This Is Such A Generous And Thoughtful Answer, And I'm Going To Be Thinking About All Of This For A Long

This is such a generous and thoughtful answer, and I'm going to be thinking about all of this for a long while yet. Thank you so much!

Your reply about Parmak reminded me that I wanted to say thank you. An interview you recorded a little while back about the Last Best Hope (iirc) provided something of a lightbulb moment for me: you spoke about the fact that you don't visualise things when you write, and in particular how that affects the way you approach descriptive prose. I'd never heard anyone else express that before; it sounded so similar to how I experience writing, and it really helped me to understand a part of my own process I hadn't fully thought about before. Hearing someone whose work I admire articulating something like that was so helpful and freeing, so - thank you! And obviously I'd be absolutely fascinated if you had any other thoughts on non-visual imagination and writing you felt able to share, if I haven't already taken up enough of your day with this essay.

I have absolutely LOADS of thoughts on non-visual imagination. I first started thinking about this when I was writing Tolkien fanfiction. There's a fantastic writer called Dwimordene, who has a very descriptive style (as well as great psychological acuity and is an all round amazing writer). I was blown away by Dwim's writing and how descriptive it was, but Dwim was always saying things like, "I wish I had your pared down style!"

We were discussing our writing processes one time, and Dwim explained how they pictured everything in detail, like a film rolling before them, and I thought, "I don't do that. I don't picture things at all." But whenever I said this to people, they would say, "But your descriptions are so vivid! I could absolutely picture [for example] the room and the shadows on the wall and the curtain blowing about in the breeze!" And I would think, "Well, that's more than I did!"

I knew that I had a knack for voice - that I found it extremely easy to capture not just dialogue between characters, but internal monologue. I found first-person narrative very easy to write. So I started to explore a difference between what I called visual imagination and auditory imagination, and whether some people leaned in one direction, and some in another. I brought it up with my creative writing students, and we discussed things like whether we found description or dialogue more easily; third person or first person and free indirect. And whether it suggested areas in your writing that needed attention to make your writing more effective.

As I explored this more, I discovered a phenomenon called aphantasia, which is a tendency not to able to form visual images in your mind: you don't have a mind's eye. It seems to be closely connected to the functioning of memory. I have an excellent memory for facts, but remember very little of events. My other half frequently has to remind me that, yes, we have been to certain places, and had memorable things happen, etc. etc. (I don't see this as a "condition", by the way; just the way my brain operates. It seems to have worked out broadly okay.)

But what puzzled me was that people were often praising my descriptive ability, and how they could picture the scenes I was writing. Well, partly this is because the nature of TV tie-in writing is that the visual setting is already established, so that work is done for me (no wonder I was drawn to this particular genre!). But then I realised that something else was going on.

What I'm actually very good at doing is remembering (or, perhaps more accurately, imagining) deeply experienced feelings, connecting them to quite general images, and then communicating the combination of that intense feeling and sketched image. What happens next is the alchemy of reading. The reader seems to be able to connect their own feelings, and plug in visuals that they already have. They "see" the place I'm "describing", because they're recalling the emotions they once had in a particular place.

One example of this that people might have read is from my Picard novel The Last Best Hope (this might be the example I used in the podcast?). At the end of the section where Picard evacuates Vani and her community from their planet, we are left with a view out over an emptied landscape:

"The river ran on. The leaves drifted. And, in the valley, the wind chimes sang a song that would never be heard again."

There's practically no description here: the nouns are very concrete and there are no adjectives. It moves from this to something quite abstract. But what I have tried to do is fill those words (primarily through sentence structure) with a feeling of loss and melancholy, and hope that you connect that to an image that is already in your mind.

I'm still exploring the ramifications of this for my own creative practice (I'm very taken by the idea of writing a memoir when I have pretty scant memories). I know it's one reason that I can't listen to music while I write (because writing happens in an auditory space for me), and why I am so stimulated to creativity by visual material (because it's supplying what I can't). Lots going on here, but that's some thoughts on visual and auditory imagination, and how they might relate to creative practice.

Chapters: 14/20

Fandom: Star Trek: Discovery

Rating: Mature

Relationships: Number One/Gabriel Lorca Characters: Original Universe Gabriel Lorca, Number One (Star Trek), Amanda Grayson, Sarek (Star Trek), Harry Mudd, Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po, Spock (Star Trek)

Additional Tags: Slow Burn, not so much ‘mutual pining’ as ‘mutual terror of accidentally having an emotion’, the grumpy one falls for the … other grumpy one?, there was only one shuttle, vehement denial of feelings, questionable interplanetary diplomacy, questionable science, unhealthy levels of coffee consumption, gratuitous descriptions of telepathy, fixing the injustice of erasing Discovery from history one poorly thought out escapade at a time Series: Part 2 of Last Resort

Chapter 14! In which there are too many scams, and Gabriel stumbles on an unfortunate realisation in front of the worst possible audience.

I'm working on a prototype for Rok Tahk as we speak! As my second-ever pattern design, she's ... not so much a step up from Murf as, er, several ladders up from Murf. But she's coming along nicely and I think she's going to look great when she's done.

A few people have asked about the patterns, so: my ultimate aim is definitely to share them, probably via Ravelry? But there are a few things about the Murf pattern I'd like to tweak, to make sure he's perfect before I release him into the wild - and at the moment Rok Tahk is occupying a lot of my brain/free time, so it might be a while yet. Stay tuned!

Paramount don't seem to be too interested in making Star Trek: Prodigy merch, so I decided to take matters into my own hands/crochet hook. Six prototypes, a lot of yarn, and even more swearing later, I've designed my very first crochet pattern.

Behold - Murf!

Next up ... Rok Tahk???

Rebloogalooging again for 30 Days of Prodigy, day 17 - Rok Tahk!

It's taken 3 months of trial and error (mostly error), but...

... here's Rok Tahk!

Her FACE

I learned a lot designing and making her; she's definitely the most complicated piece I've crocheted to date. There are still a few things I want to fix - but given that she's only my second attempt at designing a crochet pattern, I think she's turned out pretty well! And Murf agrees.

Remember this guy?

My crochet Murf pattern is (finally) finished and available to download for free from Ravelry.

Go forth and have fun - all I ask is that you tag me in your finished projects!

Murf keeps good company!

Paramount don't seem to be too interested in making Star Trek: Prodigy merch, so I decided to take matters into my own hands/crochet hook. Six prototypes, a lot of yarn, and even more swearing later, I've designed my very first crochet pattern.

Behold - Murf!

Next up ... Rok Tahk???