People ask me all the time, “Why do you do the things you do?” Why do I write fan fictions? Why do I read so much? Who do I waste my time working on some stupid novel that will never get finished? Well, to those people, I have a question: Why do you watch TV? Why do you spend hours on end reading comics or a book series that you really love? I have that answer. It’s an escape.
We all have things we want to escape from. Some people have bad family lives, weather it be with siblings or parents or otherwise. Some have bad jobs that they hate, and this gives them something else to do. Some people are just plane bored, and need an escape for purely that reason. It’s a way to get far, far away from your problems and everything that’s bothering you, without actually leaving your home.
With writing, you get to create an escape. You create your own fictional world, or maybe even just modify the one you live in, and then you get to be a part of it. You could meet your favorite celebrities, be bitten by your very own gorgeous vampire, and even become the wizard you were always meant to be, just with a stroke of the pen or a swipe on the keyboard. You can be whoever you want to be, whenever you want to be, or wherever you want to be, without even taking a step or getting plastic surgery. You control every twist and turn, every plot point and ever word that comes out of a character’s mouth, weather the character is you, a friend, or even a werewolf.
Role-playing, as some may know, is an online phenomenon that has swept the nation, with multiple mediums such as Disney actors and characters, the Harry Potter and Twilight series, and even original characters from books and the imagination of others. With role-playing on MySpace, you basically control your character, the one character that you get a say in (unless you have multiple accounts, in that case it’s a different story). You are basically creating another you. The advantage to this is that you can fix flaws, create characteristics such as magic, abilities, and other things, and even become a totally different person with the click of a mouse. The only real downsides are that a) a lot of drama can usually happen (but luckily it’s with someone who can’t actually slap you) and b) it’s easy for a person to get too wrapped into the story line (which is why you never give too much information out about your real self).
Reading stories about beloved characters has been around for centuries. You place yourself smack dab in the middle of somebody’s life, watching twist after twist unfold, and you don’t do any of the work. The would you enter could be totally different from your own, and yet you’re totally enthralled by character who you actually care about. Television, one of the many great inventions, is almost like reading, except you don’t have as many details and you can’t actually feel the emotions that each character is going through. Though, with TV, you have more of your senses working.
In conclusion, the mind and imagination are both fascinating things. Creating worlds within worlds is only a thing that human beings are capable of, and most are glad to be able to. Weather you prefer controlling everything, or just your words and actions alone, an escape is sometimes all one needs to stay sane.