People have always told me to write about what I know.
I wanted to write stories about magic, but magic didn’t exist. Not for me. What seemed supernatural was usually a hoax. There was always a logical explanation. Don’t accept a world of superstition. Don’t be one of the people who blames magic for their problems. Don’t expect to use magic to solve your own.
I read these warnings, listened to them, and absorbed them. They created the reality I lived in, a cynical reality, which wasn’t going to accept anything supernatural too quickly.
In spite of these warnings, I wanted magic in my life. I eagerly sought out tales of magic, fantasy, and supernatural beings. I wanted to write such stories myself. However, I smiled a bit at them, not taking them too seriously. The lessons of cynicism had been too well learned.
I couldn’t be cynical any more. Not if I wanted to experience the world through the heart and mind of someone who used magic. I needed to open my eyes and ears. I had to turn off the warnings, the whisper in my mind, which said, “There’s nothing in the dark”, or “It’s only the wind”. If I saw shapes in the darkness, I needed to pay attention to them. If I heard a faint whispering in the wind, I couldn’t dismiss it as my imagination. I needed to pay attention to it.
What things I started to notice, once I dismissed the warnings! Especially through the eyes and ears of one of my characters. To Danyell, Dayell, and Christopher, there was no such thing as “It’s only the wind”. What they heard whispering to them made my head spin. It was as a barrier disappeared, allowing all things possible to exist in the landscape of my imagination. However, what my characters saw as wondrous might be quite ordinary to a lot of people.
I used to think magic didn’t exist. Now, I wonder if magic isn’t everywhere, right under our noses. A flower blooming can be magical, as can fruit ripening on a tree. The way certain kinds of music moves through me, making me want to dance is quite magical. However, we take all of these things for granted, especially if we can explain them.
How about you, dear reader? Have you ever noticed something magical through a character’s eyes? Something you’d never noticed before?