Imaginary Worlds

Today is one of those especially nerdy blogging days. I've been spending a good amount of my time the past few weeks thinking a lot about some of the writing that I've been trying to get done. I have a 2" binder currently more than half full of writing, character bios, and ideas for the different stories that I've been working on lately, and have been working on for ages. I've become especially determined as of late to unearth my old "Adventuria" stories that have been lying around virtually untouched for years and years. What is Adventuria, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you.

It was in the fifth grade that my neighbor and best friend, Charlotte, and I decided to create our own world. We had just finished reading "Bridge to Terabithia" in school, and the idea struck us that we wanted our own world to go to. We became sisters that day, the princess and queen of a small, forested nation called Adventuria, so named because of the many adventures we were to have there. We transformed and became the daughters of the late King Statsatorn and Queen Elizabeth Royalle (called Stan and Liza by friends). Charlotte was the eldest daughter, Queen Terabith Liza Royalle, young archmage and ruler of the land. I became the younger daughter, Princess Senora Kit Royalle, Lady Knight and learning mage. Terabith ruled the land while Senora enforced things, playing off each other's strengths and hiding each other's weaknesses. That day, we found ourselves.

It was in Charlotte's backyard that we first played Adventuria. We ritualized the beginning of the game, needing to walk through the arch of shrubs and trees that allowed us to cross the threshold into our world, discarding our old selves and becoming the new. The cares and weights of ourselves in the real world did not exist in Adventuria, and  we were free to do as we would. It was not long until Charlotte's brother Sam showed himself, wanting to play with us, too. He wanted to be our dog, until Terabith realized that it was a spell that had made him what he was. Lo and behold, he wasn't a dog at all, but the lost prince of Adventuria, Terrier Stan Royalle, the youngest child of Stan and Liza, thought to have died with his mother.

We played in Adventuria every weekend for years. We made Senora's sword, Terabith's mage staff, Terrier's bow and arrows, and even made costumes to be our characters one year for Halloween. Naturally, nobody knew at all who we were. We didn't care, though, as long as we knew who we were. Our adventures became part of our lives. Eventually, our friends started to become curious as to what we were doing. They joined in on our fun, but it was never the same. They had their own personas, their own ideas for the world, and soon they became bored with the world.

Though its active part of our lives came to an end shortly after, Charlotte and I continued to write about our adventures. I began documenting the adventures of Senora, Terabith, and Terrier, and she wrote the story of Stan and Liza's adventures. Though our stories ended up abandoned, they were, at least for me, a springboard into the writing that I love to do to this day. I plan to unearth our old stories and edit them, hopefully making them readable and (perhaps in the future) ready to be published.

If you were ever wondering why for so long I acted like I was living in a fantasy world, now you know. :)