
On Throwback Thursdays, we’re looking at excerpts from past posts on Live Write Thrive. Today’s post comes from How Novelists Can Create Image Systems for their Story. Creating an image system for your novel can enhance the reader’s experience and help to subliminally affect them emotionally.
Last week, we touched on a concept called Image Systems, which is something filmmakers consider when preparing to shoot their movie. Image systems can be made up of many different types of components, and by looking at some movies with powerful image systems, hopefully you will get some ideas of how you can do similarly with your novel. Using an assortment of these “building blocks” can give deeper meaning to your overall story.
In the movie The Sixth Sense, writer/director Shyamalan uses red to link with the supernatural. In every scene in which something “beyond the veil” is shown, you’ll find an object in red: a balloon, a sweater, a tent, and many others. Using a repeated color is probably the most common element in an image system, which makes sense with movies, since they are so visual. Continue Reading…