Daydreams. Woolgathering. Zoning out. Fantasizing. Letting your imagination run wild.
We all do it, but we probably all did it a lot more when we were children. For fiction writers, the need for a vivid imagination, the ability to see things that aren’t real (at least not to anyone other than ourselves) is vital. It’s the first step in a successful tale.
Recently, at our house—we’ve been getting into Peter Pan, well Jake and the Neverland Pirates actually. For those who don’t know this cartoon, Peter Pan leaves Jake in charge of the Neverland Pirates. Why Peter left or where he went isn’t clear, but to understand the show a bit better, I needed to bone up on my Peter Pan lore. (Not that this is relevant, but recently there was a GEICO commercial with Peter Pan attending his class reunion if you’re interested.)
The quote, “Second to the right and straight on til morning” is the way to Neverland. [It has been misquoted as “Second star to the right and straight on til morning,” but that isn’t from the book. It might have come from Captain Kirk when he inserted the word ‘star’ to tell Sulu what course to set at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.] But if you read the book, what you’ll find is the narrator says something like, even with a map, birds can’t find it using those directions. Why? Because the way to Neverland is unique for each person.
Some of the most fascinating information (for me at least) comes from hearing what the authors say about their creations. J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, talks about how each of the Darling children saw Neverland in a different way. That for each of them it was small enough to contain the adventures, but still had no boundries.
That sounds like a wonderful description of a child’s imagination. I went with ‘lil q to a playground recently and she was running around using her “Firegirl” powers to stop bad people. Daddy and Poppa were allowed to be Fireboys so long as we listened to her. I’ve not been able to find a ‘model’ for Firegirl and I’m left with the impression ‘lil q made the character up herself.
At another playground—this one, the play area inside a mall, which looked completely unfun to ‘lil q’s middle-aged poppa—I kept watching as time and again this little boy—he was 7 or 8—would climb to the top of this little mound, stand on the end and put his hands on his hips and stare out over the play area. He kept saying something I couldn’t catch, but it was clear he was ‘conquering’ his domain or keeping watch over things ala Spiderman or Batman. I had this foolish grin as I recalled those days when I used to do similar things.
Had I the time, I could spend hours watching the kids do this. ‘lil q does it all the time when she’s playing alone. She takes whatever she has and turns it into something fun. If I think about it too much it depresses me that I don’t have time for that anymore.
One thing I’ve noticed is that when kids do things their way—i.e. play with their toys the way they want and not how it is expected—they seem to have more fun. Lots more fun. They see things how they want them, not how we want them to see it. That’s both wonderful and sad. Sad because I can only shield her from the real world for but so long. Sooner or (than?) later she’ll be forced to lose that innocence and confront the world as it really is.
As authors, we get to be children again. We bring to life different Neverlands for ourselves and our readers. We get to forget the world around us, ignore that we’ve had to grow up. No matter the type of story, we get to lose ourselves in a land that doesn’t exist, with people who are imaginary. We get to pick and choose where we go and who we hang out with. We have get to have fun. Just like being a kid again.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and if you want to come visit me, take the second (star) to the right and straight on til morning. I’ll be there waiting.
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of twenty years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.
Follow Andrew:
On his website: www.andrewqgordon.com,
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon,
On Twitter: @andrewqgordon,
Or just email him: andrewqgordon@gmail.com
Books:
The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods – Book 1)
The Eye and the Arm: (Champion of the Gods – Book 2)
Self published:
Nice post, Andrew. I’ve always loved that Neverland quote. Somedays it’s easier to spot that 2nd star on the right than others.