The True Form of Fairy Tale, and Its Highest Function
Yesterday was a really great day. Not for the world at large, because—yeesh—but for me, it was a really great day.
You see I'm a writer, but I'm also a person with severe depression, and I fight and fight to get words on a page, but it's SO HARD. I have been scribbling thoughts in a notebook for months, not getting anything close to good. (I even decided last week that I was going to give up on novels and try writing a screenplay instead.) But then something just clicked. My brain suddenly had its "aha!" moment, and over the weekend I plotted out an entire novel. Not just the idea. Not just the pitch. It was the beginning, the end, and even the middle--the part that's the hardest to figure out. It was all there. And then yesterday evening, after work, I sat down and wrote 2,593 words.
It was a eucatastrophe.
J.R.R. Tolkien coined the term "eucatastrophe", coming from the Greek "ευ", meaning "good", and καταστροφή, meaning "sudden turn." In his essay "On Fairy-Stories" he says this:
I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have [a Happy Ending]. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses this opposite — I will call it Eucatastrophe. The eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function.
You can see eucatastrophes in his books, with some implication that not only are there "good sudden turns" but that there is some kind of force which directs the sudden good turns.
Gandalf says to Bilbo:
You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?"
And at the Council of Elrond, Elrond says of those gathered that he did not think it was by chance that many strangers came at the same time to his council, but:
"rather that it is so ordered that we, who sit here, and none others, must now find counsel for the peril of the world."
Look, I'm not going to sit here and say that there is a supernatural power that is guiding me to write this book and that it's as important as Bilbo finding the ring. (And to be perfectly strict to my goals of this newsletter, I'm not going to even tell you what the book is about or where you can find it. This ain't that kind of newsletter.)
But I will say that this last weekend has been a eucatastrophe for me. And I think that all of us could use a good eucatastrophe here and there. I hope you all get yours soon.
Bits and Bobs from the News
(Three of this week's four news items were picked solely because my wife will think they're neat, and I like to make my wife happy. My wife likes two things above all others, and they are elephants and volcanoes. And while I have no elephant volcano stories (that would probably be sad?) I do have separate stories about them both.)
#1. We love going to Yellowstone National Park. It's about a five/six hour drive from where we live, and the wildlife is amazing (I love bison) and the geysers never get old. Erin, my wife, likes it in particular because she is a geology nerd and she has said with no amount of exaggeration (I think? I don't understand her) that her preferred way of dying would be witnessing a major volcanic eruption. She's odd. Anyway, there's a place in Yellowstone, a geyser basin, called Norris. And Norris is super erratic, and I always get nervous when we go there, because some weird eruption has happened and part of the boardwalk is blocked off. But the news there now is that this little thermal pool has appeared. They're not sure why exactly, but photos show that it wasn't there on December 19th, 2024, and there was a hole there by January 6th, and it was filled with water by February 13. Anyway, it's a weird new thing! I would call it a dyscatastrophe, but Erin would call it a eucatastrophe.
#2. SciShow put out a video that describes the six biggest volcanic eruptions in the history of Earth. (I do not understand science enough to know how they can know these things, but I trust them.) The biggest in recorded history was Mt Tambora in Indonesia in 1815. This was so radically large that it shot 40 square kilometers of ash into the sky. (That's, like, SO MUCH) and left a crater six kilometers wide. And the effects were felt all around the Earth—it was known as the year without a summer, because it had dimmed the sky enough that plants all over the world didn't grow as well. But that's got nothing next to the oldest in non-recorded human history: that was the Toba Supereruption 75,000 years ago, also in Indonesia. It is estimated that the temperature might have dropped by as much as 62 degrees Farhenheit for a period spanning a decade, and it might (??) explain a human evolutionary bottleneck, which is why so many of our ancestors come from Africa. (The theory goes that humans were in a lot of parts of the Earth, but only the people in Africa could weather the storm.) (This is debated.)
#3. Elephants! Have you ever heard of the idea that elephants have really good memories? Was that a real thing? Well if you ever watched the MythBusters episode about elephants being afraid of mice and thought "holy crap. Elephants are really afraid of mice" then I have delightful news for you: elephants have super great memories. This article in Scientific American outlines several studies of elephants showing that older ones can weather droughts better because they can remember the droughts of the past and know both the warning signs and where to go to find water. It also shows elephants having recognition of other elephants that they may have known 30 years ago for only a brief time. It's mainly just an article which makes you think elephants are neat.
#4. If you're reading this on the day it was sent, July 22nd, 2025, then I warn you not to waste your time today, because it's short! In fact, today will be the second shortest day since scientists began recording the spin of the Earth back in 1973. It will be, 1.34 milliseconds shorter than average of 86,400 seconds. The shortest day ever was July 5, 2024, when the day was 1.66 milliseconds shorter. Because the earth is wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. There was a big chunk of Earth's history when it a day was only 19 hours. How do they know this? Science, man.
Distraction and Diversions
I was tempted to put this one in the science news, but you're getting it down here. Hank Green, science communicator and all around good guy, explains that it's fair to say that sharks are not fish, and it's also fair to say that whales ARE fish. And it's also fair to say that we're ALL fish, because there is no definition of fish that makes sense. For example: we would all agree that a shark is a fish, right? Well, humans are more closely related to a bass than a bass is related to a shark. It's just, I don't know.
Studson Studio, which is just a frigging delight, is making a Megazord. But you can't make a Megazord until you make all of the individual animals that form together to Zord it up. Honestly, it's impossible to watch a Studson Studio video and be sad. And not really in a comforting Bob Ross kind of way, but more like if Bob Ross was just as comforting and calm but ALSO routinely hilarious with pop references. Anyway, it's neat. Watch this one.
If you don't know, NPR has a feature called Tiny Desk, where they bring music artists in to the actual office, and cram them in a cubicle, and they perform a mini concert for all the NPR staff (and record it, of course). They certainly have the big names, your Taylor Swifts and your Adeles and your Billie Eillishes. But they also open up a competition to new artists, and eight years ago the winner was a relatively unknown group from New Orleans called Tank and the Bangas. And I love it.
That’s all for today. If you want to learn more about me, check out my website.
I have friends everywhere.
