When you read a book that you love, do you feel drawn into the world of that story? Do you feel like you could have a conversation with the characters? Do you feel the cool, wet fog settling on Baker Street and smell the strong tobacco of Sherlock Holmes’ flat? Do you hear the quartet strike up the next ballroom dance for Mister Darcy to refuse to join? Do you immerse yourself in learning spells and watching for owls in hopes that Hogwarts will enlist you?
You may, then, be an Inter-Story Intercessor. After all, your life is a story and all your world the setting and characters. Thankfully, authors have created new worlds that we can escape to when our own lives become stressful, dull, or overwhelming. Then we can intercede on behalf of our favorite characters.
Don’t eat the poisoned cake, Peter Pan! Yes, yes, I believe in fairies! I’ll clap my hands!
Don’t trust Milady, Constance!
Give Mister Darcy a chance, Miss Bennett! You must admit he’s interesting!
Not the apple, Snow White! Not the spindle, Aurora!
Perhaps we even imagine what it would be like if we were actually to meet the characters. I have often thought it would be fun to take David Balfour’s place in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. Not that I’d want to be kidnapped, but an adventure at sea and a chance to cross the Scottish Highlands with a spry, sword-wielding Jacobite would be a nice change sometimes.
Other times, we are thankful that the author has the tale well in hand. We can snuggle more comfortably in our covers knowing that the hero will come out all right and that the ghosts and monsters cannot escape from the pages that confine them.
Still, what would it be like to confront the Balrog? To dwell in Rivendell? To eat elven bread or the Po-ta-toes that Samwise Gamgee prepares? Would we be strong enough to cast the ring into the fire?
Would we be tempted by Turkish delight? Would we take a chance on a talking faun who invites us to tea under a lamppost in the snow?
As an inter-story intercessor, you may even be the inspiration, the muse for an author, part of the magic that the author instills into the words they weave into their next tale. You may even be the reason the author keeps writing.
Someone is reading my work!
Someone took time to write a review!
Someone fell in love with the characters in my story!
Without our avid readers, that is, our inter-story intercessors, our books are unopened boxes with the magic crammed inside waiting to be discovered by someone who will sneak into the attic, blow away the dust, pry open the cover, and breathe in the aroma of ink and page, and finally allow the words to live once more.
