The Beauty of Life In The Books We Write
People often say that books are magic, but to me, anything fictional is magic. The concept of something entirely made up having deep and profound impacts on people around the world, regardless of who they are and where they come from, is truly extraordinary. But what’s even more so, is the core of why fictional worlds and people are so important in our lives; they’re imbued with the experiences, passion, and love of the author. Stories are made by people, but despite it being fake, it feels real to us because the world and characters reflect us and our own lives. It’s truth delivered in a fantastical manner, fact dressed up in fiction.
Ever since I started writing my own stories, I noticed that I’m no exception to imbuing my life, heart, and soul into my work. It was mostly done unconsciously. I didn’t intend to make Hades’ main conflict the dichotomy of how you perceive yourself versus how others perceive you. I didn’t intend for Persephone to battle her own insecurities about not being good enough and feeling like an outsider. I didn’t intend to make the Gods Gambit series center around themes of healing or what it means to be a good person. It happened because those conflicts are ones I’ve dealt with. With every story and every character I chip away little pieces of myself and imbue it into the fiber of the story.
But once the story is published, those pieces of me morph into reflections on whoever reads it. My debut, The Promise of Spring, portrays my struggles with others perception of myself in terms of me being a good person. There are readers that relate to TPOS because they worry about how others perceive their own flaws, passions, or identities even though those specific struggles aren’t present explicitly in the text. The very idea of being judged can apply to so many situations and therefore can speak to an infinite number of people. You see my characters battling their own insecurities and you as a reader project your own. The book not only has pieces if me in it, but also pieces of you.
That’s why art and literature are such integral parts of humanity. We may be mortal, but the parts of us we imbed into art are immortal. When books are banned, burned, locked away, or lost, we lose those pieces of ourselves. We lose the parts of our soul that live on after we die. Ask any bookworm why the burning of the Library of Alexandria guts them. Over 200,000 books were destroyed. Who knows what those books contained, what pieces those ancient authors gave up of their hearts and souls to create them.
Books are more than just fiction. Books are more than just magic. Books are who we are.