New Literary Genre - Holistory

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