--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I start writing a new imaginary…" description: "\"When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out where they are living and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75f/william-gibson-642_character_when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-fut_25407.jpg" --- # When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no… ![“When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out where they are living and I get to fill in the gaps with that and where we are. So when I get to the end of the process of composition, if I feel that I have really done my…” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75f/william-gibson-642_character_when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-fut_25407.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75f/william-gibson-642_character_when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-fut_25407.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75f/william-gibson-642_character_when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-fut_25407.jpg) > “When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out where they are living and I get to fill in the gaps with that and where we are. So when I get to the end of the process of composition, if I feel that I have really done my job, I have no idea what I've got - and I then spend essentially the rest of my life figuring out what it might mean.” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The writer discovers the story world through characters, not pre‑planned settings, and later interprets the meaning after completion. **In simple terms:** Characters drive world‑building and later meaning. Key Takeaway Let characters shape the narrative. Themes creativity process character-driven emergent world‑building interpretation Mood curiosity wonder Type process insight authorial reflection When to use this quote - drafting a novel - screenwriting - role‑playing game design - brainstorming speculative futures Key Concepts character agency authorial discovery narrative ambiguity Practical Applications - creative writing workshops - story development tools Questions to Reflect On - How does allowing characters to lead affect plot coherence? - What risks arise when meaning is left ambiguous? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Composition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/) [Composition Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition-feel-410177/) [Done](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/done/) [Help me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/help-me/) [Helping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping/) [Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary/) [Imaginary Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary-future-385876/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [New Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-imaginary-410175/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing New](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-new/) ## Related quotes > [What the nostalgic past and the imaginary future seem to share in common is a form of idealism, perhaps a dream of wholeness. Our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-d-ambrosio/what-the-nostalgic-past-and-the-imaginary-future-seem-to-share-in/) [Charles D'Ambrosio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-d-ambrosio/) > [Our nostalgic dreams of perfection thrive just as dangerously in the other direction too, in the imaginary future, that bold and tantalizing future where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-d-ambrosio/our-nostalgic-dreams-of-perfection-thrive-just-as-dangerously-in-the/) [Charles D'Ambrosio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-d-ambrosio/) > [“We cannot feel good about an imaginary future when we are busy feeling bad about an actual present.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-gilbert/we-cannot-feel-good-about-an-imaginary-future-when-we-are-busy/) [Daniel Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-gilbert/) > [“Science fiction writers construct an imaginary future; historians attempt to reconstruct the past. Ultimately, both are seeking to understand the present. In this essay,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-oreskes/science-fiction-writers-construct-an-imaginary-future-historians/) [Naomi Oreskes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-oreskes/) > [Novels set in imaginary futures are necessarily about the moment in which they are written.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/novels-set-in-imaginary-futures-are-necessarily-about-the-moment-in/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The way the show was conceived originally and developed, has always had good writing at the heart of it, it's very difficult to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-lawson/the-way-the-show-was-conceived-originally-and-developed-has-always/) [Denis Lawson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-lawson/) > [Writing New People I was thinking a lot about the era that I came of age - the 90's. Brooklyn, in particular, this moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danzy-senna/writing-new-people-i-was-thinking-a-lot-about-the-era-that-i-came-of/) [Danzy Senna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danzy-senna/) > [I'm writing new music all the time. I'm just not writing pop stuff. It's not my goal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-joel/i-m-writing-new-music-all-the-time-i-m-just-not-writing-pop-stuff-it/) [Billy Joel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-joel/) > [Having reached the halfway mark in the alphabet, my prime focus is on writing each new book as well as I can.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-grafton/having-reached-the-halfway-mark-in-the-alphabet-my-prime-focus-is-on/) [Sue Grafton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-grafton/) > [Before I ever begin writing a new story, I have to sketch my characters out on paper. It's part of my process of understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-lu/before-i-ever-begin-writing-a-new-story-i-have-to-sketch-my/) [Marie Lu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-lu/) > [Television has raised writing to a new low.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-goldwyn/television-has-raised-writing-to-a-new-low/) [Samuel Goldwyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-goldwyn/) > [Constantly writing with new people is important. Also, listening to new music that's popular and that's making a splash - that's how I get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-demarcus/constantly-writing-with-new-people-is-important-also-listening-to-new/) [Jay DeMarcus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-demarcus/) > [I spent most of this afternoon writing a new introduction for my autobiography.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-foray/i-spent-most-of-this-afternoon-writing-a-new-introduction-for-my/) [June Foray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-foray/) > [I've done that quite often, but I've got to be quite honest... as much as you would want to only do one at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-rabin/i-ve-done-that-quite-often-but-i-ve-got-to-be-quite-honest-as-much-as/) [Trevor Rabin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-rabin/) > [Each year is like writing a new chapter in a book, make each one worth rereading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/each-year-is-like-writing-a-new-chapter-in-a-book-make-each-one-worth/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. 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The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The box was a universe, a poem, frozen on the boundaries of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-box-was-a-universe-a-poem-frozen-on-the-boundaries-of-human/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/i-m-often-moved-by-the-circumstances-around-some-of-my-characters-but/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) [David Hudgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hudgins/) > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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