Update::: Feb 2026:
I did not invent this genre, although I may have named it.
Lucinda Riley invented it, so far as I can tell. Over the past few months I flew through Riley Seven Sisters series. This complex and immersive series is a living example of a Holistory. More specifically a timejump historical holistory.
Let me know if you have ever read a book like this!
More on this later, I just wanted to add that note. Carry on.
HOLISTORY
Are you bored with the worn out selection of story templates that we’ve been stuck with for so long?
Do you have a feeling that there is Magic in the act of writing and you want to dive in the inkwell headfirst as a wizard of words?
Do you love a good mystery but you don’t resonate with murder and violence anymore?
Well, allow me to introduce you to a new genre in the world of storytelling . . .
The Holistory.
What is a Holistory?
In a nutshell, a Holistory is a story that, like a mystery, the author writes backwards with the end in mind for the reader to read forward and pick up clues as they go, leading to a climactic revelation and resolution which bring together all the incrementally revealed pieces of the puzzle.
A Holistory is a Mystery of Miracles.
Here are a couple lists to clarify the nature of the genre. The first list is long (and yearns for your additions).
HOLISTORY DEVICES:
Dreams
Telepathy
Secrets
Lies
Healings
Forgiveness
Animal and plant magic
Reincarnation and kharma
Time travel
Alternative universes or timelines
Numerology
Music, vibrations
Stories
Earth Air Water Fire
Happenstance
Disease and its meanings
Passing comments
Random choice
De javu
Sacred writings, poetry
Prayer
Birth/death
Premonitions
Butterfly effect
Chance meetings
Body holding memories
Symbolism
Car problems
Pre-used items/object magic
Near death experiences
Emergencies
High stakes
Quantum Loom
What is needed is free and perfect or always there
Meditation, epiphanies, visions
Blessings / curses
Superstitions
Legends
ITEMS THAT NEED RESOLUTION:
Guilt
Fear
Loneliness
Something is broken
Disease
Repression
Uncertainty
Abuse
Doubt
Old trauma
Abandonment
Lack of purpose
Close mindedness
Depression
Artists block
Slavery
Infertility
Regret
To live or to die
To stay or to change
Drama
Stagnated mental patterns
Lack
MOVIES OR STORIES THAT ARE ALMOST HOLISTORIES - these works are in the same vein to give you the idea:
A Dog’s Purpose
Cloud Atlas
The Celestine Prophecies
Jitterbug Perfume
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The Timekeeper
Past Life Regression stories and books
Oedipus Rex
The Butterfly Effect
Many songs
While these stories explore the themes or touch on the structure of a Holistory, most of them lack the identifying feature of the genre which is its clue-based puzzle nature. The closest are the books of Mitch Album.
THEMES
Synchronicity
Things that need each other find each other
Heart/ power of Intuition
Spirit
Time
MOTIFS
Clocks, Timepieces
Fortune cookies
Holistories can be combined with other genres, of course, like sci-fi, romance, adventure, etc.
Please play with this genre format if you - the Artist, the Writer, the Sorcerer of Script - find yourself inspired to create something with it.
I pray it opens new roads in the way we entertain, delight, share and heal.
One Love.
-Amanda
