Writing Prompt #2: Imagination

By: Erin Rose Hennessy

Sometimes I get into a self-destructive mode of telling myself that I’m a terrible writer, because I can’t think of anything to write, that I don’t have an imagination, because I’ve been sitting here staring at a blank page and researching writing prompts for the last hour.

Then, this image appeared in my Google search “You know what your problem is? You lack imagination.” “Hardly. I created you, didn’t I?”

This prompt clearly was created with the image of a robot/creator Frankenstein type story attached to it. Some mad scientist guy locked away in a secret lab in the caves of Transylvania cooks up a recipe for a robot/demon hybrid and with some hocus pocus, some human blood sacrifice, and some hysterical chanting, a Franken Monster is born. This Franken Monster hates the inside of the master’s cave, dark, dank, ugly – no decoration. So, obviously, the master lacks imagination, right? Yeah, that’s it. No imagination, but he did create Franken Monster.

Imagination can be found in many places. I find my thoughts going to so many different places in one day, and quite a lot of them are imagined! I’ve created rich characters with lives, feelings, likes, and dislikes. My inner world is so vast and complex, it would take me ages to write it all down – so I definitely have an imagination.

Perhaps my problem is sorting through all of that to pick the one thing I want to write about today. Should I write about our trip to Duluth last fall? Should I tell a funny story that happened at school last week? Or should I tell one of my imagination’s stories? The worlds my imagination has created should be enough ammunition to keep my readers pleased for a long time.

So, why don’t I share them? Privacy, for one. I’m an introvert and an extremely private person. I don’t often want to share my inner worlds because they are for me, and me only. Sharing them with others would somehow make them less special. I also don’t often share them because I feel like my world is…..mine. Putting my inner world into words invites the critics, editors, and readers to pull apart and analyze my inner worlds – and some of those are 20 years in the making! They can’t be easily changed. 

So, maybe I’ll start small. I’ll start telling one of those stories that isn’t quite as close to my heart. Maybe I’ll share a little bit of my imagination, of my inner world with others. Because I definitely, without a doubt, have an imagination.