The theme for this month’s newsletter is the freedom to imagine. I can’t think of a better word to describe the joy of writing fiction. It’s a creative art form that requires only one thing: the mind. Artist’s need supplies, musicians need instruments, and architects need building materials, but a writer needs only her imagination. It doesn’t cost anything. You can utilize it anywhere, anytime. Useful content is garnered from the five senses, which are free. Ideas also come from your subconscious; little surprises that wake you up when you’re asleep.Occasionally someone tells me they could never be a writer because they lack imagination. But that’s not true. If you think, you can imagine and the more you do it, the easier it gets. Moreover, there are rewards in exercising your imagination.
1. You improve your problem-solving skills by weaving plots. You have the freedom to choose your genre and set your story anywhere and at any time.
2. You increase the neurons in your brain, which improves your memory.
3. By using your imagination to write stories, you have to look at every angle and decide which best serves your purpose. This benefits you in your decision in your own life.
4. You improve your judgment by putting yourself in the shoes of your characters and understanding their needs, behavior, and motivation.
5. The biggest and best reward is that you’ve created something unique; something that is always yours.
My characters, Sydney Lockhart, Kate Caraway, and Ted Kendrick (not yet on the scene) are mine, as well as all the secondary characters. They grew from my imagination. I have the freedom to control their lives, take them to exotic places, put them in horrible danger, make them say profound or idiotic things, rescue them, or not. I give them space on the page, but they give me so much more — ideas, inspirations, self-satisfaction. It wasn’t until I start writing this tip that I realized what a gift this process is.