Flights of Fancy
What is it about good fiction (on the page or on the screen) that draws us in and manipulates our emotions almost as if the people involved were really part of our lives? You know the kind of book (or television show, or movie) that I’m talking about. The one you stay up all night to finish. Or glom every available episode in one sitting.
I remember in Austin once going to see the Star Wars films (the original three) in order. The showing was in an old restored theatre downtown, and it was so amazing (although somewhat difficult on the 
derriere) to see them all three in order in such elegant surroundings. And I was carried away once again to an empire far far away.
I also remember going with my mother when I was a little girl to see My Fair Lady. We were late and so wound up sitting on the front row, which, from my youthful perspective only made them that much large and therefore that much grander. I wished for a long time to be able to speak with an English accent—cockney or otherwise.
And I remember for months after first reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, trying, sadly without success, to walk through the back wall of my closet certain that if I just worked at it enough I could find my way to Narnia. (And we’re not even going to discuss how many times I tried to poke my hand 
through the mirror or catch other myself being something other than a reflection.)
So I can’t say that I’m surprised to find that my current fictional obsession, Downton Abbey, like so many before it, has drawn me in and me care so much for the characters that I have literally used all the tissues in the house watching one or two of the episodes (okay, this season almost every episode). I’m heart broken with the losses, but surprisingly find I am also anxious to see how the others get on.
Fiction is a magical thing. It allows us to be carried away to places we can never really find on our own. To inhabit if only for an hour or two the workings of someone 
else’s imagination. And if it’s really good, we are devastated when the ride is over.
So how about you? What are some of your favorite fictional worlds? Are you a fan of Downton Abbey? Did you go through boxes of Kleenex? Do you dream of waking up at Pemberly? Wish you could lead the rebellion and fly a starfighter?
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