 Fantasy: May 05, 2010 Issue [#3712] |
  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: Fyn  
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“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”~~Dr. Seuss
"Even though my songs may sound very personal, to me most of them are fiction. It is a great way for me to be able to live a fantasy life as a writer because I get to be someone else, someplace else for three and a half minutes, just like the listener."
~~Nanci Griffith
"Fantasy mirrors desire. Imagination reshapes it."~~Mason Cooley
"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels."~~Francisco de Goya
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking."~~Albert Einstein |
| ASIN: B085272J6B |
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Amazon's Price: $ 9.99
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Fantasy. That bit of magic or other-worldliness that sneaks in when you aren't looking. That sense that suddenly there is something more involved just around the corner of your mind or hiding in the branches of that ancient oak you never noticed in your back yard. It is when you see your world with slightly blurred edges such that you miss the period at the end of the sentence, and in that fraction of a moment, the magic, the unreal, the plausible and the impossible can break through and suddenly, it is like a kaleidoscope turned inside-out.
It can be the odd moment in a regular, ordinary, every-day sort of day that transforms an entire environment a quarter inch out of whack, just enough so that now, everything is just a tiny bit different and in that difference, anything might or can or will happen.
You've experienced this. When that rainbow appeared and your miserable day turned a teensy bit brighter. When a child giggled and that sound wrapped itself around your heart and your step was a little lighter. When you wandered outside and noticed that the lilacs were blooming and the air was scented and it smelled soooo good that your heart hurt. This is magic. And it is in these moments that I believe almost anything can happen.
A friend of mine who spent several years living as a POW told me the following. (And I'm supposed to add that the word choice of 'living' is correct for he refused to die.) There was a cockroach crawling around the floor of his cell. It was missing two of its legs on one side. Every day it crawled out of a crack in the one wall and slowly, (for a cockroach) worked its way across his four foot square cell and out a crack in the opposite wall.
Now you must understand that cockroaches were food. This was protein. Yet there was something about this particular roach that kept my friend going. It just kept doing its roachy thing to survive. For months this bug crossed his cell day in and day out. Yes, he admits, he named it, though he wouldn't share its name with me. He talked to it and imagined responses. He looked forward to its arrival and counted it as another day that they both had survived.
One morning it crawled out into the dim light of his cell and stopped. It died in the middle of the concrete floor. My friend was truly devastated. He said it was as if the last bit of magic had left his world and in those moments he found his survival to be the hardest. He'd endured unspeakable tortures and beatings, and lived, but the death of this roach shook him. As it turns out (in one of those 'you'd never write it because no one would believe it' sort of ways) that was the day he was rescued.
He's never forgotten that four legged roach. To this day when times are tough his comment is to 'find the roach' and it has gotten him (and I quote) "though tougher times than those" in the years since. I first heard about the cockroach after his wife passed away. He'd been muttering about 'finding the roach' and I was seriously wondering if he'd lost his mind. But then he explained. And he told me that he had to find that bit of magic to keep him going. And he did. I, for one, will never think of roaches in quite the same way again.
Moments of pure fantasy can put even the harshest of realities into perspective. Thus I believe that inserting occasional fantastical moments into writing can add new levels of depth and perception. It can shed light on a character's motivations and desires. Fantasy doesn't simply exist in a far off realm or far off planets. It exists in some fashion in the mind of anyone who envisions and dreams and wants something more. A flight of fancy may just be the catalyst that propels a character into achieving a new reality. |
A variety of picks...some pure fantasy, others more of a touch of reality.
The beginnings of a fantasy adventure that left me wanting more. . .
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A Pi poem
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When fantasy and reality collide.
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A secret garden that exists beyond the locked doors we have in common.
Are they really gone, or perhaps just not looking in the right places?
|  | Rockabee (E)
A tale of Rockabee, a town in the drop of Alder sap by the Giant's Grave in Cong, Ireland
#1227521 by Basilides  |
"If ever you journey through the west of Ireland you may by chance stumble into the little town of Cong. While you are there, if you happen to see an old man holding a dark wooden cane walking down the street, dressed in gray pants and a blood red vest, his back stooped with age, do not stop to say hello."
and finally, for those searching for excellent, well considered feedback aimed at the sole purpose of revision, I highly recommend the following.
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I'm just a guest editor this week, but would still appreciate any feedback you'd care to offer. This was so much fun; the best part being a concentrated period of time spent meandering the varied fantasy worlds that abound here at WDC!
Wanting to wish all the moms a Happy Mother's Day! My mom passed away a few years back. I miss her...if you are lucky enough to still have your mom...don't forget to call, stop by or send a 'real, paper in an envelope' card. |
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