Images and the Fiction Writer

I've been thinking lately about the power of symbol and images in writing and how they take us into the greater mystery of life and human relationship. The best images seem to resonate in the timeless zones of the psyche and with archetypical yearnings. For images to work for ourselves as writers and for our readers, they don't need a lot of explanation. Remember show don't tell! In fact, once we explain images, they cease to live in the realm of the mysterious and thus lose their fire. The most potent images for the writer come from the unconscious and point us toward something we probably (hopefully) do not fully understand.

I think that as writers images "come to us". They are gifted to us in some ineffable way and then it's our job as writers to embrace them. We need not understand them at first. But if they hold mystery for us, they will great guiding lights.