Impactful Fiction

Prior to June, 2017, I only had a dream of being a published author. On the first of September, 2108, The Coded Message Trilogy became complete and available to everyone. What a thrill that was! This was something I had thought about for a long time, and it finally occurred. Not only did that generate a feeling of pride, but also of responsibility. Why? Well, this process and experience has never been totally about the story. It has also been about the readers. In some ways, that’s true for every author. After all, without readers, the story is really meaningless. Sort of like the often-asked question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it really make a noise?” A story for an audience of one is not what most authors envision. All authors dream of success. Yet, success doesn’t come in just one size.

In this process of being an author, I have a dual purpose for the stories I write. As most authors, I certainly want readers to find the story of The Coded Message Trilogy to be engaging, enjoyable, and addictive to the reader so the story propels them forward wanting to find out what happens next. That’s where some authors stop. They write to make exciting stories which whisks the reader away to another time, another fantasy, to an escape for a period of time, and then allow them to come back to their own reality. They come back to the exact same place they left.

Then, there are other authors, like me, who want their readers to come back to their reality, but not to the same place they left. I want my readers to come back to their reality with a new perspective. A better perspective. A better perspective of their own life and their relationship with God. Now, I am a realist and I’m not proclaiming my books will “save” those who read them. After all, it is the word of God which does that. Yet, I want them to at least have a new, or revitalized, view of God. Maybe learn something about him they had not thought of before, or perhaps had lost sight of. I want their journey here on this earth to be one of a different perspective. Hopefully, they will come back to their reality with a renewed purpose which will then become contagious and make them “pass it on,” so to speak.

So, what about The Coded Message Trilogy can do this, or has the potential to do this? First, there is the story itself. It has a little something for everyone and allows most to identify with at least one of the characters. There is just a touch of science fiction, or perhaps a better statement is a futuristic bent to the story line. It is set in the future. Many want to think about what our future will be like. This story does that, although it is not necessarily a pretty picture, but one I think most can potentially envision in some form or fashion. There is a lot of mystery—the element which drives the story forward and keeps one’s interest. Then, there is a love interest. One follows the growth of the relationship between Luke and Sarah. Will they every get together? And, I think, many will be thinking, “Oh just go ahead and propose already!”

Then, there is the spiritual side. I know some don’t want that aspect to a story. Yet, this is done in a subtle way. The reader is not preached at but goes through the thought process that the characters are going through. At least, that is what I hope they are doing. How do I do that? Well, just as we must do, we first must realize we have a problem. How do we know we need a solution if we don’t know there is a problem that needs a solution? Why else even look? The first book of the trilogy, T-H-B, sets up the problem. Luke’s world is not as he thought it was. He thought it was pretty great. After all, he has a fantastic job, likes what he does, has a girlfriend—or the potential to have one. But then . . . his world is turned upside down in the matter of an afternoon. He goes to work happy, and leaves being arrested and accused of being a terrorist. Luke is then set on a course to discover the flaws in his world. Yet, he is plunged into finding the solution to his world’s problems. Although he doesn’t know it at the time, it is really a spiritual journey. But isn’t that like it is for us as well. We begin to see that our world is not as great as we had envisioned. It is really flawed. We want a solution, but don’t realize it is really a spiritual solution which we are really pursing.

Second, we must decide if God is to be in our picture or not. Does he even exist? How can we know? If he does exist, what does that mean for me? What do I have to change? These are the same questions Luke, Sarah, and their friends must come to grips with in the second book of the trilogy: F-S-H-S. The evidence, even scientific evidence, seems to support the premise that God exists. Are they going to believe that? Hopefully the reader goes through the same thought process these characters go through.

Third, once they make their decision about God, are they going to keep that to themselves or share it with others? That’s a big decision because it makes them vulnerable. After all, God is not just a taboo subject for Luke and Sarah, but an outlawed subject. While many of us don’t have to face that every day, there are some in our world who do. Yet, Luke and Sarah’s consequences are different than ours. If caught, we find in T-U-L-E they will be sent on a one-way ticket to Mars. Sound preposterous? Mankind has always desired technology to enable such things. Remember when the British Empire sent prisoners to Australia? It was a place as far away as they could imagine at the time. This thought process by those in power in this trilogy is no different: take them away and make them subservient to those favored. Remember, people are people no matter in what age they live. Yet, as we also find, God is God in no matter the age mankind lives. And God does something amazing for Luke, Sarah, and others who have responded to him.

So, I hope you enjoy the story of The Coded Message Trilogy. And I hope you share it with others. Maybe you know someone who needs to make that important decision and don’t know how to reach them. Impacting them nonthreateningly is usually a good strategy. Maybe, just maybe, they get interested in the storyline of T-H-B, which then propels them into the rest of the trilogy and they follow the decisions of Luke and Sarah, and at least think about why these characters made the decisions they did. Maybe that will impact them. Will it impact them enough to make that fateful decision? I can’t say that it will. Yet, it will certainly provide a backdrop for some important discussions you can have with them. After all, isn’t that what a good book does: opens up a world of discovery to its readers?

Even as the author, Luke and Sarah have taught me. They help me realize that if I’m seeking, God will find me and answer my questions in bigger ways than I ever thought possible. Isn’t God good?

May God bless each of your richly. I pray this trilogy does as well.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens