The morning light is metallic - steel glinting through the grey as the sun sets fire to the day. Walking to the train this morning the streetlights pop off as I pass - making me feel like I'm in a Harry Potter film, that there is magic In the air and that I am heading towards something.
In reality I'm up early, and the lights go off now as they are set for winter and the days have got that little bit longer. My mind makes magic out of the ordinary (and apparently has a thing for alliteration today), and gives the day an imaginary gloss.
Yes this is delusional, but it's also quite nice. It turns the just icing rain into glass shards (Though not literally of course, otherwise the plastic surgery and years of therapy I would need would not be a fair trade.), and the dawn into a portent. Of what exactly is hard to say? Though I'm generated a dab of potents - they suggest something is coming, which is generally better than feeling that nothing is happening (although both have there stresses).
This may be a result of too many fantasy quest epics as a child, teen, and yes okay as an adult - with "Lord of the Rings" taking centre stage here, but by no means being the prime suspect (the above mentioned Harry Potter being another worth questioning). Quest narratives rely on the idea of destiny, or the journey. The action and characters all move inexorably towards something - the object, to self knowledge or understanding of the world, and the reader knows it and is drawn along. Even with the "Game of Thrones" series, which does much to invigorate the genre with violence and unpredictability, the whole saga builds toward looming events - indeed it's skill is to keep extending beyond the immediate climax, making kings, queens, countries and key characters seem small compared to the power of events.
The reader'a job, if you like, is to draw conclusions from this process of discovery and revelation - to see the implications for the real life thy live. The epic form fixates the reader on an objective, but also serves to show how we are part of a bigger whole. This is heightened by the reassurance of the 'extraordinary ordinary' character - best exemplified by the character of Sam form LOTRs, a characters who transcends his everyday condition and impulses to play a vital part int the destiny of lands and races.
To see the world as part of this sort of ongoing narrative helps me to step outside a a take a look at the world as a critic a - to evaluate and assess my actions and the workings of society. I can examine the continuing journey provides obstacle sand opportunity a and how this is changing me.
But it is also fun to role play - to step into the quest, to take on a character to immerse your yourself in the magic of the new world.