Category: History

It’s been a busy weekend but we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday with listing and naming the people in your story. You’ll probably name the more important animals, too, because animals sometimes play a major role in a story.

In a book about ancient history I’m writing, I started by making a list of about 86 names. As I wrote a page of information about each character (step 5), I added the meaning of each name, and that gave me a little more understanding of the integrity of each person in the book. Now, let’s go to the next step.

Step 6 is a very a important concept: Draw on your Imagination.

One dictionary says imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something; to image it, or to mentally see it.

Randy Ingermanson, bestselling author of numerous books, once said, “I like to start stories because I want to see how they turn out.” Guess what? It’s obvious that the “turning out” of Randy’s stories comes from his own mind, and that’s because he has a tremendous imagination.

Now don’t tell me you don’t have a good imagination because it wouldn’t be true. I tell folks that I don’t have a good imagination when it comes to art and a few other concepts, but I am quite creative – imaginative – related to many other aspects of life.

Your imagination is limitless and it’s easy to develop, but it takes time. Develop it by reading, analyzing, discussing concepts with people.

Here’s a simple example of the process of analysis. Imagine the scene and action as you read it.

If I throw a rock at a window, what will be the result? The rock is harder than glass, so the window will break. The structure of the glass could make it shatter into hundreds or thousands of pieces. The owner of the window will be angry, and want me to pay for damages, including window replacement and cleanup. I’ll lose a lot of money because of a childish, irresponsible act. The owner might tell people what I did, and my reputation will be damaged. Some people will not trust a man who throws rocks at windows, and my business would suffer, my income would diminish, and I might even be arrested. Therefore, because of that, and many other reasons, I will not throw rocks at windows.

Now, admittedly, that’s quite an elementary rationalization, but it shows the process of using imagination. Although that would not make it into my ancient history story, it could be part of a children’s book.

Now that you mention it, David, the shepherd, hurled a rock at a giant. Some of you could write a book about that. Use your imagination to fill out the story.

Keep your imagination active when developing and writing your stories. Even while writing a historical event, write it well with exciting, descriptive narrative.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively