar]

Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers - I was eleven years old when I first read it. It blew my mind. To this day I love the ideas it presented, and I still use the phrases "On the bounce," and "Tumble your gyros."

George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire - This book gave me the final bits of inspiration for the kind of fantasy worlds I want to create. I challenge you to find a more richly detailed, compelling, living environment in which to craft stories.

Star Trek: TNG, DS9, Voyager - I'm a better person for having followed these shows, especially DS9.

[mdk]

Legitimately? My own, if that makes sense...

Otherwise take your pick from Cormac McCarthy. I've only read Blood Meridian, which was just.... I mean, holy shit. But even the films by him, too -- No Country for Old Men and The Road are the two I've seen, not sure if there are others made yet. I need to be reading more of his shit, but I'm stuck on the Game of Thrones thing presently so any further life-changing is gonna have to wait I think.

[Zedar]

Legitimately? My own, if that makes sense...

There's a lot to be said for spending almost two years of your life obsessively role-playing through forums with other people at the expense of your grades and social life.

Forum Roleplay is a hell of a drug without moderation.

[Mairzy Doats]

The Baroque Cycle definitely changed the way I thought at a important time in my life, and got me interested in history. Before that, there was The Dragon Chronicles, which got me out of old stereotypes in creating fantasy worlds, and of course Diana Wynne Jones who taught me that fantasy may be not be real, but it could still be intelligent.

[The Australian]

Can't say one really has.

[Dudel]

If I could remember my very first video game, I'd argue it as the reason why I associate with so many gamers, and play so many games.

If I could remember the first book that made me roll my eyes, and maybe the 3 or 300 after that, they'd be why I'm over reading.


Otherwise, the Loony Toons cartoons have had a rather profound affect on me in a more general sense of the word.

[Jorick]

I'd say Redwall by Brian Jacques definitely changed my life. My grandmother sent it to me for my 9th birthday. Being a kid who loved video games, TV, and going and playing outside, the gift of a book was a major letdown. I tried to read it, but I gave it up a few pages in in lieu of video games and tossed it in one of my dresser drawers. I found it in my room one day, almost a year later, when I was bored and looking for something to do because my brother was hogging the TV. I started to read it with my eyes constantly seeking the clock, counting away the minutes until my brother's show was done. Before I knew it, I grew engrossed in the story. I looked up at the clock at the end of a chapter and realized that I'd gone more than half an hour over the awaited time, but I didn't really care and kept on reading.

This led me to an insatiable appetite for books, particularly of the fantasy genre. I read tons of books in the next few months thanks to my school library: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, most of the Shannara novels, The Chronicles of Narnia, and all of the Redwall novels I could get my hands on. Once I got my hands on a library card for the county library, I was making trips there on my bike every couple weeks to return a pile of books and pick out a new stack. I still read tons of books to this day, but not quite so quickly due to having less free time than I did as a child and having other hobbies I want to indulge (such as roleplaying).

So, basically, it turned me from an average random kid into a highly literate bookworm. Without Redwall I probably wouldn't have experienced any of those fantastic stories outside of movie adaptations. I probably wouldn't have gained a passion for writing. I probably wouldn't have pursued any schooling beyond high school and I'd probably be living a boring family life with a 9 to 5 job instead of getting a fancy degree and disregarding women in favor of being a borderline shut-in (maybe not a positive difference, but whatever). Without Redwall I probably would have become a very different person.

I still have that same copy of Redwall. The dust jacket is long missing, the cover is beaten up and scarred like it was in a war, the back cover is halfway torn off but kept attached with duct tape, the front cover and half of the pages still bear the water damage that taught me to never ever lend books to people with no reverence for the written word, various food and drink stains mar some pages and stand as memorials for my own lack of respect for books that died many years ago... Anyone else would throw it away without a second thought, but for me it's both a piece of my childhood that I would be heartbroken to lose. It may sound callous, but to give an example just how much this book means to me: I felt bad but didn't shed a tear when my grandmother (the one who sent me the book, but whom I didn't have much contact with outside of holiday greetings) died, but I cried and was depressed for a few days upon learning that Brian Jacques died. I still feel a little gloomy thinking about it now.


Holy crap, I didn't mean to write a novel when I started this post... I really need to learn the art of brevity some day.