New Beginnings

And every good author knows that with every new beginning there must be a tragic ending of some kind. And every reader knows that author is going to pull your heartstrings until you feel your heart being pulled from your chest and you feel every ounce of pain written into that page.

Every word a beat of anticipation as to what comes next; anxiously turning pages while standing on the edge of the cliff as if the reader is the hero or heroine. You can't see what is coming, but you find yourself trapped in the center of their story holding your breath, craving more of what comes next.

A good author would leave you asking questions while breadcrumbing you with clues. Are the answers in the past, present or future? Were the signs in the foreshadowing or in the flashbacks that led us on this journey. Which part of the story is meant to provide the moral of the plot? Which parts are fact and what parts are fiction?

But the story doesn't always end with, "and they all lived happily ever after." It seems that the moral lies somewhere within the sacrifices it takes to get to an ending that nobody but the main character sees coming and into a new beginning; an abyss filled with the unknown and fear of how the new beginning ends. But does anyone even know what the other side of that looks like? It seems the avid reader already knows that we will be left to our imaginations that everything would be perfect or at least okay in the end; but does knowing this really leave the reader fulfilled?

Does anyone really want to know where one story ends, or another begins? The average reader may tell you the prince (who isn't really a prince) saves the princess from an evil curse and with just one kiss they fall in love and ride off into the sunset; and raise a bunch of entitled little .... princes and princesses to repeat the sins of their parents and that the story is outdated to the current times we live in.

Actually, that may be the assumption of an avid reader as well now that I consider it. As a seasoned reader myself, and now as a writer, (this still makes me shake my head in disbelief), I see where we as humans have lost faith in love and no longer believe in the happily ever after. We have become cynical to our feelings and untrusting of others; so, we think the story needs to be rewritten in our own narratives of lies to expose the truth that fairytales are just false hope for a happiness that doesn't even exist.

Or maybe these are all just the musings from a jaded character's viewpoint. I have so many questions, "what if the fairytale is still waiting to be written? What if the new beginning is a love story we didn't see coming? What if the love we are all looking for is just on the other side of the pain we all hold onto like it is the climax of the story? What if we are all in charge of writing our own love story?

What if I told you, all of us are a love story being written by the great divine? I'm ready to step into my new beginning and see what is waiting for me on the other side and one day soon, I just might be able to say, "read the book".

Until next time.

T. McB