Writing A Fantasy Novel : Life’s Last Frontier

As I’ve crossed over into the twilight of life, my Creator seems to have granted to me small bits of wisdom as to what really matters in my life. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to see that most of the things in our life that we thought were important never were. It all was an illusion. Money, recognition, the opposite sex, career, hearth and home…..just phantoms to be chased like some will-o-the-wisp we long to capture but never will.

What turns out to be the end-goal of one’s life isn’t about the strength of youth versus the wisdom of old age, it’s about the discovery of the eternal Self that can ironically come in youth just as strongly as it can in one’s twilight years. That’s what happened to me as I begin to write my fantasy novel, the Phantammeron, in the midst of my troublesome 20’s as a disillusioned young man. Being so much wiser now, I see the power of my visions as a youth yet the immaturity of my ideas and struggle to change the world. With age comes great freedom and power.

What I’ve begun to see with fresh yet older eyes now is the realization that one’s own personal Mythology is all there is or ever was. It really is the one Truth that stands the test of time. It remains the one thing you can own, you can nurture till your last days, the truth that measures the value of one’s soul.

And it’s shared expression through Fantasy worlds and writing is the only Truth left, if you really look at your life and it’s purposes. Because there is no purpose but to explore the undiscovered country that is You. What do I mean by that? Tolkien invested his whole life in exploring this personal Mythopoeia and died with it yet unfinished. We all fail to see the miraculous power in that fact and the course Tolkien has laid for us all.

For the mind, the brain, is but a box that contains us, yet houses our infinite Self. If we all, writers or otherwise, could see the importance of exploring the Mythology inside us, we too could be free like Tolkien. And that’s part of what I’ve begun to see. But this idea goes way beyond Tolkien. For our singular purpose isn’t but to be victims to our careers, our money, our families, our societal obligations. Our purpose is to unchain ourselves from that play, and but construct our own mythological true selves…..which is but our minds completely free to explore the abstract meaning of our universe and everything in it that lives beyond our own small identity.

For Fantasy writing alone seems the nearest medium able to handle and share such grand explorations. It seems when we but lose our money, the people we love, the cultural shifts of generations lose us, and our careers seem but a competition and a game at the end of our lives, all that remains is ourselves. But we find in the end, none of that reality could ever truly fulfill our mind’s grander purpose…..which was to seek out meaning in that meaningless place we find ourselves thrown into.

That’s where the majesty of writing and writing about fantasy worlds and people makes us then God’s. But not for ego’s sake but for understanding the grandeur and the glory of Life around us, apart and yet inside us. For that then is what any religion should convey….the beauty of that idea. Yet sadly many cannot. That’s where independent writing can save us all. But not from some horror of living which must be joyous in the end.

Mythopoeia, I see now, is but a creative exploration of alternate worlds, used as a metaphor for this one’s. It seem to be all that must remain for us to do, at the end, this seeking of Self and Truth through our myths. And writing true fantasy and mythologies free of our desires for money, love, and power in this world, allows our minds to finally grasp at the greatness of all living things and of the spirit of all creation. And so, Mythopoeia is a truly religious experience. And so akin to the New Testament, the Quoran, etc. By completing this spiritual writing exercise I’ve seen we escape the smallness of our immediate lives and so ironically see the beauty of living and potentially embrace it more profoundly. For living is but a joy at any age when we understand it’s suffering fully.

And so is the joy of the Other World just as strong if not stronger than this one as we look down upon it, self-reflecting our deepest myths upon its fabric but to see it has lessed life there, too. And so, we but create from our inner myths that hide so deep in us the final Truth this endless search for life’s meaning. Such is the power of fantasy writing. This then has finally shown me the awakening of Fantasy Writing offers us and its untold potential so few today seem to grasp. I see now the need to return to the Phantammeron and to complete my work. For I sense a grandness yet hidden in so many of its stories….a depth of emotion and feeling I so much want to convey through the tragedy of the men and women in these books. My heart and soul lies inside so many people and events in this tale that seems to always call me back to it.

But the desire isn’t about me, but about them…the idea that meaning yet lies hidden in this tragic tale. It’s a spiritual, religious feeling that shows that nothing much matters but this story. It’s why I’ve shared this singular idea that your Truth and your message yet remains through the exploration of your one great story. Don’t forget to live, too, and enjoy this life. But seek to know yourself beyond your place in this world. That’s the message I want to give you in 2019, and the secret meaning of life that lies hidden but which can be revealed through the writing of Mythopoeia and Fantasy Novels. For nothing else seems to be higher than the discovery of the myths that are you.

– the Author



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