Unicorns, hobbits and trolls, oh my!

The greatest stories come from being able to ask “What If” and follow those questions to all their logical, or rather illogical ends.  For example, to write realistically about unicorns I first should ask myself “What if unicorns are or were at some point, real?”  Then I can imagine a timeframe when unicorns might have existed.  Were they truly magical beings, benevolent and kind or were they actually cruel but cloaked in a beautiful façade?  Perhaps they were not unicorns per se, but shape shifters, who preferred to lure others in with the guise of the esteemed unicorn.  The more “What if” questions you ask and answer, the more you’ll find an entire theory you may not have known existed.  

It is very exciting, and I imagine (perhaps erroneously) that it must be what an explorer feels.  I would imagine that explorers spend a great deal of time thinking “What if?” and trying to find the answers.  They are limited to reality and science, but ah!  The writers, well, we are not closeted or limited.  Perhaps blurring the line between reality and fantasy is dangerous.  One may be in danger of convincing oneself of realities which do not exist. If that happens, I am looking forward to using the excuse of eccentricity.  I could simply tell them I am a writer and receive knowing nods in response, and significant glances to people around them.  Later they will say, “Well, you know writers.  They are all a little off.”  Never mind that this is not true, I would be more than happy to allow them to think that.  If that is how they see my unbelievable world of impossibilities, I will not mind. One of my goals though, is to start a little itch in the back of their brains which will make them pause when they reflect on the books later.  It will be an itch they cannot scratch and will tickle them, tauntingly calling out “What If” for the child in them who wants desperately to believe. Then they are left with the choice to join me in my eccentricity and wide-eyed wonder of the world, or go back to their old reality.  I know what I would choose, but I have always been overly imaginative, overly optimistic and slightly restless in this world.  To join, or not to join?  That is the question.