“It’s not irrelevant, those moments of connection, those places where fiction saves your life. It’s the most important thing there is.”
-Neil Gaiman, Newbery Medal acceptance speech for The Graveyard Book at the annual conference of the American Library Association in Chicago, July 12, 2009.
It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard.”
-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
If you read only one satire in your life; please, please, please, please read Adams.
“…Don’t be afraid, don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cock-eyed Genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed for just one moment, through your efforts, then Olé. But if not, do your dance anyhow, and Olé to you nonetheless.”
-Elizabeth Gilbert, “Your Elusive Creative Genius“ TED Talk
I open the door hesitantly, but trusting and curious enough that I take that initiative. What will greet me?
Will I be thrown into a dark, metal lift, hearing only the sounds of creaking? Is there a girl standing there, shyly looking at her shoes as her personality and past are outlined? Is there an entryway I must cross first, through the ancient history of the world I’ve entered?
This, this is why I travel. But, coupled with the delight of a new place are feelings of apprehension of where I will be taken next. I may open the door, but the journey is one in which I follow the mind tracks of the author afterwards.
Please don’t force my eyes to see gory shreds of a person amidst an otherwise enthralling tapestry of words. Don’t make me swallow a detailed draught of misery when you have the opportunity and power to dose me immersively with a more intelligent and simpler vintage.
I want to visit the differing landscapes of your stories, formed and built by a unique mind. Dragging me through gritty details soils my thoughts and convinces me of the dirty qualities of your own.
Chel Owens 