In the last entry, ![[personal profile]](https://imgprx.livejournal.net/1c944e3c9672c8c8f58fbc751a0e9e501b985744/90CYWr4VMMqHiQQfy9O8c9ViRe2fp-QA4XGEVovj6yWDOtKjdNvqPqkojwBv5SnTITNVi-kQjh_1AlhRHsESSHL09SvTWRLbuF00aNWmjn4)
osprey_archer, sovay, and I got to talking (thread here) about the background premise of Every Heart a Doorway--namely, that there could be some kind of special school for young people who can't readjust to life in our world after having an adventure in another world. I realized I had some questions that go beyond that particular novella.
(1) Where does the notion that a portal adventure leaves you messed up come from? Is it all down to the fact of not being able to return to the magical world? What examples of this are there from portal fantasies themselves--excluding portal fantasies that are written as responses to other portal fantasies precisely to explore this point?
(2) In cases where the protagonists lose the ability to get back to the magical world, what elements make that most hard to deal with? To me, arbitrary limitations (like age-based ones) are more distressing than plot exigency ones (the latter being things like having to return to our world after your task in the other one is complete). Y/N? Random inexplicability is also troubling (thinking of people in folklore who have one taste of faery and then spend the rest of their lives trying to find a way to get another taste).
(3) Supposing a bunch of people who've traveled to other worlds did come together for mutual support, what kind of story would you imagine arising for them in that context?
This entry was originally posted at https://asakiyume.dreamwidth.org/873885.html. Comments are welcome at either location.
(1) Where does the notion that a portal adventure leaves you messed up come from? Is it all down to the fact of not being able to return to the magical world? What examples of this are there from portal fantasies themselves--excluding portal fantasies that are written as responses to other portal fantasies precisely to explore this point?
(2) In cases where the protagonists lose the ability to get back to the magical world, what elements make that most hard to deal with? To me, arbitrary limitations (like age-based ones) are more distressing than plot exigency ones (the latter being things like having to return to our world after your task in the other one is complete). Y/N? Random inexplicability is also troubling (thinking of people in folklore who have one taste of faery and then spend the rest of their lives trying to find a way to get another taste).
(3) Supposing a bunch of people who've traveled to other worlds did come together for mutual support, what kind of story would you imagine arising for them in that context?
This entry was originally posted at https://asakiyume.dreamwidth.org/873885.html. Comments are welcome at either location.
Comments
Edited at 2018-01-09 11:47 am (UTC)
It was in reaction to the never being able to go back idea that I made sure that in my own portal fantasy series, it was possible to come and go and time ran the same in both worlds. None of this spending decades in the magical world and returning as a child.
Thanks for the link; I think I *may* have read it but I'll refresh my memory.
do you game with others, like online groups?
same time different place )))
ETA: Oops lol, yeah, I'm repeating myself with the title and all * _*;
Edited at 2018-01-11 03:19 pm (UTC)