Susie Price asked Lisa Wingate:

Was there a book you read as a child or young adult that you feel changed you?

Lisa Wingate My literary dog, is named Huckleberry Finn after my childhood favorite book. I love the sense of place and the intermingling of both the humorous and the profound that is so present in Mark Twain's works. What I have learned, sitting at the knee of Twain and other timeless writers, is exactly this — the stories that drive deepest into us are those that tell us things we already knew, that crystallize truths we’ve felt but not yet framed into words in our own minds. When a story pulls something from within the reader, it is a kidnapping, in a way. A piece of personal truth is forever tied to that story.

I think that's what we all want as writers. It’s what we seek to create on the deepest levels beyond just entertainment. The best stories both draw on life experience and expand it to deliver meaning.

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