I was reading a review of a book written by a book critic on the art of writing.* The reviewer pulled a sentence from the book where the critic, James Woods, takes to task the idea that many writers apparently hold quite dear in that realistic fiction is too conventional. He says,
“Fiction does not ask us to believe things (in the philosophical sense) but to imagine them (in the artistic sense).”
I love that last part about asking the reader to imagine. Such a simple and yet daunting task.
There is so little imagination in day to day living.
How can we combat this? Comment or link back, s’il vous plait.
*That’s mainly what I do with highbrow “how to write” books. I read the reviews. When I buy them, they sit on the self. When I check them out of the library, I return them skimmed at best. Perhaps I need to pencil in a few weeks of reading about the art of writing? But I am booked through January with writing projects already.
anniegirl1138 
I read a lot of those books in college, because they were required. They were interesting, but I doubt they did a thing to improve my writing. Best advice I ever got about writing was from the movie Throw Momma from the Train: “A writer writes. Always.” I think the best things a writer can do to be a better writer are to read a lot and write a lot. If you’re a reader, you absorb the grammar of storytelling, just like a child learns her native language. You also know what to avoid so you’re not derivative.
I have nothing against writing fiction; I love fiction, but I don’t write it. I’m an essayist at heart, I think, and find plenty of true stories to tell. But fictional or non-fictional, they all have their own truth, don’t they?
Everything is in the eye of the beholder.
i have tremendous admiration for truly imaginative writing – thinking Madeline L’engle, JRR Tolkein, etc. I simply didn’t get the “fiction” gene, let alone “imagination”… and AGREE that to do it requires focus, concentration and work, unless that’s how you’re wired!
Odd that some work can be fun.
Thank you, Annie and Andrea, for the encouragement and advice. I will keep the picture of success first and foremost in my mind and let you know what happens.
Hi Sharon,
Speaking of books that need to offer some semblance of reality, i recently read Jodi Piccolts book “Nineteen Minutes”. WOW! It is frighteningly real although purports to be fiction. Read it, it makes our lives seem like a day on the beach.
Sorry to hear you have had a crappy 18 months!You speak about imagination and the possibility of it becoming reality… I have a saying for you:Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously and never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop this p icture! Quite incredible how strong that picture really is. Take care! Andrea
Good advice.
For a book of fiction to keep my attention, the story, characters, or setting need to be based in reality. I need to be able to believe at least one aspect of the story for the rest of it to grab me. I loved “The Time Traveler’s Wife” which is a completely implausible story, but I believed the characters could be real and the story was developed in such a way that I cared about them.
As for day to day living, imagination has been a major contributor to the turmoil I’ve been feeling for the last year and a half. I started to imagine what might be possible. Imagination can lead to making changes, and some may say that what we imagine is what we really want. The end result might be great, but the process has been challenging.
I think the challenge aspect – the work – is what keeps people from realizing their dreams but it is totally worth the frustration and time.