Dreams and Creative Ideas

I never gave too much thought to how my dreams might affect my writing until I found myself stuck for a plot idea in a new fantasy novel I've been outlining. I tried for days to come up with the right idea, by drawing, charting out my thoughts and basically tearing my hair out. Finally, about a week ago, I fell asleep frustrated, deciding to give up on the story. But then, I woke up early in the morning after having the most vivid dream about how my protagonist would proceed through the story. I crawled out of bed and began writing. I only wished I'd had some writing materials beside the bed because I had to go all the way to my desk and I could feel my dream fading fast.

Have you used a dream in any of your stories? I now believe that our creative ideas don't always stop when we sleep. Our sub-conscious mind continues to work for us even when we sleep. When we dream, our ideas filter from our mind and become our dreams. The trick for me was to remember the dream in detail so I could create a plot line from it. I don't keep a dream diary as some people do, but I am going to have something beside my bed so I can write down my dreams when I wake up. I think the more often I do this, the better I'll become at getting the details. How about you?

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I'm having cataract surgery during the months of November and December, so I'm not sure how well I'll be able to see to type and read. But I'll try to keep my blog going, especially for Insecure Writer's Support Group. Things have been slow because of my eyes, but after the surgery they should be much better. See you next week!