Meet Imaginative Storm
I was first introduced to Imaginative Storm through a webinar conducted by Allegra Huston hosted by KN Literary Arts. Allegra and James Nave are the creative talents of Imaginative Storm which drives what I think is the most innovative method of connecting with your writing and creative juices. As the name might suggest their offerings are around awakening your imagination and I haven’t usually seen that addressed in most discussions on writing.
I started attending their free writing prompt Zoom sessions shortly after seeing Allegra’s webinar. They now run two of these free sessions, one on a Saturday and another on a Thursday. I attend the Thursday one because thanks to the tyranny of distance it is at a reasonable time on Friday mornings for me here in Australia. The session usually goes like this. A picture is displayed by the host for about two minutes and each of us writes down a list of things we see in the picture, real or imagined. After that the host goes around each of the participants and asks for one or two unique items from each of our personal lists to add to a group list. We then have ten minutes to write whatever the group list of words prompts in us, our imagination that is. We are encouraged to use cursive handwriting and not to stop and edit as we write for this ten minute burst. We try to use in our writing as many or as few of the group words as we feel like. The host then goes around the group and asks each of us to read aloud what we have written in the ten minutes. This encompasses a number of the techniques that make up the Imaginative Storm method of igniting your own imagination. I have found the sessions most illuminating and enjoyable as well. Following is the slightly post edited version of my last session which was prompted by a YouTube video by a musician called Walter Parks, see the links in the references section at the end.
Deep South reflections dodging alligators and coons either end. Seeking connections with any ancestors that may care to join me by the quiet lily pond hidden amidst the enchanted trees. Will any show, possibly not, but if they did could I mesmerise them into spilling the beans about anything or are they sworn to a silence befitting this solitude. Do I really want to know anything they may care to share with me or is it better staying here in the mystery of life enjoying what is, rejecting any reflections on the past or forecasts on the future. Here and now, sitting on the wooden bench with my feet resting on the wooden table shaded by the flat roof above and alone with my thoughts and the crickets somewhere around doing their own thing, yet another mystery I can live with. Need to know is overrated, there is no need to know, only simple curiosity but which as a human trait leads to a desire to control. Let it go. It’s all as it is and if I don't have the knowledge or capacity to understand then never mind, just let it be. There is freedom in not having to know.