Thursday, February 11, 2010

Do You Dream?

I fell asleep ridiculously early last night and woke up again when my husband came to bed a couple hours later. In that short time I dreamed an amazing story with awesome characters, plot, and the best villain I've ever imagined. Just as the hero saved the day I was pulled back to reality and the first thing I thought was "I've got to write that down cuz that'll be an awesome story."

Then I washed my face groggily and it somehow all the amazing things my imagination had conjured rinsed down the drain with my makeup.

I can't remember anything about my dream except the feeling I had when I woke up. Even now my mind searches for an image or word that would connect to my sub-conscious and reveal those characters and story in my dream but there's nothing. Or rather, there is something but it's like mist that teases your parched tongue with water but never materializes into anything satisfying.

It seems that I must adopt the recommended habit of keeping pen and paper by my bed if I am to retain my sanity and ever actually write that bestseller novel.

Do you use dreams in your writing? Do you write down dreams or thoughts when you're half asleep?

2 comments:

N.E. Wilson said...

For me, a lot my ideas come from dreaming or I think of something as I'm falling asleep. I try to make myself get up and write it down. I have a little journal that I keep all my ideas in which is great and helps a lot. The novel I'm working on actually stemmed from this image I had in a dream and then I wrote that down first and then eventually it just expanded into my first unfinished novel. :) Another thing that I think is helpful to writers is to use writing prompts. Those help a lot too and you'd be surprised what you come up from a prompt. It might be a way to expand an idea you already have or something new. Good luck! Happy writing!

RZStoryLove said...

Avery - That is so interesting that your current novel is based on an image you dreamed. I tried that a few years ago but I couldn't manage to create a compelling enough story around the image I dreamed.

Writing prompts are wonderful tools. I think I'll track some down and start sharing them here...