Nick Palmer, Writer

It’s not unusual for me when I’m walking down the street alone, music playing into my ears, to sink into a fantasy world where the path is beset with a foe of some kind – bandits, assassins, or twisted servants of evil. This all takes place in my head, so I appear to the vast majority of the world like another normal human being, rather than the big damn hero I am in my head.
 

Via rebloggy.comWelcome to my mind (actual weaponry may vary).

 
This in itself is not a problem, since who doesn’t indulge themselves in a little day dreaming now and again, just to make life a little bit more bearable awesome? Also, this forms the basis of my life as a writer, because the ability to imagine a character beset with enemies on all sides is where ideas like Tornmile come from.
 

Shameless self promotion for the win.

 
What does annoy me about this tendency of mine is that it’s so based in the fantasy tropes – saving townships and ending bad guys, but it’s really hard to be a hero in the real world. For a start, I possess no weapons that could actually do damage and in any case I’m a pacifist. There won’t be a ninja attack on Victoria Park any more than there’ll be an troll in the dungeons.
 

Via glee.wikia.comNow’s the time you should question why I have a dungeon.

 
Here in the real world, we can’t even decide on who the heroes are. There are some that are held up universally as paragons of virtue, but sometimes they turn out to actually be horrendously attached to making others suffer (-cough- Mother Teresa -cough-). But this was a thing that hit me the last time I indulged in a fantasy scene of heroics. I’m not a hero, not really, and frankly I’m not sure that I ever will be.

My wonderful father, who is my hero and always will be, wrote me a short poem on one of my birthday presents this year where he said that superheroes and superpowers may not exist, but I’m a hero to family and friends (I know, right. And the present was a Green Lantern t-shirt, mask, and power ring. Best dad ever.). Maybe that’s all we can be – a hero to the people who know us. It’s not a bad thing to be, but it leaves me a bit of a cold feeling inside. I suppose, when it comes to it, I just want to help people. Playing a hero in my mind just makes me remember how unheroic I am in real life. Then I need a fantasy just to bring me out of the doldrums.
 

Via cdn.uproxx.com