Imagination by Rosemary Morris

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Imagination

Sometimes. I can’t decide whether novelists are blessed or cursed by their vivid imaginations.
During a recent holiday at the coast, after we finished a meal at a beachside café, my daughter went up the road to the shops, and leaving me to look after my nine-year-old granddaughter. “I’ll be back just now,” my daughter assured me.
Time passed. I looked at my watch. When I consulted my watch again, another half an hour had gone by.
By the time she returned to a very warm welcome, I had imagined she was injured in a car crash, had either been mugged, or some other disaster had occurred. The creative part of my brain had worked overtime to convert the possibilities into material suitable for a novel.
My imagination is constantly fuelled. While I am out and about I automatically scrutinise people. In my mind’s eye I place them in different historical periods. For example, the young man, with long, black wavy hair, seated at a nearby table in the restaurant could be a royalist. An older man with inch long hair could play a roundhead’s part in a novel. Perhaps they could be relatives divided by politics, religion and the sword. I’m not planning to set a novel in the English civil war, but I might want to write one in future. To remember my thoughts, I set them down in my notebook.
Places also spark my imagination, so I have trained myself to concentrate on the road when I am driving. When the car is stationary I look at houses. Who lived in interesting ones? Later I jot down more notes.
To be brief there is little around me that does not suggest something I could make use of.
I write romantic historical novels in which I delve into the past. While reading non-fiction, either a fact or a small detail catches my attention. What if? I ask myself. The answer triggers an idea for the plot and theme of a book. With great enjoyment, I write the first paragraph and plunge into the story.
By and large, I think my imagination is a blessing because, as Victor Hugo stated, “Writing is the Painting of the Voice.”

Novels by Rosemary Morris

Early 18th Century novels: Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess

Regency Novels False Pretences, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child and Thursday’s Child. Friday’s Child to be published in June 2019

Mediaeval Novel Yvonne Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk
http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary