Bring Imagination to Life

A writing coach (whose name escapes me) said a while back that “a good author should be like a good movie director, and describe each scene and character in great detail, so the reader knows exactly what you are imagining”.

Here at RTG HQ, we totally disagree. In our humble opinion, a good author should NOT describe everything in great detail. A ‘movie-watcher’ and a ‘reader’ are different things entirely.

For sure, a few readers do like everything laid out for them, so they don’t have to use their imagination. But here’s the rub…

A true reader likes to read a good book to stimulate their imagination.

In a movie, the director crafts each scene on behalf of the watcher. Many brilliant directors and producers are super-skilled at doing this, and many movies are excellent because of it. But by the nature of the beast, those watching are actually seeing someone else’s imagination.

It can’t be any other way. A movie is a visual interpretation of the writer’s ideas. If the director gets it right, it’s because most people agree with his vision. But for movie-makers, it’s a lot harder when the movie is made from an original book.

How many times have you heard someone say “well, the movie was good, but the book was better”?

There’s a reason for this, and it is why we do it the way we do.

We often hear authors who have been fortunate enough to have their book made into a movie say that they’re “so grateful the book has been made into a movie, but it wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I wrote it.”

Why is it so difficult for movie-makers to get a ‘movie from a book’ right for everyone? Because ‘difficult’ is the wrong word. Impossible is maybe nearer the mark.

For the answer, head back to the opening paragraph. In a nutshell, imagination is in the mind of the beholder. Or in our case, the reader. And, unfortunately for even the most brilliant of movie directors, everyone is different.

We know from the comments and reviews we get that people find different stimulations from reading our work. That’s great… but it tells us something. When a reader lets us know they enjoyed a book because of such-and-such, sometimes that such-and-such never even occurred to us! That’s part of the ongoing learning process that only those who read our work make possible.

However, we learnt one lesson a while back, which in our view is crucially important.

Don’t waste words.

When applied to bringing imagination to life, that means NOT describing every little detail. Some authors spend half a chapter describing a scene, and another quarter of it describing the character in it. They might as well be a movie director.

Most readers like to have their imagination stimulated… not replaced by someone else’s. Getting the level of description right is a fine line, and something that can’t be taught by writing coaches. It’s often the division between good and bad writers.

An RTG book sets a given scene, often describing a setting in some detail, but trusting in our readers to envisage the rest of the details the way they want to. We try our best to bring imagination to life, not bludgeon it to death.

Okay, it doesn’t please everyone. Nevertheless, an increasing band of readers are starting to see that our brand means more than just not following the herd.

We do things the RTG way, in the belief that those who enjoy our work appreciate that we bring their imagination to life.

We would love to hear your comments on this post. Do write and let us know, or submit a guest blog if you agree, or feel like challenging our perceptions!

Richard ‘never the same book twice’ Green.