Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I is for Imagination

A to Z Blogging Challenge

I is for Imagination



One of the essential parts of being a writer is having an active imagination. I used to fall asleep (well, I still do this!) thinking up different stories. This was way better than counting sheep to try to fall asleep. I kept thinking about the same story as I would fall asleep and I finally wrote bits of it down in a little notebook that my husband gave me. That eventually grew into...a story! My first book, actually. A little imagination goes a long way! ;)

In your imagination, do you think in words or in mental images? My imagination is like a movie rolling in my head. I "write" a scene and it keeps going until I don't like something about it. "Cut! Let's try that again!" :)

Think of how little kids play. "Let's pretend that Barbie is going to go on a date with Ken." "Ok! And then he asks her to go to prom!" "And then she'll pick the pink dress to wear." "And then they'll drive in her convertible..."
"Kids, it's time to clean up!"
"But we haven't even played yet!!"
**I think it's funny that kids play in future tense with dolls or cars or whatever it is they play with.**

Have you stretched your imagination lately? Throw in some weird ideas in your stories and see if you like them. Give your characters a couple of different scenarios to work through. "If Main Character goes here, this happens. OR this happens. OR this happens!" Sort of like "Choose Your Own Adventure" (except that I hated those books because I never got to the right answer!!). This will help make your characters more real if they have real choices, just like "real life" people.

4 comments:

  1. I love creating weird situations for my characters and just letting my imagination run wild. I sometimes just let my characters talk and then go back and add plot and all that other good stuff later.

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  2. Hahaha you just brought back some great childhood memories for me, although I never had a Barbie or Ken doll, I did have a Polly Pocket and lots of Lego courtesy of my brothers. It's great to see kids play like that, I think the older you get, you lose that fantasy and imagination and reality hits you sadly :(

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  3. I've always had an active imagination but if I think about my stories or poems while i'm in bed I have to get up and write!
    Great post.


    All the best,
    Jack

    http://jackedwardspoetry.blogspot.co.uk/

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  4. I still do that to fall asleep too.

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