The Shack

I strongly suggest that you read "The Shack" by William P. Young. I just finished reading it and highly recommend it! See the brief plot at the left in the image. I am also encouraging you to buy it because it is a Christian book about faith, because of the story behind the book, and that they want to turn it into a feature film in the future after they get enough revenue from sales of the book. Below I have included a summary of "The Story behind THE SHACK" included at the end of the book:

2004 left William P. Young almost destitute, having lost a home, vehicles and much of his stuff. God had to dismantle and rebuild his entire life from scratch. He hoped and prayed that 2005 would be better. He had a long commute on a train which allowed him to start working on a project that his wife had been pestering him about for 10 years. She said, "The way you think about things is a little unusual and it would be wonderful for the kids to have some of that in writing."

William did not set out to write a book, let alone have it published. He had written a few poems, songs and some family newsletters, but no books. His goal was to write something, trot down to Kinko's, print it and give it as a gift to his kids at Christmas. He started out writing something that he thought was too boring, so started over. He started over with what he did have, conversations between him and God, some that included family and friends. He became inspired. He would wake up and write things down before he forgot them. Finally he decided to type up his notes. He decided to turn his conversations with God into a story. He wanted his children to enjoy a story and through that medium to better understand their own dad and the God he is so in love with.

The story is fiction. However, the emotional pain with all its intensity and the process that tears into the character's heart and soul are very real. William has his shack, the place he had to go through to find healing. The conversations are very real and true. The actual particulars are fiction, but the depth of the pain is the same.

The pain, the loss, the grief, the process, the conversations, the questions, the anger, the longing, the secrets, the lies, the forgiveness - all real, all true. The story in particular is fiction, but then there is God who emerges so very real, unexpected and yet not unexpected, but surprising, and certainly he is true.

William finished the first part in mid August 2005. He sent it to a few friends. He was totally surprised. Somehow his little story was able to sneak past people's defenses and right into their hearts. That was part 1.

Part 2: He felt a prompting to email the manuscript to a man he knew, who was an author. He did not expect to hear back from him because he knew he was really busy (and it probably was not very good), but he informed him only a few days later that he could not print the pages fast enough. He was shocked.

There were areas that still needed work, so he started on his list of rewriting tasks. For the next 16 months, he and his new "teammates" wrote and rewrote chapters of The Shack, dropping about forty percent of the dialogue, augmenting the story line, and recrafting the conversations to eliminate misunderstandings.

Originally they tried to find a publisher, but each had their reason why The Shack was not a book they wanted, or they asked for substantive changes that they felt diminished the story. So, in May 2007, Windblown Media was born and The Shack was published as its first original title.

Part 3: That is where we are today. We each play an important role. As you read the story, they pray that God will touch your heart and open up places where you might be stuck, and help you see the way he loves you in richer and deeper tones and colors and sounds. They believe that this book is a gift to you.

Their dream is to sell enough copies of this book to open the door for a feature film that the world would want to see and that will present an accurate understanding of God's character and nature to a world that longs in the deepest places of their hearts for such a God.