Books are Immortal

A brilliant piece of art by Raphael Lacoste.

The holiday season is upon us and maybe I'm becoming sentimental. I'm writing, daydreaming and pouring over the ways to write magnificent stories. I get quieter in times like these because I'm working, and that's a good thing.

Today, I feel like sharing a thought that frequently comes to mind: Books are immortal. In a world saturated with mobile devices, social networking and hyper-active media portals, people fear for the survival of the good old fashioned book. They say that in this hurricane of massively broadcasted entertainment, people will stop reading. I see the projected statistics, I understand this fear, but I am optimistic. Reading will never die.

No other form of entertainment is so personal as literature. The moment we open the first page of a book, whether it be digital or paper, we are immersed in a world colored by our own imaginations. Written description is merely a guideline to the richness of detail that develops in our minds. Characters take shape in a manner that is unique to each of us. When we picture that protagonist, we fill them with life and essentially give them a finger print that could not be replicated by anyone else. In this way, stories in books belong as much to the reader as to the writer who created them. Let's look at books as though they were movies. The credits roll: You are the casting director, you are the set designer, you are the score composer. When you read--no matter who the author happens to be, no matter how many other people have read that very same book--the story that unfolds is yours alone.

In the early days of radio, folks were certain that fiction would be put out of business by such a fresh, new competitor. It didn't happen then, and even despite copious inventions of entertainment technology, it hasn't happened yet. Books are wellsprings of compassion. Books are our deepest escape. Books are immortal because once we've read them, their tales exist within us, as real as a memory, as vivid as a dream.


UPDATES
Goodreads: Ask the Author
I'll be available to answer questions about my books and writing in general on Goodreads this week, from Dec. 15th until Dec. 21st. Stop on by and ask me whatever you'd like to know about the War of the Princes series, or about my process. Simply click HERE and type in your question in the "Ask the Author" field.

I hope you are all having a wonderful winter season!

All yours,

~A.R. Ivanovich

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