"But within me the unicorn still remains, a formless shadow in the spaces of my mind." -- Josephine Bradley, In Pursuit of the Unicorn
There are two sorts of people: there are people who have imaginary friends & there are people who think that people who have imaginary friends are quite mad.
Having imaginary friends is the basis of good story telling. You have to know the characters you invent at least as well as you know your friends, sometimes better.
I don't know who is responsible for the odd conversation we had at Toscanis. I've no idea how it began but I rattled the secure cage Liddy inhabits by announcing I've never quite outgrown imaginary friends.
'By why,' my bewildered & literal daughter enquired, 'would anyone want anything other than reality? Whoever has imaginary friends?' At this point Ditz pipped up to announce she did. Ditz has Shima. Shima was a unicorn ~ was because as Ditz outgrew her need for Shima she couldn't simply let her fade into decent obscurity. No indeed. She broke of Shima's horn & pierced her heart with it. Only Ditz. I didn't bat an eyelash while Liddy stared at the pair of us as if we were both barking mad. We're not, at least I'm not. I'd better not speak for Ditz but I'm as sane as the next person.
Ditz & I are used to Liddy. She inhabits a different world. It is a very concrete, literal world, very black & white, very worthy & worthwhile but it lacks a little something. Ditz & I provide the pizazz, the sparkle, the little *something extra*.
Liddy worries about me but there is no need. Someone who can believe in fairies at 10 has no trouble transitioning to angels & demons at 15. The spiritual world is very real to anyone who can imagine anything ~ which could reasonably account for so many alcohol fueled artists but that's another ramble.
Not the first time I've thought about this. An odd thing to think about maybe but spectacularly more interesting than the financial crisis, which I can do nothing about anyway & which is simply dull beyond belief & making everyone fussing about it equally dull.
So what is the attraction? Well, I've thought of several things. When God made man in his own image he made man a creative being. There's nothing quite like creating your own world, even your own people. Ask Ditz. Once she saw the possibilities she wondered why she'd ever fussed about writing. Then there is the purely practical. So much of my life is beyond my control [& wildly out of control at that] but creating something, anything, gives control. A character upsets you? Torture & a slow death for them! It exorcises plenty of demons. It changes the world. No, not literally, but indefinably. When you create something beautiful & lovely, even if it's only in your mind, you carry that with you into the real world & it impacts on how you deal with the real world. I don't know the author of the quote about being in the gutter but keeping your eyes on the stars but it's applicable. Then there is problem solving. Give a character a quandary & see how they solve it. Actually the possibilities are endless. Excuse me while I confer with my friend here...
5 comments:
you know this is very interesting to me... I am more the literal sort, like liddy. i think my noah is more like you. he has begun "writing a book" about an imaginary himself and a friend(mary) who he later grows up and marries. when he talks about it and tells the stories the expression on his face shows that it is all so real-ish to him. (i say "real-ish" because if you ask him, he says yes, he does know it's all pretend, but he is so involved in the tale that he seems to think it's real... does that make sense? i hope so- i know what I mean, lol) i cannot fathom why this all means enough to him for him to labor over the "book", but i do understand the drive to create... and so i guess i do understand it after all... kinda;)
Emperor was just telling me the other day that he thought it strange to have never seen one of those horses with the horn on its forehead.
Yeah, it's strange that you can't see mythical creatures, isn't it? Not sure if he qualifies as having an imagination or if his imagination is so active that he's truly expecting to see imaginary things.
lol. Diane. Some people bake bread, some plant gardens, some make pretty aprons. ;P Others of us invent things that aren't there ~ an act I think comes close to the heart of God who invented heaven & earh from nothing. Creativity is creaivity.
MrsC your kids are so great. I love how they think.
Contending with one "friend" would be like a vacation for me from the "crowd" my daughter has. Let's see: Twenty-some children (some grown with children of their own--even though I remind her she is only 7yo), all of her "friends" (I have lost count because there is a new one every few days, it seems, that she talks about as if she has known him or her all her life, so I should know each one as well even though today was the first time I heard the name), all of her stuffed animals and baby dolls, the mammoths on the front lawn, the giraffes in the backyard, the pig in the house (that would absolutely NEVER happen my real world) and the geese that go with us to drive in the van. Recently, she is into horses and baby goats as well. I am sure that I am forgetting at least another hundred!!!
Yes, I could definitely handle just *one* unicorn! (Oh, and she has at least two of those and a Pegasus too.)
Frankly, I was like this too, still am very much, but my daughter seems *blessed* with this gift one hundred fold. Hmmm! Something I should blog about someday, I suppose.
I can't believe you posted this! My first thought was no wonder I think it's odd, can't say the same now... lol I'll keep to realistic. I'm off to read all your other posts and hopefully post no more
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