I don’t know if this is the place, but I have a question about a mental thing that I have never ever read anything about … maladaptive daydreaming is as close as I could get… It’s nothing ‘bad’…it’s life-long alternate reality fantasy life. The people are the same year after year, they live a wonderful life with its ups and downs, and they’re like the family you would love or hate to have. Like a whole cast of characters. Like an outline of a novel you would just love to write, but its all in your head , Is there a name for this kind of thing?
I don’t know if there’s a name for it other than “imaginary worlds”, but I think a lot of people (though not everybody) have worlds, and/or societies, and/or casts of characters in their heads; some people turn these into actual published writing, others for various reasons don’t.
I’ve got several stories/worlds in my head and some of the characters for them, which I keep coming back to over years; the oldest of these started in my childhood, though it’s changed a great deal from its origins. But there isn’t just one of them, and I don’t follow the people day to day – it’s more like a set of scenes about particular happenings or issues, which I come back to and go over, maybe editing them, and add additional scenes to from time to time, but which I never worked out an entirely clear set of connections inbetween though I do work on trying to sometimes.
Some pieces of some of this I’ve written down, and even shown to other people; others I haven’t, and some I probably never will.
Is that the sort of thing you’re describing?
And I don’t know what you think is maladaptive about it. Is it getting in the way of something else in your life?
Walter Mitty Syndrome?
Oh lord.
I was alone as a kid…even with several sibs and a big family.
I had imaginary friends and imaginary worlds I would go to. Under stressful times it helped me cope.
I’ve done it as an adult. It’s not very fruitful but some of my worlds give me peace. They’re like old friends. So I do it.
I call it “Daydreaming”
Thank you for your response!
I was reading something and ‘maladaptive daydreaming’ was mentioned. I thought, is that what I have?..I have lived with this other world and its people in it for decades, I’ve never mentioned it to anyone because I had no words to describe without sounding crazy. It doesn’t get in the way… My imaginary people have interesting intricate families, and jobs, and do all kinds of normal things. It’s like I’m reading a novel or watching a movie in my head…(example: My main man, my fantasy man, is rich and famous, he hires a personal assistant who shows up at his mansion, and the assistant meets my fantasy man’s odd family. They all have backstories and biographies, make my guy’s life very interesting.). This scenario is always in my head in the background, I think about how things pan out for my characters off and on. No, no, they are not ‘real’ - they just live inside my head, their lives are so interesting…if only I could translate it into a story but I’ve tried and I am no Stephen King, lol.
I once tried to describe it to my husband, and he said, ‘oh, we all daydream! We all imagine getting the gold medal, or being a movie star, or climbing Mt. Everest.’…it’s not like that. My fantasy world has been co-existing in the back of my head since I was in my teens. They’ve changed a bit over the years. They’re very quiet, they don’t interfere with my day-to-day… But say I see a video of a man riding on a beautiful Palomino horse. Later, I might imagine my main character doing the same, and his sweetheart trots alongside on another horse, down the beach (like they did in Planet of the Apes) .
Have you tried asking for ChatGPT’s help? 
In answer to the OP, I’ve heard “rich fantasy lives” used to describe it.
Rich Fantasy Lives, cover by Vixy and Tony
A paracosm:
“Maladaptive” would be if it interferes with work, relationships, or other daily activities.
I know someone who had a big, ongoing fantasy world that was interfering. Their therapist had them illustrate and write it down, which broke its hold and was their first published novel.
My suggestion is to take a couple of creative writing classes at your local adult education. Start with short stories. The instructor and your classmates will give you constructive feedback.
The only drawback to this would be when you get completely enveloped in your stories. Because then you’ll be back here posting about your family being concerned that you are talking to yourself…a LOT.
~VOW
This is definitely something I’ve heard writers do. I don’t do it myself, but it’s not uncommon. I think it’s kinda cool. Beats my own “maladaptive daydreaming” which is much more unsettling.
I just envy writers who get ideas all the time. I’ve never been like that.
This is the first time I’ve ever read anything about this, thank you! It’s a pretty good description. ‘Paracosm’…I remember ‘Heavenly Creatures’ and thought, ok, that’s something… I was beginning to think it was just ME (who has had a small, sad life with few friends or nice family, so I kind of made one up).
Thank you, all who made suggestions, this is very illuminating.
Thanks for the word! I didn’t know there was one.
Hate to break it to you guys but y’all aren’t real, you only exist inside my imagination.
That’s not a requirement to have such an internal world. I have what you describe, it’s quite fantastic. I’ve even started a couple of threads here trying to work out this and that detail.
I thought I read about it on this board, but according to the search it’s only been used once before, and that was a quote from Wikipedia. Now I wonder where I read about it first. Maybe one of Oliver Sacks’ books. Seems like something he’d write about.
Possibly Reddit if you’re over there. There’s a sub just for sharing your worlds.
I recall this being a plot point on “Ally McBeal” once. The lady was a friend of Ally’s; they were close enough that she had shared her inner world. Ally asked about the well-being of her husband and child exactly as if they existed in meat-space. It was quite illuminating.
That memory was then triggered when I saw “What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams. The movie’s plot is very confusing but assuming that Robin needed to join his wife in her imaginary world kind of made it make sense for me.
Anyway, all that to say, it can’t possibly be such a rare thing then, can it? They obvs expected a large enough audience to understand that they made mass-market media about it.
I haven’t seen the movie so I can’t speak to it, but I have to imagine that any fiction author builds at least modest paracosms for their books. Tolkein obviously built an incredibly detailed one, to the extent that it reads like he’s just documenting the history of it. But even a more modest book has a cast of characters that need to interact in believable ways, goings-on in their world that don’t happen in ours, etc. Not quite a huge, persistent world, but somewhere in the vicinity.
The video game Myst also presents a paracosm that’s somehow been made real.
Fred Roger’s Land of Make-Believe sustained his career for several decades.