Wanderer.
Some of you may be aware that I've been rereading The Prydain Chronicles lately, in my small snatches of spare time since ariellen, screamedwhisper, and I watched The Black Cauldron a couple days before I returned to school. I'd read the books many times before, but it had been a while, and I wanted to get back in touch with the series that, really, got me to start writing.
It's funny. The fourth book, Taran Wanderer, used to be my least favorite. Back in elementary and middle school, as obsessed with medieval times and heroes and such as I was, I found it to be the most boring of the lot, overshadowed by the epic journeys and feats of Taran and his companions in the books previous and the amazing conclusion in The High King. And Eilonwy, my favorite character at the time, was not even in the book! I considered it a disappointment, and usually I would grudgingly pick my way through it on any particular read-through of the series.
This time, however, I found more wisdom in it than in any of the first three, and more than I feel I'll find in the fifth, after I finish reading that one, too. Taran Wanderer is about the titular character's struggle to find out his parentage, his history, and--most difficult of all--himself. Time after time, Taran runs into a variety of situations that test his mettle and cause him to make decisions. These decisions are not always the right ones, mind, and at times they cost him and others dearly, but he is eventually able to make up what wrongs he causes to the best of his ability. They are not perfect solutions, but they are his own. They are, as he determines, what shapes him, more than his parentage or his blood.
Especially near the end of the book, when Taran is trying to making a living for himself out of learning a variety of trades, I discovered this story's hidden wisdom where I could not hope to see it before. When I was younger and believed I would eventually just happen upon the path I would eventually take in life, I found no substance nor took any interest in Taran's struggles. Now, Taran has become one of the few "main characters" in ANYTHING whom I prefer over the others. I can identify with his search for himself now. The wisdom I've discovered in this book I've read at least a dozen times previous is heartening, even moreso because in the rereading of this chronicle, I've remembered what made me love it, and its author, in the first place. That's like finding your way home again.
I leave you with a somewhat enigmatic question, if any of you are still reading. Does anyone know where I might go to find information on screen-writing and how to go about it?
It's funny. The fourth book, Taran Wanderer, used to be my least favorite. Back in elementary and middle school, as obsessed with medieval times and heroes and such as I was, I found it to be the most boring of the lot, overshadowed by the epic journeys and feats of Taran and his companions in the books previous and the amazing conclusion in The High King. And Eilonwy, my favorite character at the time, was not even in the book! I considered it a disappointment, and usually I would grudgingly pick my way through it on any particular read-through of the series.
This time, however, I found more wisdom in it than in any of the first three, and more than I feel I'll find in the fifth, after I finish reading that one, too. Taran Wanderer is about the titular character's struggle to find out his parentage, his history, and--most difficult of all--himself. Time after time, Taran runs into a variety of situations that test his mettle and cause him to make decisions. These decisions are not always the right ones, mind, and at times they cost him and others dearly, but he is eventually able to make up what wrongs he causes to the best of his ability. They are not perfect solutions, but they are his own. They are, as he determines, what shapes him, more than his parentage or his blood.
Especially near the end of the book, when Taran is trying to making a living for himself out of learning a variety of trades, I discovered this story's hidden wisdom where I could not hope to see it before. When I was younger and believed I would eventually just happen upon the path I would eventually take in life, I found no substance nor took any interest in Taran's struggles. Now, Taran has become one of the few "main characters" in ANYTHING whom I prefer over the others. I can identify with his search for himself now. The wisdom I've discovered in this book I've read at least a dozen times previous is heartening, even moreso because in the rereading of this chronicle, I've remembered what made me love it, and its author, in the first place. That's like finding your way home again.
I leave you with a somewhat enigmatic question, if any of you are still reading. Does anyone know where I might go to find information on screen-writing and how to go about it?