In this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard as I did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight — he spake like a dragon; and, on the other side, what sighs and groans burst from Christian's heart. I never saw him all the while give so much as one pleasant look, till he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then, indeed, he did smile, and look upward; but it was the dreadfullest sight that ever I saw.
Well, if you will thus imagine, I cannot help it; you shall find me a fair company-keeper, if you will still admit me your associate.
For my part, I like that religion best that will stand with the security of God's good blessings unto us; for who can imagine, that is ruled by his reason, since God has bestowed upon us the good things of this life, but that he would have us keep them for his sake?
Noun: "(fandom slang) a short fanfic or prompt placing a reader insert in a novel scenario with a character or celebrity"[edit]
2015, Laura Starling, "FFIC101: An Introduction to the Horrors of Fanfiction", Critic (University of Otago), 2 March 2015, page 21:
Some imagines are more sexual and creepy than others: "Imagine Stiles walking in on you giving Scott a blowjob."
2016, Jocelyn Chambers, "The Exclusion Of People Of Color In Fanfiction", Majesty, December 2016, page 96:
i personally like imagines and fanfics so i found a good amount of kylo ren x reader fics and started going through them.
2017, Francesca Coppa, "Introduction: Five Things That Fanfiction Is, and One Thing It Isn't", in The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for the Digital Age (ed. Francesca Coppa), page 9:
[…] or imagines, self-insert teen fantasies ("Imagine being friends with Catwoman and your father, Bruce Wayne, catches you while stealing jewels from a rich family," "Imagine passing notes to Harry in class").
2017, Millicent Lovelock, "You & I: One Direction, Fans and the Co-Construction of Identity", thesis submitted to the University of Otago, page 35:
In imagines both One Direction and fans become malleable, empty and essentially inhabitable identity signifiers, One Direction acting as voice boxes for fan desires and fantasies.
2018, Natali Cavanagh, "The Boys of Summer: My Life as a Closeted One Direction Fangirl", thesis submitted to Ball State University, page 19:
Imagines are different from fan fiction in that the subject of the story is always the reader.
2019, "thranduilsperkybutt", quoted in "Author Spotlight: thranduilsperkybutt", Lemon, February 2019, page 37:
If I get inspired immediately, I can bust out an imagine in 5-10 minutes.
2019, "maximumkillshot", quoted in "Author Spotlight: maximumkillshot", Lemon, March 2019, page 89:
If I have a prompt, like an imagine or a gif prompt the main idea is already given to me, so I don't necessarily treat it like a blank script, I treat it like a puzzle.
2021, Annie Pickup, "Fanfiction: a new era of literary criticism", The Boar (The University of Warwick), 26 October 2021, page 17:
It is difficult to picture Lord of the Rings 'imagines,' or Reylo smut alongside such classics as The Great Gatsby, or Pride and Prejudice.