The world of fantasy spans many media – movies, video games, books, etc. – captivating audiences from diverse backgrounds for many reasons: the overall storytelling, the atmosphere, the mysticism, the beliefs in fate and destiny.
Author Terry Bartley and tarot card reader Brandon Laysmith embody the spirit of fantasy not only when they meet after an unexpected turn of events, but also because of the way they have made fantasy their livelihood.
The Open Book hosted Bartley’s live podcast tour, “Most Writers Are Fans,” on July 12, making its way across the country.
Bartley describes his podcast as an exploration of the intersection between writing and fandom.
“I love hearing why someone decided to go into a creative profession and what inspired them along the way,” Bartley said.
For this stop, Bartley was originally supposed to interview a songwriter. Due to injury, the songwriter was unable to attend and Lyesmith happened to be working at Open Book that day.
The podcast was styled in a “Q and A” format. Bartley plays the role of interviewer, Laysmith as the interviewee, and the audience can ask a few questions directed at the two.
The two discussed many topics such as their journeys to their professions, media representations of magic, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mental health, skepticism, the idea of fate and fantasy.
“In real life, we tend to just think small, hope big, and think too small,” Lysmith said. “Whereas here in fantasy or media it’s the opposite.”
Journeys to their professions
Lysmith realized his gifts at the age of 4, when he couldn’t stop hearing voices and seeing things that couldn’t be explained.
For 20 years of his life he avoided it as much as possible until he was told it was inevitable. The career he has now was what he was meant to do.
“I had no choice,” Lisemit said.
Becoming a writer was Bartley’s dream. He loved English and the world of fantasy.
He did not regret the leap to write a book.
“It feels like a long time,” Bartley said. “I’ve been writing for about five years. I can’t wait to be able to talk to people about these characters that have lived in my head for so long.”
However, he knew and still knows very little about what it means to be an author.
“I’m learning this process through writing this book, and it’s been a really satisfying experience,” Bartley said. “But I will say that the more I learned about being an indie creative these days, the more I realized that it’s very, very, very difficult to break into it.”
Bartley hopes this live podcast tour will give him the opportunity to develop his book to its full potential.
Representation of magic in the media
The two discussed the modern representation of magic in the media, mainly citing “Harry Potter”.
Bartley asked Lyesmith’s opinion on the matter, to which he said he had very few negative feelings towards him.
Lyesmith feels that as the Harry Potter books progress, more and more truth about magic comes to the pages and manages to present, rather than pretend to be ignorant, the complex history of magic.
ADHD and mental health
As mentioned earlier, these two were brought together due to an unexpected turn of events.
It was fascinating for them to connect on a personal level and share their struggles with ADHD and mental health.
Lyesmith encouraged the audience to focus deeply on themselves, celebrate wins, move their bodies, take a step back from social media, embrace culture, tune into small actions and stop doubting yourself.
“We’re constantly thinking about everything outside of us first and leaving our inner world of chaos,” Lysmith said. “The thing with magic, or the thing even with the deities that I work with, is that they’re forward-looking, and what they talk about so often is that you can’t make any effects in the world until you start learning how to affect your own personal environment.”
Skepticism
When approached with the idea of naysayers and skepticism about Lyesmith’s abilities, he surprised many by saying he loved them the most.
“At least with the skeptics it becomes clear what it is that needs to be talked about and what needs to be or what needs to be discussed,” Laysmith said. “They’re also much more scientifically minded, or more interested in understanding how something is done, rather than just having this complete faith and trust and saying, ‘OK, I trust you.’ I think everyone should approach my world and every single world with a healthy dose of skepticism.
The idea of fate
“Whenever you hear the word destiny, what does that tell you?” asked Bartley.
“Your chosen path,” said Laysmith. “But to me it is much more important what you take as your chosen path. They gave you a specific statement, like you have to explore and go to Mordor (a reference to the character of Frodo Baggins from the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Okay, let’s use this as an example. You must go to Mordor. You can choose not to go to Mordor. You can choose the way to get to Mordor, but many people hear this exact statement. “You must go to Mordor” and they go crazy. They panic. They only see A to Z and nothing in between. So people hear the fate and many people panic. Many people feel uncomfortable with this type of speech. I try to use more non-fate or destiny language unless I see you specifically in someone’s reading. You have no choice but to do this. Whether you try to avoid it or not, it will appear. And this is fate for me. That no matter how hard you try to avoid something, it will happen in this life or another life. It will happen. Your soul must experience this.”
bartley’s book The Tyranny of the Fairies is scheduled for release on August 15.