the idea: write until your readers get lost in your world

the ideator: Neil Gaiman

It’s been a while since I got lost in a world that wasn’t of my own creation.  As I made my way through Neil Gaiman’s new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I found myself wondering where I was, what I was reading, and what it meant, that is if it meant anything.

I’ve always liked to read things at surface level, absorbing the morals and the underpinnings unconsciously rather than dissecting them.  This comes from my days as an overly mature middle schooler.  I used to hate it when we dissected books in English class, looking for hidden meanings in every sentence.  Instead, I like to get lost and am happy not quite knowing where I am.

Gaiman supplied me with this and my favorite quote from the book sums it up, “Adults follow paths. Children explore.”  I don’t need to know what Gaiman’s book is about.  I can muse about the almost autobiographical nature of it, the blurred lines between fantasy and reality that exist as children, and the sharp lines that we draw as we age.  But in the end, I stumble out of the pages only to find myself glancing over at the book, wondering where I’ve been.

At some point I’ll go back, and maybe I’ll see something new, but for now I am content to stare out the window, past my now empty mug, at the rainy gray world, and reminisce on my recent adventure.