A Writer Must Have the Imagination

The writer can find all the details in all the little things, but nothing will come of it if they don't have the necessary imagination. An imagination can be honed, but is a very tough thing to create. A writer need not seek it out, though, because all people have an imagination waiting to be left out. He or she must find this piece of themselves. This essay will explore how to find it.

The writer must first explore those who have imaginations. Consider watching films by the greatest directors. If you watch something by Steven Spielberg the imagination will come out of the suspense; "Jaws" is one of the better films of all time, but lost in its success was how well Spielberg worked in the great white shark. Or you can watch Akira Kurosawa, and see that this man was trapped in his love for Shakespeare. Kurosawa built an imagination out of reading the great classics of Shakespeare, and then implemented the same stories into Japanese cinema. Directors will need the imagination just as much as the writer. The writer will have to capture the details of scenes: these can be real, fabricated, or they can be a combination of the two. Imagination allows for the writer to tap into something that makes people curious. There is a reason that scary films and comedies both sell well: both play upon what the audience either is fearful of, or plays upon what they always wanted to laugh at. This does not mean these pieces were created with a good imagination. But, think of "Jaws" and how it was influenced by "Moby Dick." Think of how imaginative Spielberg went with his films.

Away from movies is the necessary task of reading for each writer. Reading is essential, but dangerous. Some of us will want to take an idea because we think it is so good. Look at what happened to fantasy after Tolkien. Look what happened to science fiction after Philip K. Dick. These authors used their imaginations to dominate the pages of future writers. Reading is essential to the imagination; just as the movie director needs a strong scene, a fiction writer must key in on things that other writers notice. The author can change it for effect: a woman cloaked in black symbolizing the devil could be changed for a different novel. The key is the woman is Satan, but who will she be when you write of a mysterious figure? Can she just be mistaken for death? The imagination can be fueled. Each writer has a different sense of what his or her imagination takes. Explore the great imaginative writers of literature or directors of film.