Writers write, Creatives create, and Imagineers imagine. As a young Industrial Design student back in the day, Disney was an extremely attractive employment destination, in part because they touted the Imagineering aspect of what they accomplished. It was very appealing. I always assumed they had even made up the term, but in fact, they borrowed the name from Alcoa, who coined it in the 1940s. Disney just took it to a new level. They were gathering firewood to build a fire.
All creative endeavors involve gathering firewood. You have to have fuel to stoke the imagination and deliver a design-result. And the reality is, this goes back thousands of years. King David had a vision of building a temple, a House of God, versus a nomadic tent. But God told David that he wanted his son Solomon to build the temple. David accepted that decision, but he spent decades gathering exotic materials from all over the Mediterranean world and stockpiled them for Solomon to use when he was King. And it led to a glorious result.
When Elijah went to Zarephath he encountered a widow gathering firewood. Her simple act of obedience, taking action when all seemed lost, led to a beautiful result. Sometimes you just need to take action and pick up that first stick.
In writing about Cat Luker, I called on decades of stockpiled ideas but also seized on God-sends in the current moment. As a teenager, I discovered the old cemetery by the Tombigbee River in Demopolis and stored away images of it for future use (I just didn’t know why or what at the time). I also, in the midst of telling my granddaughters stories on the way to school, told them about a huge black cat I had seen at lunch one day at work. Cat Luker needed help to spy on the Swamp Witch and the girls suggested his name should be King Black, king of the house-cats! A perfect solution and a fantastic addition to the character list. Imagination, creativeness, design skills, visualization, and hard work all come into play when you are building something. It can be a fantasy world for a book, or a product that solves a problem, or an architectural structure that you call home. All these skills come into play, and if you are lucky enough, it also involves friends and family bringing their skills to the table as well.
I have a recorded story about King Black that documents his naming. Please listen below. This also evolved into a chapter of the book. A wonderful piece of firewood.