Essay writing is a skill that helps students become more aware and expressive. They learn to follow directions, use their imaginations, formulate narratives and better understand the power of words. Expressing imaginations through different types of essays helps students become more creative and confident. Writing factual essays helps build powers of analysis, observation and discussion. Imaginative essays build students' skills of storytelling and presentation while they learn to experiment with styles and become more efficient with words.
Imaginative Essay Topics
One imaginative essay topics idea is the "leading line" which presents an image that can excite the imagination of the writer into thinking of a complete experience or context. For example, "I woke up in the dark to the sound of footsteps outside my bedroom door... " This line leads to a situation that can develop a scene or a narrative where the writer then imagines and writes down the outcome. The essay can be narrative or descriptive, but the use of imagination in the creation of sounds, visual details and evoking sensations and feelings makes it imaginative writing.
What-If Essays
This type of an essay topic invites the writer to imagine a situation that may or may not be possible, rational or realistic. For example imagining and writing about topics like "What if aliens invade the Earth?" or "What if I win a lottery?" are some options for the "what-if" essay. The writer imagines himself in the situation or context that is presented by the title and writes an imaginative piece detailing the effects or consequences of that experience.
The Single Image
A single image essay involves the writer imagining or looking at a singular image. The writer has to first imaginatively interpret the image itself and then think of a situation or story for the essay. For example, a single image might include "colors" or "the door" or "the box." With these images, the writer first develops an idea or context which can be either descriptive or narrative essay ideas. She then use her imagination to provide details in the essay. It is up to the writer to create a wild, traditional or unexpected essay.
Creative Writing Prompts
Using creative writing prompts to encourage more imaginative writing can include a variety of topics or titles that invite an imaginative interpretation, analysis and description. For example, prompts like "Where would you time travel" or "What will the world look like in a hundred years" invite writing about future, theoretical or hypothetical life that can lead to an imaginative story or description. The purpose with prompts is to take facts and mix them with fiction created purely out of the imagination. The result is an imaginative essay with the open-ended prompt allowing each student to create their own story.
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Writer Bio
Laura Pru began writing professionally in 2007. She has written for Andovar and Signature Magazine among many other online publications. Pru has a Bachelor of Arts in film studies from University College Falmouth.