I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:25:47 -0800

I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane? Since I was about 13 (I'm 24 now) I have, over time, constructed an imaginary story that I focus on whenever I'm alone - walking somewhere, doing the dishes, tidying my house, etc - but it's not just some little silly story, it's like I'm literally living another life, or other people's lives. To make this a little clearer:

The "story" consists of not one character, but a whole family of characters, who all have their own stories (I know their names, the names of their partners, the names of their ex-partners, their best friends, their best friends' stories), their own careers, I know what they look like, where they live, I play out scenes in my head of different people each time - talking to one another, them at work, I can do it for about an hour and almost script up pages of conversations that they'll have/experiences they'll have, imagine them in interviews (the central family are all famous - I've imagined a family where three of the kids are basically the biggest movie stars in the world, and link real life celebrities to this - guest stars have involved George Clooney and Johnny Knoxville.. wtf...)

Let me just state this has NEVER been a dream. It has always occurred when I am awake. Usually when I'm slightly down (I suffer from depression, I suppose that it could be a form of escapism - I imagine myself with this perfect Hollywood movie star life, instead of my own)

I'm just wondering... erm... I've never EVER told anyone about this. Not family, friends, anyone. This is the first time I've even written about it. Is it totally and utterly deranged? I mean it's a pretty big deal. I could tell you the birthdays and eye colour of every single 'character' in this imaginary world - that's got to be about 20 people I've invented. What the hell am I doing? And has anyone else ever done this?

I'm starting to wonder if I'm all there, upstairs. And yes, if anyone asks, I'm being totally serious. This isnt a joke question.

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I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane?