The page was blank, the author realized. To anyone else it would have been just a blank page. The kind you keep in your binder so that it would be ready for when the teacher asked you to take notes. To them, it was simply an empty space. Practically useless.
But to the author…this was far more than a blank page. It was a canvas. An open door. An ocean of unexplored possibilities. An endless expanse of potential limited only by the author’s imagination and much ink he had in his pen.
There could be swirls of light and flashes of colour that clashed against a black sky on that paper to him. There could be a fearless knight riding atop his white horse, gleaming sword in hand as he prepared to slay an enormous ebony dragon. There could be a mother dragging her son by the ear out of the wedding, screaming about how he was acting like a three year old even though he was only four and a half. A pirate dueling a mortal enemy aboard his majestic vessel, the Jolly Roger billowing effortlessly in the background. A bumblebee fleeing for cover from a sudden rainstorm, dodging droplet after droplet as the hive grew closer and closer. A magical circus. A bloodied battlefield. A starship. A ballroom. Any one of these could flood the paper with brilliant colours, sounds, smells, tastes, and transform it into a powerful and beautiful work of art.
A melody of an age-old tale could flow from the author’s pen. Simple calligraphy etched into a piece of paper could completely change the paper from an open door to a world bursting with energy. Words arranged methodically could form a lush, green oasis or a fiery dark hell. It could be a violent, unforgiving place or a serene, quiet meadow. It could be anything that the author wanted it to be, and all he needed to do was put the ink in the right spots.
A white canvas. A clean sheet. An unwritten symphony. A world alive with sensations that the reader could feel and love. A possibility.
The author smiled. It was time to write.
He grabbed his pen, took a deep breath, and began his story.
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To see more of Matthew's storytelling, click here.