To Dream a Dream
Traci Kenworth
I’ll admit it. Most of my story ideas come from dreams. It usually starts with a snippet then I know I have something when it continues to plague my sleep for days. Character’s names, looks, personality traits show up full-blown, ready to be explored. I don’t know how or why I dream what I do, but I’m sure glad I do. I’ve gotten some amazing writing out of just that quick snap of a scene that draws me in and captures my attention.
Some people might ask if I play one of the characters in my dreams. It kind of starts out that way, then I realize I’m seeing the “world” through their eyes and I’ll catch a glimpse of my hero/heroine or even villain. Sometimes, it’s just a bit player who comes to show me the way out of a terror-filled nightmare. Grateful as I am, I give them a role to play in my next-work-in progress.
There are times that dreams help me to figure something out that’s wrong with my story (a sort of unconscious tinkering on the problem until “boom” my vision clears and I see the way past.). I’m not sure if all writers do what I do, but it’s basically how I figure things outs when I reach a stumbling block.
So do your dreams help you past a sore spot? Deliver you the goods on an exciting premise? Or is there another way you come up with your stories? (Ideas also come to me when I’m watching TV, a movie, listening to music, or reading a book.) Always bounce your dream off what you know works as a whole in writing (I mean, sometimes a dreams just a dream).They can become that next popular novel, or fizzle if half-baked. There are times when dreams weave together too, strands of a rope. So catch on, let it drag you through the waters, and help you avoid those dreaded sharks of uncertainty. Good luck in your writing.
Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author 
This is very cool, that you come up with stories this way. I’ve only had that happen to me once. I woke up, jotted down everything I could remember, was very excited for awhile, and then a few days later it had completely fizzled. Most of my stories start with a question. What would happen if all the children in a community just disappeared? What if the dream world was an actual place that you visited each night? Kind of strange; they just pop into my head at odd times. Some have stories and others, when I try to follow them, go nowhere.
Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse
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I have this happen every now and again. But usually mine will be inspired by something I see on my LOOOONG car rides to and from work. Maybe a darkened road I have to travel, or some person I pass by. Sometimes, it’ll be a song I hear on the radio that inspires thoughts and ideas. Great post.
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Oooh, I told you about my spider incident recently, Rebekah. The ideas all come in different shapes and sizes, just happy they do. That darkened road brings up all sorts of possibilities…
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Becca, your way is amazing too. Most of the times (since I write horror) I get some terrifying dreams, sometimes I’d prefer not to, but then, when those ideas flow, I have to run with them.
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