What is a character going to do with a car bearing down on them? What will your protagonist-lawyer do when the Court sustains an objection against her. Don’t know? It’s time for imagination.
There’s nothing better to solve difficult problems then imagination.
Commonly, imagination is perceived as a gift that is, genetically or in some mysterious fashion otherwise conferred. Many people believe that “you either have imagination or you don’t”. This is generally not the case. Imaginative solutions are the result of the combination of information, intuition, and the drive to solve a problem. Knowledge leads to intuition, and intuition plus desire produces the insightful, creative solutions recognized as imagination.
In my novel, Three Swords that I am now writing, my goal to show how health care (specifically, the education that a doctor receives, health care insurance, and how these are deployed to deliver medical care to patients) must and can be changed.
Timely? Yes. Necessary? Yes? Boring? Heavens yes!
How can I deliver the problems and proposed solution in an engaging novel?
With imagination
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Imagination is developed from repeated attempts to apply new approaches to an intractable problem. In order to be productively imaginative, you must have solid knowledge of the problem, What new, incisive scene do you need to give the reader a stunning and positive emotional experience? What background information do you need? Do your training and experience help? If not, then get the required knowledge. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Let your imagination drink in your day-to-day surroundings.
Lindsey Silva, from my first novel has to give a talk at the Advisory Committee of the FDA. Sounds pretty staid. But watch what happens.
“This is for me to do,” she said, dropping her unfinished cigarette to the ground, smashing it to shredded bits with her shoe.
“Will you need help with your PowerPoint presentation?” someone asked.
“Not necessary,” she said, fixing the questioner with an iron stare. “I won’t use one.” “What? Why not?” someone else demanded. “Two reasons,” she stated, the condensed vapor pumping from her mouth like smoke. “First, I know exactly what those people in there need to hear. There’s no time to make slides now. I do need a remote mike though.” “I’ll get one, stat.” “The second reason?” Hamilton asked. “I can’t see them anyway.”
She is going to attempt to deliver a complex talk to experts in pediatrics and immunology while she herself is unable to see the slides due to chronic eye disease. This draws the reader back into the scene. Can she do this? Will her company succeed?
Earlier that day, look what happens to her boss at the same “boring” Advisory Meeting
Now what’s he doing, Jack Talbot, Armstrong Senior Marketing Vice President wondered as he watched the CEO suddenly sit ramrod straight in his seat, then move his head forward and down. Placed right behind Nicholson, Talbot thought the CEO had seen something of great interest, and caught himself looking forward from his own seat to see what Nicholson was observing. He gasped as the CEO’s head leaned so far forward that his body had no choice but to follow. Nicholson’s body twisted forward, then to the left, landing at Lindsey’s feet. Lindsey jumped up, slamming her tender right arm against the chair. She winced, seeing Nicholson’s face frozen in pale pain. “Help,” she called out. “Now. Please.” Everyone leapt out of their chairs. Physicians on the advisory committee clambered down from the stage. Everyone was talking at once, the sergeant-at-arms ran down the aisle, and people shoved each other aside as the CEO’s expensive suit was torn off and artificial respiration begun. A few moments later, paramedics appeared, placed Nicholson on a gurney, and followed by a chorus of weeping, demands, and sad regrets, rolled him out of the auditorium into the frigid air and a waiting ambulance. All in vain because the Armstrong CEO was dead before his body tumbled from the seat.
This is turning into one of the most exciting Advisory Committees in history.
The ability to think imaginatively is an important dividend of having a secure and separate source of self-worth. If you fear failure, you’re not likely to take the risk of proposing an untested and imaginative solution. Cutting yourself loose from the fear of failure frees you to develop ingenious and innovative approaches to your writing.
It’s like finding the right combination to the lock of a treasure chest; your desire is the energy that fuels your search for the right solution. If you don’t really want the prize, you’ll give up after a few half-hearted attempts.
It helps to be porous to your surroundings. What is happening in the restaurant you’re in now? How about the street? You see construction workers on a roof. How could you use that? Two teenage girls in a park hugging. How about if the roof workers see the girls, pointing and laughing at them. How do the girls respond? Imagination at work.
You’re eating fast food, What if a car flew through the window. Mayhem, destruction, even injury. Imagination.
Catch yourself and then stop thinking the same old thoughts about your scene dilemma . You are being restricted by the past. Kick if over. Create chaos. Introduce death, dissension, pregnancy, disloyalty. What would happen now? Create a new arc around the disruption that you imagined, washing away stale thoughts.
Most people go through the world observing facts of the day and how those facts impact them? For example, a person wakes up, and they go through the following litany
Oh, it’s 6;03AM. I’m already a few minutes late. I need to get out of bed….Oh, my son left the door to the outside unlocked…. Oh, the car’s still making that horrible sound before it starts. I’m gonna have to take it in one day…. Oh my cell phone battery is dead, but the charger’s in the car so, ok….Oh. A lot of traffic this morning going in…Oh. Here’s my boss. Let me get to my desk…Oh, look at all of these emails…
This is the fact based approach to life. This approach to life that we have accepted and have followed and are now raising our children is…the norm. . However, as a novelist, you have a whole different tact.
For example, let’s look at the events as a novelist might.
Oh, it’s 6;03AM. I’m already a few minutes late. I need to get out of bed….Oh, the outside door is wide open,…and there is a new smell in the house. Shit, somebody’s inside. What do I do? Do I call the police now? Do I get my wife? Get a gun maybe? He has a gun I bet. Do I take his gun? How is all this going to be managed? Am I going to get out of the next few minutes alive?
Imagination kicks over the mundane morning and turns the day into dangerous, harrowing excitement.
Don’t look at what happens in the world. That’s for others. As a novelist, notice what doesn’t happen. That’s imagination.
