Thursday, September 10, 2009

Imagination Overload!

I have always been happy about the fact that I have a good imagination. It has kept me from being bored, entertaining me with a never-ending string of Stories (whether I wrote them down or not) and has served as my constant companion. My imagination is kind of like Peter Pan's Shadow, it is both a part of me and yet something almost-Other that operates quasi-independently. Most of the time I love my Imagination, but sometimes I am not so fond of it, such as as in when it gives me nightmares or anxiety attacks.

On that score, we seem to have arrived at an equilibrium in recent years. It may be no accident that my nightmares and anxiety attacks dramatically diminished after I began writing fiction on a regular basis. Maybe my Imagination has been so busy with creative work, it has not had much opportunity to create havoc lately. That's definitely a good thing.

Lately, however, it seems to be getting into mischief on the other end of the spectrum. I am busy editing my novels and preparing them for publication. My plan was to write no new fiction, other than perhaps taking a break for NaNoWriMo, until I clear my inventory backlog. Evidently my Imagination takes a dim view of the prospect of having to wait patiently until an appropriate time to cut loose. It has been acting out like a hyperactive child. Instead of tormenting my dreams, it has become suddenly very active spitting out great new ideas for stories, one right after the other.

The good news is that I'm cooking ideas like crazy! I guess that will keep me busy with writing projects for a long time to come. Also, I think I have my NaNoWriMo idea for this year! It's a "fantasy" riff on the Arthurian tales. Yeah, I know, that's not very original, but it could be such fun: (a) I love the Grail Tales; (b) my "rule" for NaNoWriMo is that I have to step outside of my comfort zone. Last year I tried writing a Romance novel had the time of my life, even though I don't really like to read Romance. I love reading Fantasy; it will be interesting to see how I can tolerate writing a novel where the regular rules of "Reality" don't necessarily apply.

The bad news is that I don't have time for these distractions right now!

Meredith

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