Fiction Writing: Overactive Imagination
Throughout childhood, I remember that my imagination was often the topic of conversation. Sometimes it was complimented, sometimes it was the subject of looks that made me think, “What? What did I do?”
“You’re crazy,” my friends from high school used to say. They laughed when I tried the impossible or told them some of my dreams for life. “You think too much,” I’ve heard from time to time. “Where’d you come up with that idea?”
I’d blink. The ideas came from my mind, and they seemed either perfectly wonderful or perfectly feasible. What was wrong with having an idea? I never thought I was crazy – and I’m not.
I was told that I had an overactive imagination, and that excuse suited me just fine.
“An excuse?” Yes. An excuse. Unfortunately, society still considers dreamers a little odd or unreliable. A vivid imagination is often considered cause for concern or sometimes, medication.
But in fiction writing, your overactive imagination is your true gift to creating a story that knows no boundaries.
Embrace the Difference
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being different from everyone else. So what if you wear bright purple shirts with funky colors while everyone else wears black? So what if you shun running shoes in favor of bare feet? So what if you have some odd quirk that sets you apart?
Your difference is what makes you unique and original. Try to squash it, and you’ll be miserable while trying to meet other people’s expectations. Accept it, embrace it and live it, and you’ll feel both high as a kite and free as a bird.
A blank page is one truly safe place where anything can happen – and you make that anything happen. If you can’t shed the façade of your daily life, let it run wild on your pages. Your words allow you to be as different as you’d like to be, anytime you choose.
If You Can Dream It, Make it Real
Stephen King (yes, a favorite author of mine) comes up with some fantastic stories that are both wildly imaginative and absolutely horrific. Vicious children in a cornfield? A long walk supervised by gunmen? A clown that kills and a fog that destroys everything?
King takes every dream and idea he has, and he makes them real. He isn’t ashamed of his mind. He lives his dreams, breathes them and creates them so well that some people can’t read his novel. Who knows what’s waiting in the dark? That soft, breathy sound… well. Better pull your feet up while your heart pounds in anticipation.
This author has the gift of taking what is not real and making it true. He embraces his vivid imagination and lets it run loose screaming on the pages. He knows that if he can dream it in his mind, he can make it real in his novels. What a glorious thing to do.
What’s he like in real life? I can’t say, as I’ve never met King, but I imagine he’s probably just as sane and normal as you or I.
Dream in Technicolor
People have dreams every day. They dream of a better life, a different job, more money, increased success. Then they squash that dream down with a sigh. Better not to think about the things we can’t have. Better to bury them deep and forget about them, because we can’t make them happen.
Oh, but we can. The more we believe that something is possible, the more we subconsciously work towards making that goal a reality. Maybe you fear taking action in your life – but you can certainly take action on paper.
Paint a vivid, brilliant picture with your words. Put your ideas down on paper – and then color them even brighter. Have an idea for a character that you’d love? Have a setting you can picture in your mind? Write it down. Use sunset colors and glowing neons. Add beautiful indigos and golden accents. Write until you can almost see a blade of grass move on the page.
To this day, when talking about my storylines or ideas for plot, I still have people ask me, “Where’d you come up with an idea like that?” With a mischievous grin and eyes glowing with delight, I give them the answer:
My overactive imagination.
18 Responses to “Fiction Writing: Overactive Imagination”
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Aw James. There’s nothing like reading a post like this just before bed (I know, for you the day is just beginning) and hitting the pillow with a big old smile on my face. Thank you for this.
Melissa Donovan’s last blog post..Are You Cut Out for Freelance Writing?
Man James,
Sometimes you make me want to go back to being a pre-school teacher.
For sure you make me remember why I was there so long.
Me and the kids, the kids and me…we all got along and they never told me I thought too much or that what I was thinking couldn’t happen. And we painted pictures with the brightest paint in the building and we called it anything we wanted to.
Oh heck yeah, great post. this is why it’s gotten to be a habit to click on the pen men first thing in the morning. Start the day with a smile.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..The Attitude of Staying Put
James,
You, my friend, have written down the plan for success, right here. Good show.
All things are created twice, as Stephen Covey said – first in the mind, and then in the physical world. Dream it, then do it.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..time.
This is why I started writing again a couple of years ago.
Mark Dykeman’s last blog post..Welcome to Twitter Club!
What I love about the creative process, that you have so eloqently described in broad stokes and fussy details, is the return to childlike wonder.
I watched THE WATERHORSE by Disney the other day. I was transported into wonder.
If only I can write a paragraph or two, I aspire to creating journeys for the imagination to explore, like a glider plane chasing the air in playful flight.
Thanks for lifting spirits and inspiring fresh thought James.
Harmony’s last blog post..Help! I Want To Lose My Mind
Great post. If you read Stephen King’s “On Writing,” which you probably have, you’ll conclude he sounds as normal as anybody else — just more talented. I especially like his advice about “the boys in the basement.”
When I was a kid, I could never understand the children who didn’t play “Pretend.” It was by far my favorite game–different every time and with unlimited possibilities. (Although, they were somewhat limited by the time I spent running around the back yard going schhh-schhh-schhh and running in slow motion like the Bionic Woman. I mean, it was the 70s.)
I don’t know if you ever heard of the Julie Andrews Edwards book, “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles,” but it was a book I absolutely adored when I was a kid–and it was all about how there were different ways of seeing and thinking, and that the only real limitations were in your own mind. I adored that book. (I wrote about it here: http://chappysmom.com/2006/04/14/pax-amor-et-lepos-in-iocando/ if you’re interested.)
And, hey, it just occurs to me–I never got a character worksheet for your fiction game. Should I have?? (I did ask.)
–Deb’s last blog post..MM: Alot
Sorry I haven’t been by in a while, life has been crazy. I really like this article James and I wish more people really thought about how they label children like this.
I have a sixteen year old who also has been labeled with an “overactive imagination” and it is now getting her in trouble; although it shouldn’t be. Dealing with the school system on this matter is almost futal. Thankfully her father and I both enjoy her overactive imagination and want her to use this strength to her advantage; no matter what others say.
Have a great day!
Laura’s last blog post..Funny Mondays
See dude, that’s why I love you.
I’m constantly telling people “It’s okay to be the ugly duckling.”
I’m different. WAY different. And I spent many years trying to blend in. Then one day I had this conversation with myself that went:
Me to myself: “What difference does it make? You do just as well as they do, and sometimes you do it better.”
Myself to me: “But I’m tired of getting picked last in dodge ball.”
Me to myself: “Six grade is over.”
Myself to me: “Ooooh!”
I seriously think three-year-olds have it right. They don’t care what anyone else thinks. They haven’t been domesticated yet.
Amy Derby’s last blog post..Law Firm Blogger’s Pet Peeve #407: Blogging Lawyers Who Don’t Do Comments
@Amy,
And that is a smart thing to say – “it’s okay to be the ugly duckling”.
Because we all know how the story turned out. Think back to all of the cool kids you knew, who got picked first for dodge ball.
I’m not sure about you. But where I live, well, they work for *me* now. Thinking differently can take you to places that groupthink cannot ever hope to reach.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..time.
It’s way better to be an adult when you’ve figured out you no longer have to be a grade-schooler. Actually, it’s better to be a grade-schooler when you know you don’t have to be a grade-schooler either. I knew a girl who was just as weird and unusual as I was when I was in fifth grade, and I was kind of an outcast, while she was universally acknowledged as cool. Why? Because she OWNED her weird. She would wander into class saying, “Yeah, my pants are not normal pants, and they’re AWESOME.” I would wander in saying, “My pants are not normal pants, don’t judge me.”
Screw normal pants. That’s all I have to say about that. Own your weird pants.
@James – I have met Stephen King, and he’s this awesome, wry, cuddly old guy. I kind of want him to be my uncle. Chuck Palahniuk, however, is a scary scary dude. I don’t think he’s fully working with ‘imagination,’ if you know what I mean.
Tei – Rogue Ink’s last blog post..Being a Wuss is Bad for Business.
“You think too much,â€
LOL….or “you live in your head”…..don’t they know it’s a really fun place? Spherically magical and logical too. Creative. What do other people do? What on earth do they put up there? What kind of film do THEY see? Is it all linear and straight? I think it sometimes gets ironed and pressed out way too early. I have had to go in and unlock the the door, coax it out again so many times that I want to scream at all the adults…what, more cubicle workers is that what you want? Sheep? Is that what you’re growing? That little one there is actually a pirate, this one a samurai…step back….and that one a ballerina mountain climber…aughh get away, at least let me have them for an hour.
“Over active” imagination… pooh….don’t get me started…….
Janice C Cartier’s last blog post..72 Million and a Ball of Twine
My imagination, left to itself, tends to be fairly dull.
Add in other folks, however, and things get fracking awesome. I think this is why I enjoy pen-and-paper RPGs so much – interactive fiction comes much more naturally to me than what I come up with on my own.
I love this line, by the way. I’m making a poster of it once I finish this comment:
“A blank page is one truly safe place where anything can happen – and you make that anything happen.”
Great post, James.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..How Freelance Writing Is Like Selling Cars
Awesome post, James. It was goose bump inspiring and I so needed that today coping with a sore throat, a non-paying client and an assignment I’ve run out of creativity on. I think I’ll tap into my imagination for a while and when I let myself go there, I always come back with tonnes of ideas and inspiration.
Cheers,
Dana
Dana’s last blog post..Keeping The Ideas Flowing
“You think too much.”
Ah, where have I heard that before? As a child, I was always told that I had an overactive imagination and I was happy to sit in bed and read until it was too dark to see any more.
Teaching in Japan, I was always so happy to see students who dared to stand out from the crowd but then so sad as I learned that they would soon be taught they had to conform.
Here’s to thinking too much and sticking out like a sore thumb!