August 8, 2011

Imagination Station

Mom and I are taking the girls to a children's science museum nearby today, Imagination Station. According to the brochure, there are several interactive and educational displays to teach the kids about the world around them. It got me thinking... what would an imagination station for adults be like?
Tree or Face?

I'm sure your mind is racing with possibilities, but I specifically imagined a place for writers. Room after room of inspiration. Have you ever had a picture in your head you wanted to capture with words? There would be a room where you typed in your thoughts and a screen would display the scene. Not quite what you imagined, tweak a word here and there and hit enter again. Once the scene is exactly what you wanted, print your words and move along.

Of course there would be a female and male character building room. Different pieces of body parts and various facial features could be assembled to create characters. Once complete, you could print a picture to represent the character in your mind. I might be longer in the male room, creating obscenely perfect hunks. I don't write romance. It's just for experiment sake. I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to create the perfect male specimen in case I need him in a story someday.

A whole room would be dedicated to the senses. Things you could feel, smell, see, and manipulate. No matter how great the story in my head, it's trapped there if I can't present it to readers in such detail they can see it themselves.

Near the end, when my mojo was sparked and flowing, a room called Plot Place. Did you ever read the Follow Your Own Adventure books as a kid? You'd get to the end of the page and pick an option, this would send you to another page and so on. You were in control. Whenever my decision messed up the story, I'd go back a few pages and try again. This is what Plot Place would be but for my story. Set the story in motion and see what choices do to it.

What would your Imagination Station have in it?

2 comments:

Deniz Bevan said...

What a great idea! You know what comes close? The writers houseparties we have over at the Compuserve forum. I keep blogging about how helpful this is for getting me writing (http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2011/06/liz-ficheras-craving-perfect-houseparty.html)...

Tia Bach said...

Thanks for sharing this, Deniz. I look forward to reading more about it.