The Triggering of the Human Imagination

[Jack7]

Edit: Let me ask the question(s) very simply in this way: What techniques or methods do you employ as a DM (or even as a player), adventure writer, milieu creator, and so forth that seems to you to “trigger the human imagination” in a very intense and enduring fashion? So that your work takes on a “virtual life of its own in the mind of your consumers,” and/or so that it continues to excite your consumers long after the actual act of the game is concluded? And how do you go about employing such techniques on a consistent basis in order to repeat these effects in a systematic and continuing manner?

I’m looking forward to your answers, ideas, opinions, and speculations…

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Recently I have undertaken a new career (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, an additional career) as a fiction writer. My background as an author is as a non-fiction writer, primarily dealing with such subjects as business, science, and technical matters. Although on occasion, often for private clients and sometimes just to pursue my own interests, I write analytical, white, and theory papers on everything from military and law enforcement matters to educational techniques to religious subjects.

But, as I said, now I am embarking upon a new or supplementary career as a fiction writer. Last night, while laying in bed, and reading a fiction story before sleeping it occurred to me that the author was very good as describing some scenes (thereby easily provoking my imagination to work “independently” of the actual words used to construct the scene) and at other times the author did a very poor job of description and my imagination had to work very hard, or was confused as to exactly what the author was describing. (The author was Moorcock.)

I went to sleep and later awoke about 0500 hours from a dream, and then an idea suddenly occurred to me about what had triggered the dream. (I didn’t connect my dream directly to the story Moorcock had written but it had triggered an “oblique set of imaginings” which I thought were related to some of the ideas expressed in the story.) After I was awake about fifteen minutes or so replaying the dream through my mind it occurred to me that many authors, as well as others, such as really good playwrights, poets, filmmakers, graphic or visual artists (I had recently taken my children to see one of the largest collections of Sacred and Italian and Spanish Gothic and Renaissance Art in the entire nation, and most all of the works were both highly symbolic, and fantastically beautiful), even inventors, scientists, and religious leaders often express their ideas in such a way as to have a great and lasting impact upon the imagination of the consumer. (I am using the term consumer here to represent any partaker or user of such services, products, information, or ideas as are being now discussed.)

And herein lies the seed of my theory. That there are certain techniques that writers, artists, inventors, etc. use that are capable of triggering the imagination of the listener, audience, or observer in such a way that the imagination of the consumer is expanded to such a degree that it becomes heavily provoked, and can then operate almost entirely independently (if not indeed completely independently) of whatever the original trigger that had initially produced it.

Using a writer as an example of my intent, for instance, certain authors are so good at description, that they can create an image in the mind of many readers that even when the reader completes reading the description or has finished the work, there lingers a sort of lasting or almost semi-permanent impression of (and on) the imagination, that is not static and calcified, but is rather “alive,” flexible, and on-going. The images and impressions made by the work do not die out with the reading of the last word, or by finishing the book, but rather they “carry on” almost as if they had created a sub-rosan or virtual reality within the mind and psyche of the consumer or the partaker. And this new and virtual mind-reality is likewise not limited to the breadth, depth, or scope of the original subject matter of the work, but rather one type of imagining or image activates numerous others in a long and continuing chain of triggered imaginary impulses, the limits of which are constrained only by the inventiveness, potentialities, and desires of the particular consumer in question. As a side note I should also mention that I am not using the term Virtual to imply something that lacks reality, as much as to represent something that has not as of yet become imminently real, but could very well become empirically real when imagination is determinedly and ambitiously combined with actual work and concentrated effort. (Now of course a badly executed or ill-conceived effort of work, imagination, or description can leave the consumer either highly confused as to what exactly the author meant by virtue of his description, can lead the consumer completely away from the actual intent of the author, or can simply provoke a feeling of disinterest or “dullness” on the part of the consumer, triggering within him not sustained and powerful imaginings, but rather impressions of distraction, or a shallowness that can only be indicative of a total lack of interest and respect for the work in question and what it produces.

But my theory (and my theory is not new, I am sure, but I am seeking a sort of specialized or different application of it) is that while there are certainly defective techniques of the act of describing or envisioning a thing that lead to a failure to spur on the imagination of the consumer, that miscarry the attempt to create a “virtual reality” of the mind through the lacking exertion(s) of a peculiar creator, there are also techniques that rarely fail to produce the sort of positive effects that I am discussing here in respect to the imagination.

That is to say if there are techniques that fail in the cause of provoking and exciting and expanding upon the capabilities of the imagination of the consumer, then there are obviously other and more obverse techniques, which will, more often than not, have the desired effect of expounding upon, elucidating, enlarging, edifying, and invigorating (perhaps permanently) the imagination of the consumer. Techniques that can help to create a sort of “perpetual inner motion” of the imagination, and that will have effects far beyond and far exceeding the actual individual triggers or spurs that were used in producing this state of affairs.

