The author suggests that fantasy holds creative potential when it remains intertwined with reality, meaning shaped and altered by interpersonal experience. Sustaining the tension between these two realms (fantasy and reality) allows the fantasy to remain engaged and present in our interactions with others. The sensory and visual dimensions of fantasy are highlighted, more specifically the mental imaginings, daydreams, or the conjuring up of images, imaginings that may not yet have nuanced descriptions or narratives. The author argues that it is shared, co-constructed fantasies between analyst and patient, ones born from the analytic couple, that symbolize undeveloped aspects of our selves and unarticulated affective experience. The destructive edge of fantasies is also examined with regard to the emergence of erotic fantasies in relation to trauma, including those occasions when fantasy breaks down, ruptured beyond repair.