"It All Began with a Picture"

From the Mind to the Page

In a previous blog entry, I had remarked upon the astounding imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien, and wondered if he had made any drawings. I found (and posted) that Tolkien had actually made illustrations of his imaginary lands and their inhabitants.

It is not surprising, therefore, that C.S. Lewis would have an equally vivid imagination, where he describes his writing experience for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in an essay entitled It All Began with a Picture:

One thing I am sure of. All my seven Narnian books, and my three science fiction books, began with seeing pictures in my head. At first they were not a story, just pictures. The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'

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