The Magical Gift of Imagination

by Ann H. Gabhart

“When you start writing, the magic comes when the characters seem to take on a life of their own and write the words themselves.” — Alice Hoffman

One of the questions writers often get when talking about their books and writing is what comes first when you are ready to start out on a new story road.

Since I’ve published forty books, I’ve stepped out on many of these new roads in my writing time. I don’t have the same answer for every book. That initial spark of an idea can come in many ways.

Sometimes reading about a historical event can light up ideas since most of my books are
historical fiction. That was true for my books, Words Spoken True and Along a Storied Trail.

Other times a setting can be what starts me down a story trail as it did when I decided to set a
story on a river showboat in In the Shadow of the River or at a Springs hotel in the 1800s where
people took the waters in search of healing this or that malady in The Pursuit of Elena Bradford.

Whatever sparks that initial idea, characters are what makes stories come to life. I did my best to
describe Graham Springs, the setting of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford, beautifully, but without
the people I dropped down into that setting, I would have had a travelogue instead of a piece of
fiction.

Fiction readers don’t merely want a tour of the premises or a history lesson. They want to live
the story by identifying with the main characters. They want to see the setting through the
characters’ eyes. They want to feel their hearts pounding when the characters are in danger or
feel a softening of their insides at the promise of romance.

For characters to become that real to your readers, they first must be that real to you. You need to know their dreams and goals, how they think, and what makes them do the things they do. That doesn’t mean you know everything about them when you start down your story road. Just as we are influenced by whatever happens to us in life, our characters are influenced and changed by the challenges and situations we throw at them.

Sometimes the people you introduce into a story will surprise you. That can be when you feel that magic Alice Hoffman mentions in her quote above.  Characters begin talking in your head, almost leading you down your story road. You just need to keep up as you embrace that magic which might better be described as the gift of imagination the Lord has given us.

“Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing,
is opening doors to other lands.” ~R.F. Kuang

“Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So
drink. Drink and be filled up.” ~Stephen King

I believe the Lord gave us the magical gift of imagination so that we can share stories, either by
writing or reading, to brighten our lives and make us think and feel in ways that only stories can
do.

What has lit a magical fire in your imagination to send you down a story road?

Ann H. Gabhart has been called a storyteller. With forty published books, the title fits. Ann wraps her stories, including The Pursuit of Elena Bradford, around Kentucky historical times and settings. Ann lives on a Kentucky farm where her dogs, Frankie and Marley, make sure she gets her exercise. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.