(Now, for purposes of this discussion, I am not going to really address the receptivity or state of internal agreement that any particular consumer feels toward the subject matter he is consuming. That is outside the bounds of what I am discussing, and in any case there is very little, practically speaking, that any creator can do to control the state of receptivity on the part of the consumer. The creator can use the best techniques possible, and undertake his or her work in the most crafty and acute manner by which he is able, but he cannot control the inner state of receptivity on the part of the consumer. That is almost entirely the duty or the affair of the individual consumer of information. If someone else wants to discuss this issue of information dispersal versus information receptivity, then feel free, but as for me, and at this moment, I intend to avoid the issue as a momentary distraction to the other more important points at hand.)

It also occurred to me this morning, after teaching my classes, that the same sort of thing happens in Role Play Gaming, and that moreover in such an environment such “triggering of the human imagination” is often a corporate act, as much as an act of the creator of the plot, storyline, and/or milieu being explored. (And if indeed it is an act of both the corporate and individual imagination, then this in itself might be an important clue towards the feasibility and dynamic nature of important methods of “imaginative triggering.”) That being the case it seemed to me that this website and forum would be the perfect place to solicit further ideas for this discussion. And that a discussion of role-play techniques and methods geared specifically towards the architecture of imagination might yield vital and important clues towards even larger issues of the mind and visionary invention.

Now there may indeed be, and I very much suspect that indeed there are, more or less Universal Techniques and Methods for the “triggering of the human imagination” in the way in which I am framing the issue. (Techniques that may vary in application according to media type, or in discipline or field of endeavor, but are still interchangeable in intent and basis of intended achievement.) However let’s put that possibility aside for the moment and work at the problem inductively.

Let me ask the question(s) very simply in this way: What techniques or methods do you employ as a DM (or even as a player), adventure writer, milieu creator, and so forth that seems to you to “trigger the human imagination” in a very intense and enduring fashion? So that your work takes on a “virtual life of its own in the mind of your consumers,” and/or so that it continues to excite your consumers long after the actual act of the game is concluded? And how do you go about employing such techniques on a consistent basis in order to repeat these effects in a systematic and continuing manner?

I’m looking forward to your answers, ideas, opinions, and speculations…

 

[Jack7]

Some folks have contacted me saying they found this thread interesting but that they wanted time to think about it before they replied.

Of course, take your time. It's your call.
Looking forward to your responses.

The first part of the post though is just background and explanation. So I could kinda lay out what I was shooting at.

The last few questions are what I'm interested in getting your ideas and opinions about.

See ya.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Maybe you should move the questions to the top of your post so that people without enough patience to read through what you say can focus only on them? Just a suggestion.

I know one thing that inhibits thinking if having to take in a large amount of information.

 

[Jack7]

I'm not sure people will understand what I'm asking without a little context Silvercat, but I'll try anything once just to test how it works.

If it does work then I'll make it a practice.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

I'm not sure people will understand what I'm asking without a little context......

The key word here is little. You provide a lot. And some people won't be patient enough to read through that much context. At least putting your question at the beginning allows people to possibly contribute at their own level of patience.

 

[Piratecat]

Consequences. If you give the PCs agency in the world so that they can see their actions having palpable results on their environment, you're positively reinforcing their behavior.

For instance, the PCs' home town has no magic shop and one player wants one. The PCs attack and defeat bandits plaguing the trade route and release their prisoners. One prisoner has a brother who deals in magical goods, and convinces the brother to move to town as a way of saying thanks. It's a minor thing, but the PCs' heroism has directly resulted in a positive change in their world, and that can get addicting. If you know your actions change the status quo, and you don't like something about the status quo, you're more likely to consider taking action.

That's why I'm mostly not a "top-down" designer, determining the detailed contents of campaign elements ages before the PCs ever interact with them. I like the results when the campaign world is more reactive to PC actions.

The same is true in fiction. Establish a structure and use your protagonist to knock it down. The interesting part is what happens afterwards, and how everyone adapts to the changes.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Establish a structure and use your protagonist to knock it down.

I agree that this can be a very energizing angle. I'd say it's why people like so much to make fun of established fiction, even if they like it.

 

[Jack7]

That's why I'm mostly not a "top-down" designer, determining the detailed contents of campaign elements ages before the PCs ever interact with them. I like the results when the campaign world is more reactive to PC actions.

The same is true in fiction. Establish a structure and use your protagonist to knock it down. The interesting part is what happens afterwards, and how everyone adapts to the changes.

After ruminating on it awhile I think I see what you're saying Cat.

I'm gonna use the Lord of the Rings as my example of what I think you mean.

The story of the War of the Rings wasn't just one war in a series of wars involving the rings, and Sauron's Ring, but was the final one. It was the last one, and because of that the Old Order was overthrown. The old age ended entirely and a New Age began. The elves didn't just drift deeper into the woods, they left Middle Earth entirely.

And Sauron wasn't just defeated, and the books weren't just about one in a series of wars he fought against men and elves and dwarves. It was the final war, the one that ultimately and finally finished him completely.

