Creating Fresh Imagery

Here’s an exercise I use in my creative writing classes that I’ve found to be effective for creating very unique, fresh and powerful images:

Draw a line down the center of a piece of notebook paper. On the left side of the page, list tangible, concrete nouns: brick, shovel, river, mountain, etc....

On the right side of the page, list intangible nouns: trouble, love, sorrow, desire...

(Just flip open the dictionary if your mind gets stuck)

Now combine the tangibles with the intangibles in a phrase like this: “a shovel full of sorrow,” or “a river of trouble.” Let yourself get carried away with this, and you will come up with some very powerful images.

Here’s an example I’ve created for illustrative purposes:

TANGIBLE               INTANGIBLE
1. Pebble                    Anger
2. River                      Sorrow
3. Mountain                Grief
4. Street                     Fear
5. knife                       Happiness
6. Shoe                      Greed
7. Spoon                    Jealousy
8. Chalice                   Hate
9. Thorn                     Loathing
10. Mirror                  Joy
11. Bus                      Glee
12. Fist                      Merriment
13. Pothole                Trouble
14. Weeds                 Woe
15. Lake                    Guilt
16. House                  Wisdom
17. Train                    Intelligence
18. Boat                    Despair
19. Shovel                 Sensitivity
20. Cup                     Regret
21. Gourd                  Loss
22. Missile                 Anguish
23. Silo                      Insanity
24. Mouthful              Foolishness
25. Beach                  Depression

Now just start playing with it ...

A pothole of depression...a train of trouble...a beach of sorrow... a busload of hate...a shovel of regret...(pricked by) the thorn of jealousy...a spoonful of greed....weeds of regret... (storing) a silo of anger... a lake of grief...a chalice of sorrow... a cup of joy... a fist of wisdom... shoes of glee... a mirror of loathing...a street of woe...a cup of fear ... a river of insanity... a pothole of wisdom... a river of sorrow... a cup of depression... a mountain of woe... a missile of insanity... a house of (pick it)... a pebble of happiness.... a pothole of happiness.... a river of despair... a mountain of anguish ... (greeted by) a fist of happiness.... a mouthful of foolishness.... a mouthful of anger... a silo of guilt...

You can be the judge, but personally, I’ve identified several intriguing combinations that I think make for creative images.

Have fun.