A word is worth a thousand pictures...

One of the things that interests me about names and words or phrases is the images they evoke

For example, if you mention Wimbledon in the context of tennis it conjures up images of green tennis courts

The sound of a tennis ball being hit back and forth

The applause of the crowd

Strawberries and cream

The whole idyllic image of the English summertime

In a footballing context there is quite a story behind the name, but one that I will not be going into now

Then there are the Wombles of Wimbledon, love ‘em or hate ‘em, and all those associations for fans who were kids when it was on TV

For others it may just be the name of a suburban Tube station

They say a picture is worth a thousand words

But words or phrases can evoke a multitude of ideas, images, and ambiences

As another example, if I mention the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, then if the reader has no idea who he was then it will be just a name

Or it may conjure images of France, but that’s all

For another it may conjure up ideas about a whole existential movement

For me, one recurring image is of a solitary figure in a little Parisian café, the day hot and dusty, people watching, considering the human condition

Outside the cobble stones are being torn up, barricades are being erected, revolution is in the air

How about the golden age of Hollywood

Chernobyl

What do they evoke

Interesting though, that what is experienced in the readers mind can be a long way from any sort of objective reality, if such a term can be applied

And widely different from the experience of another

Images, ideas, and feelings hanging off a mixture of fact, fiction, associations, and imagination

As I write the Fitzroy stories, names, or phrases pop into my head

I like to throw them into the mix

It creates the backdrop of the world we live in, but experience in very different ways

It is, I think, one of the ways that kids come to experience the world

A word resonates with them, means something to them, captures their imagination

They may or may not fill in the gaps later

They may get closer to reality, or start building a fantasy, or a mixture

And really is this not how the world works for people

And really are we not all just big kids…