You know when you become so obsessed with fictional characters that you start dreaming about them? When you become so absorbed in a book that you think the characters are all your best friends? When you somehow manage to convince yourself that the song you are playing is the soundtrack to your life? And that each dance move you bust out on your way to put the kettle on (again) is somehow documented by a camera ...and that maybe one day you'll get recognised for your killer shapes by some dance scout? (Do dance scouts exist?) Okay that last point is a clear digression from the subject at hand...ahem...
What happens in the human mind when any of the above happens is a real mystery to me. But it is simply magical! You can't put your finger on quite how to describe that sense of excitement you get when you first hear the intro to a song, that you realise instantly, is soon to become your favourite. I wish you could put that moment in a box and keep it forever, because it's pretty much like falling in love. That feeling lasts such a short time, but is the reason that song holds such an esteemed place in your head. You memory of how good that feeling is, holds the song in a moment, a past moment, where it can do no wrong. Your imagination carries you off into the sunset. You're walking along the beach with the love of your life, or flying through the sky, not a care in the world, or trapped in an eternal summer - so long as that song plays. It's just like....the song...it just...makes you WANNA...
Then comes the moment that you've crossed the line. The line between the perfect amount of plays and overplaying it. When you go into that dark corner, you can never get back that feeling, that sense of excitement, that knock-you-off-your-chair-and-roll-onto-the-floor-in-shock reaction. You can barely remember what it was like.
Fastforward in time now. You've managed to forget that song. Or that episode of Sherlock Holmes (or book, whatever it is...) Life has carried on, and so have you. You keep on watching the same old stuff, listening to the same old stuff etc. etc. Then, all of a sudden, you are reminded of Sherlock for some reason (I dunno, your friend mentioned it or something...) You decide to watch the first episode again. BAM!
"What was the BAM?" I hear you ask. That was you being bowled over, all over again. It's like you never even watched it in the first place. Suddenly, you find yourself falling in love with him, like the past year never happened. It's irresistable, the whole process is involuntary. It's happening and you can't stop it.
That moment, my dear friends, is what I like to call The Great Re-discovery. (Yeah, you can probably think of a better name for it yourself...) The point is, it's pretty amazing how fickle your memory can be. It's also amazing how exciting and 'OOOOH' and 'I can't believe it' and magical the whole thing is. I do love it.
One great thing about being a writer, is that (hopefully) I have the capacity to allow this to happen for other people. I like the thought that maybe one day someone will put down my book, after reading a particular chapter, and have their thoughts entirely absorbed in a fictional world that I have created. I am ever hopeful that this may be the case, as I managed to achieve The Great Re-discovery myself, with my own book, this very year! I was seeking inspiration for my current book, and decided to re-read a chapter I had written in another project for some ideas. I re-discovered a character that I had almost forgotten about. What a guy he was. Suddenly, I had that feeling of excitement all over again.
That is why I love writing so much. I get completely immersed in a different world, with some pretty cool characters. If only they existed! One day you will get to have a read, and then I can only hope that one character makes you WANNA...
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