Imagination and you

Imagination is the most important element in a writer’s toolbox. Develop the habit of cultivating it, says writer and tutor Ian Ayris, and you’ll find your ideas flourish.

Having built the foundations of our writing approach over the previous several issues, I fully intended this month to begin looking at the nuts and bolts of creative writing – structure, dialogue, description, etc. But as I began to write, something felt off. Something crucial I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The next article was to be a discussion on whether to plan or not to plan. Conventional, I know, but worthy of discussion. But then I thought, plan what? A huge chasm opened before me. I peered into the abyss. And there was only darkness. So I sat there, and closed my eyes.

Deep breath. Foundations. Deep breath. Plan what? Deep breath. Foundations. Deep breath. Plan what?

After a time, a light flickered. The light became a flame, the flame a furnace. The furnace, the brightly coloured raging fire of the imagination.

That was the connection – imagination.