What Would You do?

by G.Parker

My family and I went to see Inkheart for Family Night on Monday. I'd seen the first hour or so of it during a trailer shop, (I do mystery shopping for theaters)and a couple of my other children had already seen the whole thing -- but I wanted to see the end. I wanted to see how things were going to get fixed. Don't worry, if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'm not going to give too much away. Grin.

Inkheart, for those of you who don't know (as I didn't before the movie came out) is the name of a book. Actually, it's a series of three books. My daughter has read the series, and liked the movie better than the first book. From her description, I don't want to read them anymore. Kind of reminds me of how all the Narnia books end. Sigh.

What fascinated me about the movie, was the concept of an author wanting to live in the book he has written. Most of the stories I've written are about places I have already been. I haven't attempted many fantasies because that line of thought is generally difficult for me to picture -- it's pure imagination. While the two fantasies I have written are fun, the one I finished is still within the confines of the northern American continent. I didn't need to make up anything about where it was. The one still in the works is an unknown -- it comes in spurts and moments of challenge. I still don't know how it's going to end.

Have you ever fallen in love with what you were writing so much that you would rather be there than in your real life? Are you so lonely in reality that you would make up stories to take yourself away? I can't imagine it. While I enjoy writing, and putting the characters and places down on paper, I don't picture myself there.

My imaginings are times away with my hubby on a beach or cruise ship somewhere with or without our children...although usually it's without. Grin.

What is your approach to your writing? Is it an escape from reality? Or is it something that must come out because it's begging to be told? You've read our different blogs where we've expressed how the characters are in our heads, pushing for the story to be written. An author's life is not always a comfortable passion.

But the idea of escaping into one's work was amazing to me. I know that many read to escape reality, but I had never considered an author writing to escape reality. I don't think any of us here at the Blog feel that way. Interesting concept.

Most of my children are writers, and they left the theater with several new story ideas. It wouldn't be a bad thing if they would finish something. Sigh.