Lately I’ve been having some pretty wicked dreams…very detailed…sometimes exciting, sometimes upsetting but always stuck in my mind when I wake up.
One dream I had the other night was so great that I jotted it down because the ideas that it spawned for a new project were incredible and exciting. I’ve been trying to sort out a plot for it ever since…and I think I’m on to something.
I know that there are a few authors out there (one famous one in particular) who claim that their grand, best selling ideas come from their dreams. I always found this concept interesting but never plausible for me. Usually I don’t remember a darn thing from dreamland. Well…not unless it has something to do with spiders…those creepers really freak me out. But lately my dreams have been almost narrating themselves and when I wake up there they are…fresh ideas rolling around in my head ready for some fleshing out.
I’m not complaining…it’s thrilling to have a new source of inspiration…even if I have absolutely no control over it.
What about you all…any inspirational things happening in your dreams?
Hmmm, the odd sequence plays out, a battle here and there, lines of poetry for a picture book or my brain just goes to 5AM humour. (The type thats very weird and possibly even illegal in most places. LOL)
ReplyDeleteOther than that I don't tend to remember dreams unless of course its to do with my teeth falling our or being covered in rats and bitten.
Actually, my best stories ideas have come through dreams. And weird enough, I have a sucky memory in real life, but I remember everything that happens in dreamland.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere there's tricks to remember your dreams. Might be worth the google :)
I have vivid, bizarre dreams. And an inordinate number of them seem to be about the end of the world. One of the first short stories I ever finished and submitted anywhere was almost entirely based on a dream It was a while later to figure out I needed more of a plot. . . (I was young!).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I have a lot of great imagery in my dreams, that I do find myself using.
Usually, I don't remember my dreams but one of my published short stories was inspired by a dream. And the other night I was in the middle of a dream where Johnny Depp was about to tell me something very important about my creativity when there was a very loud bang outside my window and I woke up. I'm still waiting to have that dream again and I'm still pissed off because I didn't find out what Johnny wanted to say.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty funny Diane - I'd be pissed too if Johnny was just about to tell me something in a dream!
ReplyDeleteI laughed at the Johnny comment too! That was a good dream Diane.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be remember my dreams. Some I do, and I wake up and I'm too tired to search for a pen and paper.
Unfortunately I've never been lucky enough to remember a great story idea that plays out from a dream to 'capture it'. :)
I haven't remembered any of my dreams for a while now, but I used to have vibrant epic dreams. I've used more than a few scenes from dreams as inspiration for stories. Sometimes when I'm stuck on a certain place in a story I project the story into my mind as I fall asleep and sometimes I'll dream the next scene. Then I just have to remember to write it down at once otherwise I lose it.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest keeping a journal next to your bed so that you can write it down as soon as you wake up. The more you do that the more often you'll remember your dreams.
Senior Year Bites was based on a dream. It's getting published this year :)
ReplyDeleteFirewolf/Julie
I have a whole book for ideas that I get from dreams. Sometimes they're great big long explanation filled things; other times it's just a snip of a dream. I dream about what I'm working on sometimes, but my dreams don't often work with the story either.
ReplyDeleteIf it works for you it works for you and you should use it.
I don't tend to gain inspiration while I'm asleep, but, sometimes, when I'm trying to fall asleep I'll be hit really hard with a first sentence or a plot sequence, so I keep a notebook by my bed now.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, one of two things happens: 1). I can't sleep, so I get up at 2am and write feverishly. 2). I lose the idea, and the next day when I sit down to write it's frustration city.
Sometimes I wish I could just dream and remember it, lol.