Hmmm...not something I should have looked at while in the midst of a meeting at work...heh heh heh...but... Lets start with your Lord of the Rings example. Yes, incredibly powerful images, but, in some cases images that did not mesh with where my mind had gone when reading the books....for me more that 30 times....so in those cases my mind went to, "Oh well, he got it wrong on that one." While words DO allow for individual creation "inside my mind" they are also the tool we use for creating s ahred vision...so the difference becomes blurred. I think you are perhaps combining a conversation about "style" and one about "content". I have seen images that create as much wonder in my mind as the words I have read, but in a different way. The really good images tempt me to continue the story from the "snapshot" point of the picture. Just as really good words cause me to "paint" a picture in my mind. Make sense or am I rambling due to having to keep up with this meeting while I write? :)