Manardil: What do you mean by dreamer? There are so many different ways to be categorized as a dreamer. I have been called a dreamer because I daydream about Avalon and write about my own fantasy world during physics class. But then, a good friend of mine has been called a dreamer because she dreams of fame through acting and the glories of Hollywood half a century or more ago. And another friend who dreams and works toward world peace through an organization could also be called a dreamer.
But what does fantasy mean to people? That might be the root of it all. Is it an allegory for real life today? Is it an escape from a world with nuclear weapons, diminishing rain forests, and constant world war? Is it a place to play in? Is it a place where good and bad are just that: good and bad? Is it a place where you can just let your imagination run wild? Or is it a place where you can make your own opinions and have your own hopes and ambitions without anyone there to say, "Hey, that's stupid?"
I said "place" because so often fantasy books take the reader to a new world and/or a new time. Even if the book stays right here on Earth and takes place right now, it isn't the same Earth and it isn't the same now. Rarely (if ever) will you find an urban fantasy with characters worrying about AIDS epidemics and nuclear weaponry in Asia.
So do people like fantasy because it means something to them?
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"And if you listen very hard/ The tune will come to you at last/ When all are one and one is all/ To be a rock and not to roll." --Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
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