Making Magic with Rebecca Fyfe
I could be wrong, but I believe I met Rebecca Fyfe through her Chapter Book Challenge (or ChaBooCha). This is an event in March which Rebecca created to help writers write chapter books for young readers! There are prizes and a lot of great guests. I look forward to this event every year. I wasn’t able to finish my book last year, but this year I got just over my word count! It was all thanks to Rebecca and all of her efforts!
Check out the event and don’t forget to sign up to get emails for the next Chapter Book Challenge: http://chapterbookchallenge.blogspot.com/
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Writing Stories is Creating Magic
by Rebecca Fyfe
I’ve realized that I am a wizard and the pen is my wand. You see, when I write a story, I often have to create so many things to make the story come to life. Don’t believe me that I’m a wizard, and, if you are a writer, you are too? Let me convince you by delving into what writers can do.
1 – Writers create entire universes. (While, in some circles, that would make us gods, I’ll stick to the magic theme here.) We don’t just create people (characters) and give them looks, personalities, and entire life stories about why they are the way they are, but we also create the settings that they live in. We create the worlds they live in, from the shop on the corner to the types of creatures who live in their world. Sometimes, if we write fantasy, we even get to create never-before-seen creatures, governmental systems and the rules by which their worlds work.
2 – Writers get to bring others (readers) into that world. By reading our stories, our readers get to live, temporarily, a different life, visit a different world, meet different people and see something completely separate from their own reality play out. And they get to do this all from the safety of their own homes.“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
The man who never reads lives only one.” ~ George R.R. Martin
3 – A writer’s story can help a reader to learn empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of someone else. I once read an article about a study done in 2013 that found that reading improves people’s ability to empathize, or to put themselves in the mind of another and feel what they might feel. Reading helps us to understand others, and, as writers, we help our readers by writing stories for them to read.
4 – Writers create entertainment for their readers, making ordinary lives more fun and exciting. Think about it: What are some ways that people have fun? You might answer things like going to the movies, watching TV, reading a book, or going to a play, but all of these common forms of entertainment involve writers. Movies, TV shows and plays all need script writers, and books require novelists. Even poetry readings require poets. As writers, we get to brighten people’s days with the stories we write.
5 – Writing is cathartic for writers. Angry at someone? Write about it. Create a character in your story to represent the person you are angry at and give them a really bad day. Or kill them off. As a writer, you can do whatever you want with your story. Sad about something? Write some poetry and pour your heart into it. Falling in love? Write a romance. There are so many ways to use your ability to write to help give your mind some peace.
6 – Writers get to use their very soul to bring light into the world they live in. Writing is a very personal thing for every writer. Our stories are a part of us; they come from us. They come from our hearts and our souls, our hard work, our imaginations, and because of this, a bit of the essence that makes us who we are seeps into the stories we create. Each story is unique, and it is unique in a way that is individual to each of us who write those stories. Writing means stringing out tiny bits of your soul onto the page for people to read. And that’s something that only writers are capable of doing.
7 – Writers get to create something lasting to leave in the world, something that will exist even when they no longer do. When we write a story, it is something that becomes a part of the world we live in. It might never become a best-seller, but once it is written, it exists, and it is a part of us that we can leave behind for future generations to read.
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Rebecca Fyfe, an author with stories in several anthologies and collections, is a mother of seven children and, having lost over 145 lbs. of excess weight, blogs about health and anti-aging at Forever Young and fitness at Skinny Dreaming. Because of her love for reading, she graduated with a degree in English Literature. She also received an Associate degree in Child Development. She is a Californian who now resides in Great Britain. Rebecca created and runs the Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha) which runs every March, and, when not writing short stories or children’s stories, she’s busy creating urban fantasy novels, full of her own special blend of magic. She gets her inspiration from her five daughters and two sons. She is the founder of Melusine Muse Press and its subdivision Your Kids’ Creations. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and through her author blog.
3 Comments
Lauri Meyers
I love your comment about stringing bits of our souls on the page. True.
Debra M Daugherty
Writers are wizards. I love this! From one wizard to another, thank you, Rebecca, for this post.
Kelly Vavala
So well written Becky! From Writing wizard to leaving your legacy and everything in between! You are a Wizard and thank you for sharing what you and your magical wand created!