Thoughts after finishing Legend by David Gemmell

I just stayed up a bit late, finishing Legend by David Gemmell.  Wow.

According to his  wikipedia entry, Mr. Gemmell wrote Legend in two weeks while waiting to hear if his cancer diagnosis was terminal.  After reading this book, I can definitely see how that influenced the writing.

This book is incredible, one of the most authentic, thought-provoking things I’ve read.  It is…just incredible.  I’ll articulate my thoughts better when I write the review, but let me just say that reading this book made me a better man.

I want to quote the passage that impacted me the greatest, because it has to do with some of my more existential thoughts about being an aspiring writer–no, being a writer and aspiring to be an author.

“All things that live must die,” said Vintar. “Man alone, it seems, lives all his life in the knowledge of death.  And yet there is more to life than merely waiting for death.  For life to have meaning, there must be a purpose.  A man must pass something on–otherwise he is useless.

“For most men that purpose revolves around marriage and children who will carry on his seed.  For others it is an ideal–a dream, if you like.  Each of us here believes in the concept of honor: that it is man’s duty to do that which is right and just, that might alone is not enough.  We have all transgressed at some time.  We have stolen, lied, cheated–even killed–for our own ends.  But ultimately we return to our beliefs.  We do not allow the Nadir to pass unchallenged because we cannot.  We judge ourselves more harshly than others can judge us.  We know that death is preferable to betrayal of that which we hold dear.

I don’t want to write books just to entertain.  I don’t want to fill pages with words just so I can get paid and take care of my temporal needs.  Both of those are important, of course, but I don’t want to write “good reads” that people put down and completely forget about after a few months.

At the same time, I don’t want to write just to express myself either.  I don’t think I deserve any special treatment for being a writer, and I don’t suffer under the delusion that I’m somehow gracing the world with my genius (at least, I hope I don’t).  The world owes me nothing, and I’m certainly not the most qualified person to  be out doing this kind of thing, making the world a better place by telling stories.

What I do want to do, however, is write books like Legend, or Mistborn, or The Neverending Story, or Ender’s Game, or Spin, or any number of other books.  Books that you read and remember, because they changed or inspired or impacted you in some profound way.  Books where you read the last hundred pages in a breathless sprint, because you connect with the story in a deep and personally moving way.  Books that help people to understand the world better, to appreciate its beauty, to see the people in your life in a new light, and connect with them in new ways.

I can tell you exactly when I crossed the threshold from childhood to adolescence, down almost to the very day.  I crossed that threshold by reading a book: Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech.  For what I was going through at that pivotal time in my life, that book had a profound, formative impact.  It helped me to see my family members in a new light, to understand a little bit better the changes I was experiencing in my own life, and to get through an emotional period that was particularly rocky.  When I read that book, I changed as a person.

That’s the kind of stuff I want to do as a writer: pass something on.  Something meaningful.  Something that will make this world a better place by connecting with someone, anyone, on a deeply personal and intimate level.  Something that will help peope to stand tall and live their lives more fully.

I don’t know if I’m getting this across effectively, but those are my thoughts at this time.  Legend is a damn good book.  It’s in good company, along with all the other books that have just made me go “wow.” Someday, I hope something I write will be up there on the same level for someone else.