Crafting Fanny The Fairy: Why Adam Had To Leave Bellville

Adam's departure from Bellville is one of the most important parts of his story because it represents something that I believe is essential for young people: the need to leave the familiar in order to understand who you are.

Adam loves his parents. He loves Bellville. He understands why they brought him there. But he is still restless. His entire world has been built around protecting him from the outside world. His parents want to keep him safe, but safety eventually becomes confinement. 

"The reason why your mother and I do not want you to wander around is because it isn't safe outside of Bellville."

Adam's response is incredibly simple.

"But there is nothing around, Dad."

From his perspective, his parents are protecting him from something he has never experienced. That is the problem with growing up inside someone else's fear. You can understand why they are afraid without necessarily sharing that fear. Adam eventually looks out from his workshop and realises that he wants to know what exists beyond the town.

"He yearned for a taste of the outside world, the allure of exploration tugging at his curiosity."

That curiosity ultimately becomes stronger than his fear. He decides to leave.

 

"Once the household was asleep, he would slip away into the night, embarking on a journey to discover what lay beyond the town's borders."

 

I wanted this journey to represent the transition from childhood into something else. Leaving home does not necessarily mean rejecting your family. It can mean discovering who you are outside of them. Adam has been defined by Bellville, by his parents and by the life they created for him. The moment he leaves, he begins encountering things that force him to question everything he thought he knew. He discovers danger. He discovers the fairies. He discovers a world far larger than Bellville. And eventually, he discovers himself. When he returns, he is no longer simply Adam.

 

"Charles is no more," Adam declared, gently pushing his father aside. "Adam is no more."

 

His journey has fundamentally changed him. That is why I wanted Adam to leave. Sometimes you have to travel far enough away from the place that raised you to understand who you are when nobody else is telling you who you should be.