Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Journey

The name of this spotlight might sound like something more abstract. However, I mean it literally this time. Many fairy tales involve journeys. I would go so far as to say it is likely the most prominent aspect of them. I have read a huge number of these stories, and a journey is almost always a requirement.

If you have ever read an Oz book--seriously, any one of them--there will be a journey involved. The general formula has the characters set out on a quest to get something. save someone, find a missing person, or just get a new set of brains. Along the way, they have various encounters with some of the many oddities found within the land of Oz. It is my experience that most of these places are based on some singular principle... or just a pun. We'll deal with these places with more focus on later spotlights. Whatever the case, the characters overcome the trials of these locations and move on with their journey.

Another great example is J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books. Anyone who has read these books or seen the movies know all about how dangerous some journeys can be. I mean... those hobbits really had a hard road compared to Dorothy. "Lord of the Rings" showed a far grimmer world for the characters to travel through, but the journey was just as important there as it was in Oz. One was just a bit friendlier.

In the Grimm stories, journeys happen all the time; however, they are heavily truncated because the stories are short. Most of the time, these journeys happen with singular characters, and the places they go to can range from the silly to the extremely dangerous. Nevertheless, the hero prevails against these trials and ends up with a princess and a kingdom.

Okay, now we will allow ourselves to get a bit more abstract. Life is a journey. Yes, I really just said that, but it is actually true. We go through life and bump into strange villages with people that don't understand us. We have to overcome these trials and do so by being who we were meant to be... not simply who we are. If you only act as you are, you might as well stop the journey at the first village you visit. Don't even get me started on climbing mountains to drop an evil ring into a pit of lava. You'll never even get that far if you can't overcome at least most of your inborn traits. It's all about adapting and evolving with the trials sent your way... and also never stopping... no matter what.

But don't you ever wonder why you never run into the stuff the characters do for real? I, for one, would love to run into a city with talking foxes in it. In my published book "Ava in Fairyland," I had such a place--it was called Foxania--and I have fantasized about visiting it for real. I know that the place does not exist, and it never will for so long as the world retains much of its cynicism. We can enjoy stuff like that only in books at the moment. But I mean it when I say that such things are genuinely attainable. It simply takes creative minds and enough people to both want it and care deeply to make it happen. Disney World is a great example of this in action. God is not the only creator after all.

Next time you pick up a fairy tale, try to imagine as deeply as you can what the journey happening in that book is really like. If you don't feel like reading, just make one up and take the whole thing step-by-step in your mind. Not all at once. Maybe when you are bored or lying down before going to sleep. If you really like the idea, jot it down. No pressure. Just do with it what you like and make it your own. You may be surprised where that journey takes you.

Thank you for reading my blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. We're off to see the wizard!