Young Writers Society

When I was younger, I used to jump on the trampoline in my backyard for hours at a time, with nothing but my own imagination to occupy me. I'd come up with all sorts of things, usually with me as the main character, and usually involving superpowers from whatever show or video game I happened to be interested in at the time. I didn't even act out what I was imagining, I just kinda thought about it. Something about the monotony of jumping helped get my brain spinning. Even to this day, I'll go out there from time to time, though not nearly as often as I did a few years ago.

I've began to notice that I'm not the only person who had these sorts of habits. My little sister, who's also shown an interest in writing, is constantly telling stories to herself, often while walking in a circle around the living room, over and over, which is what I used to do before I decided the trampoline was better.

Even Judy Blume did something like this. She would bounce a ball against the garage door, over and over again, playing using only her own imagination. (At least, it was something like that. I'm not completely sure about the details). The point is, I've began to detect a sort of pattern among storytellers. It might apply to other creative fields as well, but this is where I've noticed it most. Stranger still, it seems to always involve some kind of repetitive motion, (Jumping on a trampoline, sitting on a swing, etc). So my question is, do any of you remember doing something like this when you were younger? Do you still do it now? I'd like to know just how common this is...

I totally used to do this! I first remember it in preschool, when I first learned about "imaginary friends." I would sit in the car and watch the electrical lines, and I would imagine that I was a superhero, and that I had a bunch of sidekicks- one was a robot head who could float, one was an autumn fairy, one was my best friend (Daltin) but in superhero form. I did this for years and years from age 3 to age 8, at least.

My brother and I used to also play the same games. My brother isn't in any creative field, but he was always a good reader and always loved to write, when he was younger (he's a zookeeper, now). We would play "games" (roleplays) but act them out together based on characters from video games (Super Smash Bros: Melee was our favorite) and books and eventually we combined them into one big world and one big story. I was Zelda and he was Roy, and we would just walk around our house, the neighborhood, our backyard, anywhere and just talk and play it out. (For example: He'd say: "We walk up to a big stone." And I say: "Wow! Look at that stone!" etc.) We took it to Disneyland, and Seaworld, in the car, to our new house, from when I was 5 to when I was 13 and he was 17. Just years and years and years of lore that we built up using our minds.

We did something similar when we moved, when I was 8. We would go into the backyard and find sticks and just 'swordfight' and do a similar roleplay concept but instead of stating the actions, we would perform them. We would embody all kinds of different characters that way. We did this forever until my mom got sick of us literally beating up each other with actual sticks and it was banned.

Anyways, the repetitive motion you were talking about is, I think, best described with the way I would sit and watch the electrical lines in the car. The way that they would always pass by at a frequent pace just set me into my own world. But there's plenty of worldbuilding that I experienced, and you're totally not alone!