On Reading...

It's an amazing thing, reading a novel. How our minds can recognize and contemplate these symbols that are put together to form words. Then how we recognize those words and put them together to form a sentence. Eventually we have a novel, we feel connected to these people we don't know and that likely never existed, we feel a need to be in this world that doesn't exist, even if it's plagued by evil rulers and monsters. Why is this? Why do we want these things?

I pin it to the fact that, in most cases, the hero/heroine turns out in the best way possible, either defeating the arch-nemesis or ending up happily ever after. But then why do we feel this way before we even get to the end?

Personally, I think the reader is bored with their normal life, going to school or work day after day. We all want and need something different every once in a while. That's what makes reading so enjoyable: we get to leave our life and live in the place of someone special for once. We want this great adventure to save the world, to fall in true unbreakable and uncontested love, and then once everything is over, know that the rest of our lives will be perfect (unless, of course, there's a sequel).

But what I'd like to know is, if you really had the option to be a Harry Potter or an Eragon or whoever your favorite book character is, would you choose to be? Would you go through all of those challenges without knowing you'd eventually overcome evil, or whatever it is your conflict might be? Think about it...