Fantasy

Time to write!

Why do people love to read so much? The answer can and does vary from person to person, but one reply I know will come up often in a survey of such a question is that reading takes people away, transports them to another world, gives them an adventure.

Yippee! Adventure! Dragons! Trolls! Dungeons! Witches! Princes! Curses! It's all very exciting, being whisked off into some fantasy, a make believe world where the fantastic is the norm and where somehow men are charming and handsome and intelligent all at once. Such a combination on earth is rare, believe me, I'm still looking for one that isn't already taken.

Where the concept of finding enjoyment in a book because it "takes you away" falls apart is that it really rarely does take us someplace altogether pleasant.

Oh sure, we may find ourselves in a beautiful meadow for a time, but sooner or later we're going to find ourselves in a rather nasty scrape. Even those dreamboat men have to seem unattainable or interested in someone else in order to keep the story interesting. To really keep the reader invested we might as well kill off a character or two. Adventure! Yippee!

We escape the real world from our real live stresses to fantasize about a world just as troubled as our own. We struggle to free ourselves of the heartbreak of that spellbinding young male who things just aren't working out with by allowing ourselves to drool over the men of fiction. These men caused their fair share of mischief and heartbreak too, however. After all, what's a good story without a little romantic tension?

It is when this is realized that it all becomes very clear. All the stories we love so much are just life, twisted into another shape, allowing us to deal with it in a less painful way.

If you really had to choose between taking an upper level English midterm or attempt to slay a dragon, which would you pick? Sure, slaying the dragon sounds more glamorous, but it also sounds a lot more, well, death inducing. If such an option were truly placed before me, I must admit, I'd take the test and be glad that test was there for the taking.

So you see? Dragons are just trials. Trolls are just those people we thought we were rid of, but cannot seem to escape. Curses are bad days. Dungeons are boring classes. But in all stories those things pass. So too, in life. That green meadow we escaped to in the story? That's tomorrow, or the next day, or maybe next month. That's when we meet a real man who can make our hearts pound without scripted dialogue. That's when we graduate, when we make a new friend, when we make the team.

Life is a book. Just remember, maybe you're in the chapter that makes everybody cry, but the next one is very funny. Stick it out, and you'll be laughing sometime. And even if you aren't ready to laugh yet, or feel like you'll never laugh, you're learning and you're growing. If you were standing there, sword in hand, and the dragon was drawing its breath and preparing to breath fire, and you were already tired, would you just drop your sword and shrug? No. You'd take your shot. You'd charge the dragon. You'd swing your sword, and most likely let out a battle cry which would seem totally appropriate in the moment, but will sound dumb when played back later. And that's how it is supposed to sound! That's how it's supposed to be! That's life! Your story is only hard because no one likes a character, and no one wants to read a novel with no plot. Not even you. Not even me.