Monday thoughts
Have you ever seen yourself as the hero for your own story? I don't mean one that you're writing, but a silly little thing in your head? Sometimes when listening to really exciting songs I do that. It sounds silly but it really is fun. I've always wanted to live one of the adventures I've written, because reality can be so dull. I envy my characters. I've always wanted to do magic, I've always wanted to be sent on a mission to a far off place, I've always wanted to be the one to "save the day." I don't want to go sit at a desk for eight hours calling up insurance companies and bitching them out because they haven't paid us. I don't want to go sit at the Driver's license center to get a permit to drive a vehicle that will take me to said job. I wonder if maybe that's why many writers are depressed. They want what they write but can't have it. Perhaps that isn't always true, because I don't think a horror writer wants to be killed by a flesh-demon, but you get my point. You know what would be fun? A society sort of like the anachronism gang but more in depth. Something that would have you going on foot treks to Canada to deliver something or needing to book a sea voyage to Africa to search for some strange treasure. Yeah perhaps archeologists do that, but it's just not the same. The world lost its imagination with globalization, and it's a real shame because the wonder is all gone. That's why I write fantasy more than any other genre. I want to inspire imagination in a stagnated society. Life is no fun. It doesn't have a grand purpose for the average joe. You go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, and die. What alleviates the drudgery is slipping into a new world even for a few hours, even if it's only in a book or video game, because for those brief hours you get to do something exciting. I hate sitting home on Friday nights. I had to coerce my girlfriend just to go to the bar with me. All week all I do is sit. I don't want to sit on the weekends! I want to rock climb, I want to travel to Alaska to see the glaciers, I want to swim with dolphins and see the forests and mountains of the Ukraine. I want to do all these things, but I'm locked in the everyday necessity of a job. I blame capitalism on the death of imagination. If everyone wasn't obsessed with money and completely stuck in the dependency upon having money, they would be free to move about and create their own adventures. We might not all have mental problems and wouldn't rely on the help of psychiatrists to get us through our horrible lives. Writers have the right idea. They may be stuck in the wheel of capital dependency, but they have an outlet: they can make their own adventure. Granted, it is only on paper, but it helps. It saves our sanity, keeps us from crumbling. Sometimes people don't understand why I hate to volunteer, or see me as selfish for not "helping out my fellow man." I do that. I write. And hopefully if I ever get published I can save the sanity of a few people, show them that the wonder is still there. It may just be a tiny spark, but if they find it they can keep it. It doesn't have to die. So keep the drive, writers. Write on, because it's the only thing keeping the darkness of stagnation away.