"I wonder what sort of tale we've fallen into?"
- J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
The stories we like, and the stories we like to tell, can say a lot about who we are and where we've come from.
As a child, I loved Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, because I had a mind that was free to wander, to think impossible thoughts that enabled me to travel freely into the world of fairies and giants, of flying saucers, gobstoppers and adventure.
But as I grew, the enchantment of fairytales and playworlds lost its magic quite quickly. I wanted, as a teenager, a bigger dose of realism - of stories that told me more about the real world. The stories that filled my bookshelf were happy tales - of animals and believable characters, where good always triumphed over evil.
Now, as a journalist, the stories that fill my world are governed by sections and column space: Prime news, local news, world news. Government and politics, education and health, business and finance, lifestyle and entertainment, commentary and analysis.
They are many and varied, disjointed and often dismal - for bad news, as I've learnt, makes the best news - and we work hard to weave the facts together into a cohesive narrative, to give as much meaning as we can to the uncollected pieces of broken lives and shattered hopes, of gossip and slander, of upcoming projects and new initiatives for the future.
What sort of tale have we fallen into? What tale do we live out of?
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