My stories usually start with a single, powerful image, without any context. A boy hammering his treehouse shut, or someone stumbling upon a severed hand in the woods. The context and meaning sorts itself out later in the writing process. What I think is interesting though, is how important the context is, as a way of separating the Primes from the ‘details’. The context is what gives specificity and depth, and what allows those prime elements to blossom in the reader/viewer’s mind.

As an example, if the boy I mentioned was shuttering his treehouse because winter was coming, that drains a lot of the power out of it, and makes the image seem more mundane. If he’s closing it up because his father killed himself, and hes determined to put aside childish dreams and become a man despite his age, that bolsters the power of the image and cements it as a ‘prime’ rather than a detail.

I’ll be thinking a lot about this as the day goes on. Thanks, Robin.

On the imagery, my visual thinking has dominated the analytical one and I can perfectly see what you mean. Invariably books that have evoked strong images of characters and moods have stayed with be longer than those that don’t. Roberto Calasso’s Ka, on Indian mythology, has long been a favourite of mine for this reason.