For some reason I am unable to enjoy a fantasy book or movie. Stretching facts doesn’t bother me at all but once magic enters the equation I immediately loose interest. The funny part is that I do tend to have my own little fantasies and have had since I was a kid involving all the kinds of magic I reject in films and writing. I was recently asked by a writing coach ( friend who helps me) to write some fantasy and it should help me with the fiction I am working on. I find myself becoming agitated and very uncomfortable very shortly into what I am writing even though I may have enjoyed the same thoughts privately countless times before.
I had this weird flashback this morning as the agitation starting setting in. I was about 8 years old and getting yelled at by my father for living in a dream world. After that I had this weird fear that if I crossed into that other world I would never come back. In the flashback it was very clear how real that fear was possibly for a couple of years and then it kind of settled into my sub conscious. This has been like 60 years ago and right now I am a bit shaky as I write this. What the hell is going on?
The obvious response to your circumstance seems to be that an instance of childhood emotional trauma (mild trauma, perhaps, but strong enough that it may still be holding you back just a bit) means that magical fantasy worlds are off limits to some degree in your imagination.
Perhaps experiment with just some very mild instances of magic, at first. Maybe write a little story about a child who develops a very mild and not terribly useful, but still supernatural, ability – like the ability to see 5 minutes into the past in whatever room they’re standing in. Or even milder, if you like – maybe the child can communicate telepathically, but only with their pet cat. Push your own limits just a bit and see where the anxiety really comes in.
That is actually what started this whole thing, I had a few sessions with a therapist who specifically works with writers. When I kind of realized I was really just looking for a captive audience I stopped going but he did open up some doors that haven't been opened for a while.
Do you have a problem with science fiction with indistinguishable-from-magic technology? What about fantasy where there are very strict rules set out for how magic works?
Funny thing is that I can easily watch a movie where para normal is involved even though I have no belief in it. Ghosts, spirits things like that don’t seem to bother me at all unless it gets too outlandish.
mind readers turn me off, but if they have a ghost from the past helping them out I can buy that LOL.
Well, first I’d say that it’s okay to have preferences and to find a ghost story okay while magic makes you roll your eyes. It’s only problematic to the extent that you want to use fantasy as a technique, as you are describing in the writing exercise.
If it seems like something that is genuinely holding you back, maybe try to explore the parameters a little bit. Have a character interact with a ghost, for example, then try to explore what would make that possible or what would come from that. What if it’s a witch talking to a ghost, etc.? It might be something where you can limber up those muscles after a bit. Or you might find you really have some very concrete rules that make some forms of unrealistic fiction okay and some not. That doesn’t seem like a terrible thing to me.
That’s a good suggestion because I often do like to think of individuals from the past who inspire me. Kind of superstitious on my part as I often feel like they are talking to me even though I know better.
I think a fundamental goal of all speculative fiction is to have the ability to craft all aspects of an environment and then place a character and see what happens. I think there are a lot of ways to get to that point.
It reminds me that I least like fantasy stories when the magic seems to pop out of no where. The same when technology defies physics but everything else obeys the rules. It’s everywhere from a cheat to a delusion when there’s no basis or limits for it.
Consider the story of a little kid who sees all superheroes fly with a cape and decides to wear a bedsheet and jump off the roof. Makes you worried about your child’s daydreaming.
You said you can watch movies with the paranormal or sci-fi-if-possible. When a ghost is “there” or a phaser fires, there a “thing” present and it is “real” in that environment. When a warlock circles his hands and says “presto” and something happens, that has no basis. Does that warlock seems like some guy who’s delusional? (that’s sad) Or some guy who learned a trick but doesn’t really know why it works? {scary} Or who might try some others moves just to see what happens? {really scary}
OK, how about The Tempest? Most of Prospero’s magic doesn’t actually seem to be his own: He does magic by making deals with spirits (especially Ariel, but also others). Is that OK for you?
You sound exactly like my wife. She was OK with the Harry Potter books because the kids liked them, and she sat through the Lord of the Rings movies with me and didn’t hate them - probably because the production values were very high. She went to Start Wars due to peer pressure. I tried to get her to watch 2001 and she almost dumped me.