Mind Wandering and Water Metaphors: Towards a Reconceptualisation of Immersion and Fictional Worlds

Mind wandering is a mental activity that occupies up to 50% of our waking time. While scientists have now started to acknowledge and to study the creative potential of mind wandering for our imaginative skills, fiction has long recognised its value. This article focuses on the depiction of mind wandering in fiction, with examples ranging from Virginia Woolf’s The Waves to Ayumu Watanabe’s movie Children of the Sea. In particular, I focus on how images related to water are employed in this respect. It appears that water-related metaphors and imagery are particularly significant for the depiction of the interlacement between mind wandering and processes of creativity connected to fiction. This article argues that the notion of fictional world per se can be enriched and better conceptualised as a less “fixed” entity if pictured as a fluid, stream-like mental construct, shaped by imaginative engagement and mind wandering.