Imagination is a gift. It is sort of like a beautiful thoroughbred racehorse. It can take me to many places, thrilling, wonderful places, many of which I’ve never seen. With my imagination, I lead adventure after adventure, solve mysteries, and meet exciting people. With my imagination, I can answer that age-old question, What if?
On the flip side, my imagination, like a high-strung, impetuous thoroughbred, can get me into trouble. All moms and grandmas have comforted a young child who imagines he sees a scary thing in his closet or the corner of his room. Imagination, as the Bible says, can cause me to stay indoors for fear of meeting a lion outside. Imagination can run wild, but reined in and controlled, it can take me any place in the world–or beyond!
I don’t remember ever seeing my grandfather’s springhouse at Etta Bend, yet, I saw it through the memories of my mother and, guess what? Yesterday’s Word of the Day was “springhouse .” There, on my computer screen, was a picture of a small wood structure astraddle a clear-running spring. I’m sure that Pappy Latty’s springhouse looked much the same but the picture was no surprise to me. I had already seen it in my imagination.
A writer figuratively takes her reader by the hand and says, “Go with me on this journey. I’d like you to see things through my eyes.” And, off we go. A writer paints a word picture so clearly that the reader can imagine it in her mind. The reader feels horror when Darcy and Flora find a murder victim, experiences terror when danger rears its menacing head, and sighs with satisfaction when this pair of sleuths ferret out the real enemy and see him get his just reward.
My books are “scene-ic”. That is, I write in scenes, each of which has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. In each scene, I ask the reader to imagine, right along with me, what my characters see, hear, and feel. I ask them to use their imaginations.
As a character on a discontinued TV series used to say, “Picture this.” Imagination lets you see a mental image of what the words suggest.
I’m reading the latest cozy mystery by Sharon Rose, Frozen Identity. Through the author’s skillful use of words, I experience life in Parson’s Cove, and see the characters as they contribute to the story. I’ve never been to Parson’s Cove, but I can certain imagine it. It is a good read.
Anyone who happens to glance my way at certain hours of the day might think I lead a mighty dull life, sitting in front of my computer screen, typing word after word, and going absolutely nowhere. How wrong they would be! I might be in New York City, talking to a dealer in antiquities, or on a ranch in Amarillo, riding a horse past a breath-taking canyon, or coming face to face with a gunman who is out to do me in. In real life, justice doesn’t always triumph but in my books, it does. It’s all in the imagination!
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