Occasionally I glance up and feel awed by the beauty of the trees and the sky above me. It’s as though I’ve stepped into another, possibly far away, world. The extreme beauty can be dizzying.

Other times I glance into the heart of a flower, and feel the same.

With natural world flourishing in the summer sunshine, it seems there are multiple worlds of all different sizes and complexities all around us. This offers the perfect opportunity (and perhaps excuse) to dive headlong into fictional world-building.

How can you build up textures, smells, sounds and sights to create an imagined space that feels authentic? What details have you chosen to notice, or invent to include?

Now, who or what will you devise to populate the world you’ve built? Are they peaceful or warlike? Petty or magnanimous, or as varied and strange as human beings?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.