IMAGINATION

            If you’re a fiction writer, then you know imagination is critical to creating a good story since you’re making something up.

            How best to use this imagination?

FREE FORM

            It can be difficult or impossible to write freeform, letting your imagination go wherever it wants. More than likely you’ll just end up with a big mess of words that only make sense to you.

            Therefore…

            Your imagination needs to be reined in.

            Is that a restriction?

            Only for the good of everyone else!

STRUCTURE

            Your imagination can run wild to a point. However, this wild imagination needs to be reined into some form of a structure if it’s going to make sense.

            Structure is a beginning, an end, and what happens in-between.

            Moderate these ideas a bit so it all makes sense to the reader.

WHAT TO DO

            Whether you become a pantser or an outliner, you need to control your imagination enough to put it all into some kind of pattern.

            First, you get a wild idea and your imagination runs wild.

            Second, think about this and ask yourself “Does it makes sense to anyone else?”

            Uh oh…while developing your wild idea, it’s going to take some work to turn it into a viable story.

            I highly recommend you figure out what the goal of your wild idea is. Once you’ve figured that out, then turn it into a sensible structure with a beginning, a middle and an end. For a pantser, the middle is the easiest part. For an outliner, well…you’re going to basically write the entire story in outline form before you ever get going. Either method works if you think it out ahead of time.

            Once you have the basics, does it make sense? Maybe that great burst of imagination turns out to be a great idea and the parts fall into place. However, what if they don’t?

            Does that mean your wild imaginative idea is no good?

            Something to ponder before you go further and commit.

            For example, you get a great idea for a murder mystery. You think of all the cool things you want to include in the story. However, when you get down to planning it all out¸ some parts of it don’t make sense. Are they fixable things, or do you have to scrap part or all of the idea?

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

            Lucky for me, I hardly ever have that problem.

            When I think of a great idea and my imagination goes wild, I ponder this for a bit.

            Does it make sense?

            Can I turn it into something workable?

            Only once did I have a wild idea and start writing before I figured out what I was doing.

            Luckily, I only got about fifty pages in when I realized it just wasn’t working.

            I learned a lot from that lesson.

            Never start writing with a wild idea until you give it some kind of structure. Sit back, and see if it all makes sense.

            It’ll save a lot of effort.

SUMMARY

            Whichever way you do it, catalog your wild ideas. I do it by memory but for many of you, it’s best to write it down so you can go back to it if you want to reliably recall what it is. In my case, I tried writing ideas down for later reference, but when I came back to them, I forgot what I originally wanted. When I keep them catalogued in my brain, I recall them over and over again. I tweak them, play around with things. This cements that idea into my memory for later recall.

            Everyone has their own process. Learn as you go, or use your hard-won experience to think your wildly imaginative idea through.

            Use a little planning before you commit.

            You’re welcome.

            Happy writing!