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May 2006
When Imagination Takes Over
By: Laura Bradford
Creative Writer
As a writer, noticing details is as much a part of me as the tiny scar above my left eyebrow (compliments of an older brother and a fast-moving doorknob).
It’s who I am. It’s what I do.
So you can imagine the sense-overload I experienced last fall when I drove into New Town for the very first time.
Suddenly, the box of books in my trunk that I’d come to sign…was forgotten.
The chores I had waiting at home…a distant thought.
Why?
Because when I turned into New Town and saw the canal and the bridges and the row houses, I forgot everything except maybe my name.
That’s what creativity and imagination do to me every single time. In books. In art. In music. And, apparently, in a newly created town the likes of which I’d never seen before.
Truth be told, I’m used to developments with the same basic homes and same basic set-up as everyone around them. I’m sure you’ve seen them too—a couple hundred homes, a few well-placed cul-de-sacs, maybe a sidewalk, and usually waist-high brick signage at the front entrance. People come out of their homes to mow the grass or to stick a letter in the mailbox. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s normal. And normal is good.
... Until you see what happens when creativity and imagination are thrown into the mix from the get-go.
New Town is what happens.
Gone are the normal ranch and 2-story models—replaced by row houses, townhomes, cottages, lakefront homes, senior courtyard homes, artists’ lofts, single family homes, custom homes, and live/work units.
Gone is the traditional neighborhood set-up—replaced by sidewalk-lined streets, a picturesque lake (with an honest-to-goodness breeze that makes you feel like you’re at the ocean), an outdoor amphitheater, a town hall, a mom & pop style grocery store, a bookstore/café, a playground, sledding hill, and so much more.
Gone too, is the occasional lawn-sighting of your next door neighbor—replaced by a community where its residents are outdoors…riding bikes, taking walks, befriending one another.
And just think, it all started with an imagination and the yearning to do something different. To think outside the box. To create a setting instead of a development. A setting that will continue to unfold over the next fifteen years like a wonderfully written novel with a new surprise on every page.
For a writer like myself, you can’t have a story without a setting.
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