In other words it was conclusive. Complete. Final.

It's not gonna be a replay of the same situation in a different form.
It's not a change in degree but a change in kind, or nature.

And if I'm following you correctly then you're saying that things that demonstrate or describe a sort of conclusive overthrow, and what that ultimately means, these things are imagination triggers. So therefore these kind of things tend to "stick in your imagination" intensely and long after the fact. It's a "stake in the nature of the world" sort of imagination trigger. One of the "Big Triggers."

I'm thinking now that there are probably Big Triggers, or Cosmic or World-nature ones, as well as Personal or Individualized Imagination Triggers.

Yeah, if I'm reading you right then what you said makes an awful lot of sense to me.

Gotta go for now, but thanks for the reply.

And some people won't be patient enough to read through that much context. At least putting your question at the beginning allows people to possibly contribute at their own level of patience.

And thanks for the suggestion.
It seems it worked.

Sorta like a teaser or a synopsis or a headline paragraph.

 

[Mercurius]

Interesting post, Jack7, and right up my alley of interest. Allow me to join you in this inquiry.

A few things come to mind. First, I find your use of the word "trigger" to hold a certain implication that I personally find is subtly antithetical to your underlying inquiry. Maybe it is just semantics, but I prefer the word inspire. The emphasis is not as...invasive, as if the author (or DM) can manipulate the reader (your "consumer") into experiencing something. "Trigger" speaks of a switch that can be turned on or off, when the human imagination is much more subtle than that. It cannot be forced; it must be wooed. Even seduction is too strong; what you are looking for (I think) is for the imagination to give itself to you freely, without any kind of coersion.

Secondly, I think it is important to not get too hung up on techniques. Certainly, there is a craft to writing, a skill-set; the better honed the craft, the more capable it is of "carrying" the content that it seeks to convey. But imagination is not content, and what I hear you saying that you are looking for is the spark that ignites the imaginative fire to create its own living, changing content--not forcefeed content into someone else. This is why there is such a difference between, say, television and books. Books inspire, they cajole, the (usually gently) feed the imagination; television straps it down, forcefeeds and overstuffs it.

(I keep on using the word "force"; to me this is the key point--that any truly living imaginative experience must be self-generated, it cannot be implanted .Well, it can to some extent, but the more it is self-generated, the more living it will be).

Perhaps the most important aspect of this is the ability to be able to enter into that imaginative space yourself, to live within it, inspire (trigger) it within yourself. Whatever you write should inspire you, should make you feel tingling and give you that sense of awwwwwe...you mean the darkness between the stars is endless?!

But techniques do matter to some degree and we can more easily talk about them. For that a couple things come to mind, first and perhaps foremost: less is more. When you are describing something, what words you use are more important than how many; in fact, more often than not the more words you use the more your "information packet" is obscured. Michael Moorcock is a great example of a sparser style that is strong in triggering (at least his early work was); Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea also comes to mind, as does Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster series.

But the reader needs something to chew on, so you don't want to be too spartan. It is like the principle of building a camp fire: too much wood and it is smothered, too little and it dies out. The right amount...well, it differs for the individual reader, and I would suspect that today's reader requires more than thirty, even twenty years ago.

Another thing: Read what triggers your imagination. It is obvious but is worth saying. Read it and study it. If you are persistent enough, type a couple pages up, then try to simulate the style of that author. But I think the important thing is to be inspired, to enter that realm, whether through reading or writing (preferably both).

But again, there is no technique--no magical formula--that will easily open this door. In fact, if a technique comes along that seems too easy, be warned. Cheap parlor tricks aren't going to truly inspire imagination; they might trigger a moment of that was kewl! and make your reader want to turn the pages...but for techniques in that just read and study Dan Brown or Stephen King (the key with page turning, I think, is not revealing too much and cutting the chapter off a sentence or too before it is "over").

For me the great joy of imaginative play, whether it is D&D or writing or reading or creating art, is the experience of wonder, which is like a doorway into an Otherworld, a realm of magic and mystery. There are other things that I enjoy, but that is the Grail. And to be able to share that with others you have to drink from it yourself. So read what inspires you and, more importantly, inspire yourself!

You might want to check out Samuel Taylor Coleridge's perspective on imagination, if you aren't familiar with it. It might be too "woo-woo" for some, but I think it is an important aspect of this discussion.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Anything can trigger inspiration. This was sort of the point I was trying to make when I created the Arcana Wiki - pretty much anything imaginable can be used as the basis for an adventure, a story, or even an entire campaign setting. And thus, pretty much anything is a valid subject matter for the Arcana Wiki.

Often it helps to put several totally disparate elements into context with each other - this way, it is possible to come up with new ideas and explore new paths that no one has thought of. The Adventure Seed Generator works like this - it takes three random elements from the wiki, and leaves it to the user how to tie them together.

And there are often some rather surprising new ideas coming out of this...