Why do you think fantasy stories are so universally appealing?
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Growing up I loved reading fantasy stories. My earliest memories are from reading my grandmas old Grimm Fairytales books and stories like Jack and the Bean stalk. ? As a kid, I always loved a to read a fantastic journey and adding those stories into my play. As an adult, I love reading fantastic stories for the escape but it also goes so much deeper than that for me.
As a very young man I can recall my mom reading the Narnia series to my brother and I. Those experiences were transportation and formational for me.
I can remember reading Anne McCAffery as a teen and just being blown away by the characters and settings of Pern. ? Those books, choose your own adventure books, and the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were a steady diet for me in my early teens. I can remember spending hours in the school library choosing my destiny over and over again.
Fantasy books were a means of escape for me. Perhaps the stories fed me so much because there were a relief and escape from the pressures of life: bullying, feelings of inadequacy and my parents divorce.
There is a need in all of us to dive into story. It is an ingrained human need to tell and listen to stories. I think fantasy stories in particular tap into something deep within us. They are a window into a realm outside of our tangible experience. They open the door to pockets of truth in our experience. Pockets beyond the bounds of our lived experience.
They typically present us with heroism, adventure and the classic heroes journey. All things that we look for in our daily life and I would say things we need. We need to believe in things that are greater than us, be they a cause, a power or a being. Fantasy books touch on the deep existential truths of life.
It is for this reason that I believe stories, like the Wheel of Time, carry a universal appeal.
Click here for a free eBook with depictions of some of my favourite characters from the Wheel of Time.
