Fantasize - To conceive fanciful or extravagant notions, ideas. To daydream or Imagine. To portray in the mind.
This morning I was at a night club in Vegas dividing my time between a hot bouncer named Cage and the devilishly handsome Detective Altez in my latest thriller, The Mask She Wore. Tomorrow my personality will be divided into four parts, each one representing a 12 year old that is helping to save a classmate suffering from cyber bullying.
As a writer don't you love to escape reality for a while and see things not as they are but anyway you want them to be? You can paint the pages of your novel any color you choose. Characters can do, be, and have anything you want them to! We get to fantasize without being accused of non-productivity, as long as the words do emerge from our minds and land on a book or blog page. Whether you start with a character, place, or particular situation try free-fall fantasizing and enjoy the journey that you and your characters take!
Each author approaches the story building process differently but it takes some form of letting your mind go so you can play the what if game. For example, a 30 year old woman is passing through a small Kansas town. What if she stops for the night at the Town Inn and witnesses a large object wrapped in what appears to be a blanket that is being stuffed into the trunk of a car? She thinks nothing of it until a red-streaked arm pops loose and dangles lifelessly. What if she keeps going and says nothing? What if she stays and reports it? Why is she there? What's her story? How does this interfere with her plans and prevent the achievement of her desires? Who does she meet there? Who helps her? And of course for tantalizing conflict, who threatens her?
Wow! I might have to explore this one myself. Another addition to the idea box of future J.D. novels...
Let's try one more. You're in Colorado for a week and your first day you take a skiing lesson. You see the usual bib overalls, ski goggles, and parka. But then he speaks. . .in a French accent. (Sorry guys, this one's for the ladies. But feel free to substitute the ski instructor of your choice and carry forth) Is he really giving you preferential treatment or is it your hopeful imagination making it so? That night, in the lodge as you turn around to warm your back by the cozy fire, there's your suave Frenchman, holding your favorite drink, a White Russian. How did he know? What if you accept, what's next? Do you take on the challenge? Not so easily though. Watch out! What's really behind those designer duds and penetrating dark eyes? Better end the post here before this fantasizing gets me in trouble. Oh, and let me not forget to mention one more vital ingredient of a page turner, leave 'em in suspence. . .
Anybody have any exercises or helpful tips on developing ideas that light up a page?
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