“If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you over a book, forgetting cold and hunger–
If you have never read secretly under the bedclothes with a flashlight, because your father or mother or some other well-meaning person has switched off the lamp on the plausible ground that it was time to sleep because you had to get up so early–
If you have never wept bitter tears because a wonderful story has come to an end and you must take your leave of the characters with whom you have shared so many adventures, whom you have loved and admired, for whom you have hoped and feared, and without whose company life seems empty and meaningless–
If such things have not been part of your own experience, you probably won’t understand what Bastian did next.”
— Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)
“Bastion looked at the book.
‘I wonder,’ he said to himself, ‘what’s in a book while it’s closed. Oh, I know it’s full of letters printed on paper, but all the same, something must be happening, because as soon as I open it, there’s a whole story with people I don’t know yet and all kinds of adventures, deeds and battles. And sometimes there are storms at sea, or it takes you to strange cities and countries. All those things are somehow shut in a book. Of course you have to read it to find out. But it’s already there, that’s the funny thing. I just wish I knew how it could be.’
Suddenly an almost festive mood came over him.
He settled himself down, picked up the book, opened it to the first page, and began to read…”
— Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)_________________________________________________________________
Dear Reader,
What is your favourite childhood fantasy or fairytale?
Mine is without question: The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende…Both the book and original movie truly depict the wondrous world of imagination and dreaming that readers inhabit every time they open the cover of a new book.
Today I watched “The Never Ending Story” again on YouTube. Just like every other time I have watched this movie, all the world disappeared for 94 minutes while I disappeared into the world of Fantasia…riding with Atreyu and R-Tex through the desert of desolation or the swamp of sadness all while trying to save the child empress with the help of a human child….Bastian..just a boy who loves reading…
That is the true power of imagination and stories….the ability to totally forget about your worries and to disappear into another world.
I think that is one of the reasons why I have always made up stories..whether I was telling them to my baby brother or whether I wrote them down for myself to read…I loved disappearing into the world of imagination and dreams. My love for words has always run deep through my veins, my first nickname as a child being “Little Bookworm”. No matter what the weather was like outside I was never bored because I always had a book to disappear into. Even now, no matter where I go I always take at least 2 books with me even if it is going to my day job where I manage a fashion store. I have my books in my laptop bag and at lunch I know I can disappear into a book and let imagination refuel me.
So…all this talk of imagination and fantasy has got me inspired. I have set myself a challenge for June to write 2000 – 5000 words every day for 30 days in a novel. I just was not sure what type of novel I wanted to do this challenge in. Now I have decided, I want to be a “Bastian” and disappear into a world of fantasy. This is very different to my actual book that I am working on at the moment which is a book of realistic fiction where a woman has to make a life or death choice and then has to deal with the consequences and fall out for her loved ones as a result of her choice.
So that is the plan…Tomorrow, the last day of May will be spent fleshing out a plot line for my June Challenge and then Tuesday, the 1st of June will be day one. Already I have characters that have started growing in my imagination all day today. I will be posting excerpts of this “challenge novel” on this weblog so please feel free to grant me your words of sage advice and wisdom.
So, tell me Dear Reader…what is your favourite childhood story/fantasy to disappear into? What story makes you lose the pragmatism of adulthood and re-enter the Fantastic Innocence and Imagination of your childhood?
Rambling away,KK…
Ps*I leave you with these words…
“Once someone dreams a dream, it can’t just drop out of existence. But if the dreamer can’t remember it, what becomes of it? It lives on in Fantastica, deep under earth. There are forgotten dreams stored in many layers. The deeper one digs, the closer they are. All Fantastica rests on a foundation of forgotten dreams.”
— Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)
That’s the post from my blog for the 30th….
Kim Koning 
I haven’t read that story, but excerpts you put up make it sound like a wonderful book. I will definitely take out time to read it someday.
As a kid, I would get engrossed in almost any book or piece of writing. What captivated me in my early years is very different from what captivated me later. When I was in 6th, I fell in love with a book, “Anne of Green Gables”, and then even more so with “To Kill a Mockingbird” (though the latter I had to read again when I got older to really understand the story). Then of course there was Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Now my favorite book is “Lord of the Rings”, no book can beat that one when it comes to fantasy.
I still enjoy reading children’s books though. Another lovely book I read recently was, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” -Salman Rushdie. Brilliant book.
I hope your writing went well. I would love to read it. I have been thinking a long time about how I should write a book, but well still have no idea what I want to write about.
Thank you for the lovely comment. Agree with “Anne of Green Gables” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” … both were childhood favourites. Will definitely keep my eye out for the Salman Rushdie book. Writing is going well. Still busy on it. I get to pitch it to publishers in a week’s time at a Writer’s Conference.
As for my advice about writing a book: The best advice is to tell the stories you know. Every person has an interesting story in them. Write from what you know. Write a story you would love to read that maybe has not been written yet.
And if you need a reader, look to your fellow writers and poets….the writing community is incredibly supportive and encouraging.