There are a number of truths I’ve discovered over the years as a reader of fantasy.
One of them is simple. When we begin reading fantasy, it is usually in our childhood formative years. It is the best time for wonderment. We are introduced to wild things and green eggs and ham. We are entranced by fairy tales, following the yellow brick road, and discovering lions and witches in wardrobes. We walk through the Shire and find wrinkles in time. It is a magical age when we think anything is possible—and it is.
Some people are never introduced to the fantasy of youth, or perhaps adulthood thieves that wonder away. But some of us keep those stories inside our hearts and minds, and search out new ones for the rest of our lives.
During my early childhood, I did not read. I did not grow up on the likes of those fantasy novels mentioned above. No Goodnight, Moon. No Baby Beluga. No Lorax. I didn’t read The Hobbit until I was 21 years old. Both of my parents worked odd hours and I was rarely read to. It was the way it had to be due to life’s situation.
By the time I was 10 years old, I was severely stunted when it came to reading those great books. I was behind. I was lucky enough to have some wonderful middle school librarians though, women who worked hard at expanding minds like my own. I’ll never forget being handed The Book of Three written by Lloyd Alexander. Or being whisked away on adventure in The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. Or picking up The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, which sat on my mother’s sewing machine. Or my 8th grade teacher suggesting I read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant–Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. Or becoming lost in The Time of the Dark by Barbara Hambly.
But, I have often wondered, how much of those books made their way into my personality? How many of the characters in those books remain in my head, unbeknowst to this head’s owner? The wizard Ingold Inglorion? The orphan Harry Crew? The leper Thomas Covenant? The last gunslinger Roland Deschain? Or the pig-keeper Taran?
How much have I incorporated during those reads?
Geoff Kaufman, a post-doctoral researcher at Tiltfactor Laboratories at Dartmouth College, has a theory about such things. The theory? You are what you read. Click HERE to read more about it. In short:
Researchers have found that when you lose yourself in a work of fiction, your behavior and thoughts can metamorphose to match those of your favorite character.
For instance, Allanon is one of my favorite characters from my youth. He overcomes all odds, no matter the cost. He is dark and forbidding, with an ability to push himself greater than a normal human man can. He rarely tells the whole truth. He is the epitome of guardianship in the Four Lands, a man who works tirelessly for the betterment of others. He is the Druid featured in The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, and he is one of the most celebrated characters in the genre.
Now, I’ve read the Shannara novels featuring Allanon countless times and when I re-read I find something new about the character I love.
How much of Allanon is within? Did a part of that character make me a strong personality? Did he help me overcome cancer last year when I needed those attributes the most?
Is there a Dexter inside of me, waiting to be unleashed?
Or a Tinkerbell, for that matter?
What do you think about such things? Is this theory a possibility? If you think so, who have you assimilated and how do you feel about that?
For starters, Harry Dresden and co from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Those books are the single largest influence on my sense of humor.
Ehren ex Cursori and Tavi of Calderon from Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera influenced a lot of my out-of-the-box thinking patterns. And more of the humor.
R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt Do’Urden and Tom Sniegoski’s Remy Chandler filled in some of the morals I’ve picked up or reinforced over the years.
Tamora Pierce’s Briar Moss was a big influence on me in middle school. Still is. When I create characters in fiction, gaming, or whatnot, I like to throw a little green magic in there.
But the first character for me was T.A. Barron’s Merlin, from The Lost Years of Merlin series. I discovered those when I was 10, and was hooked. I still go back and reread them every couple of years.
I absolutely know for a fact that some of the personality traits in the characters in books I’ve read as a youth found their way into my personality — to this day.
Reading Zelazny’s Amber series I can say for sure some traits of the Amber princes found their way into my mindset. It kept me classy, refined but still tough at a time when teenagers weren’t supposed to be two of those three.
I’m sure there are a hundred different ways this is true for me but when I think of the sci fi and fantasy I reasd during my formative years, the Nine Princes in Amber series came to mind immediately