Dreams= Good novel ideas??

lemonhead · Sep 29, 2008

I am just wondering if this is common at all. Or if anyone's ideas came as a result of a dream?

I'm curious becuase my pregnancy dreams have been crazy! And I wake up thinking, wow that was such a good story I should be writing that!

jennifer75 · Sep 29, 2008

This happened to me Friday night. In my dream, I had a book idea. One that would would extend into a series of at least four books. And it all made sense. Each book had a direction and was fabulous. Then I woke up and thought, gee it really wasn't that fabulous. And as I tried to go over what was perfect in my dream, the idea slipped further and further away and finally I wasn't able to recall any of it.

So, my advice, get your lazy butt out of bed and write those dreams down because yes, they can make interesting stories. Some of them anyhow.

CaroGirl · Sep 29, 2008

Um, never for me. My dreams are too weird and are never anything anyone else could possibly care about.

NeuroFizz · Sep 29, 2008

I don't write erotica...

ChaosTitan · Sep 29, 2008

I've dreamed about current projects, and I've put bits of dreams into my WIP's. I'll take creative ideas from any outlet, including my nutzoid dreams.

The Lonely One · Sep 29, 2008

lemonhead said:
I am just wondering if this is common at all. Or if anyone's ideas came as a result of a dream?

I'm curious because my pregnancy dreams have been crazy! And I wake up thinking, wow that was such a good story I should be writing that!

Well, I think yes for several reasons; first, dreaming unconsciously and dreaming (tapping the subconscious) while writing are very similar processes. Albeit the second is more lucid and less vivid to the one experiencing it, both seem to be causally linked in the way your mind ticks.

I have had dreams that become stories (recently, in fact). There is one issue with turning a dream into a story, and that is that dreams are often unstructured, uncontrolled, cryptic and incomplete. In most instances, dreams seem to inspire stories, but cannot stand on their own as such.

Regardless, there is much discussion about the linkage dreams and works of art. Many writers keep "dream journals" by their pillows for this reason.

The Lonely One · Sep 29, 2008

CaroGirl said:
My dreams are too weird and are never anything anyone else could possibly care about.

I challenge that statement.

redpbass · Sep 29, 2008

I used to have this recurring dream about a group of people living in a large system of drainage pipes in a sort of dystopian future where the world was corrupt and everyone was poor and etc. It would make for a great series of books if I built on it.

I also had another dream that would make for a pretty good supernatural sort of novel.

So yeah, I do that a lot. Not pregnant though. Or a woman, for that matter.

And always write them down right away! Chances are that even as you write the ideas will fade and disappear so you should get as much as possible as quickly as you can.

alyssalynne · Sep 29, 2008

Many of the locations in my current WIP came from a dream. It's a good idea to keep notes of cool dreams and use them in your work.

Ugawa · Sep 29, 2008

Not a dream, but u came up with the idea of my novel while listening to a song and imagining things in my head *No i don't hear voices, lol.*

XX

bramble · Sep 29, 2008

I haven't used a dream to start a new story, but I often wake up with scenes for my WIP all laid out. Those sure flow easily from brain to page!

Guess my mind doesn't take the night off.

vixey · Sep 29, 2008

NeuroFizz said:
I don't write erotica...

Maybe you should . . .

To the OP: I understand that Stephanie Meyers dreamed a scene about Edward and Bella sitting in a field and that's how she came up with the first Twilight book. I find the random musings that float through my mind upon waking inspire me to write that day. It's when I have to hit the ground running in the a.m. that I feel stymied.

NeuroFizz · Sep 29, 2008

vixey said:
Maybe you should . . .

They'd come off too much like the Penthouse Forum stories.

And then the rest of the all-girl cheerleader squad showed up...

Phaeal · Sep 29, 2008

I'm working on two stories right now that originated in dreams. The first dream was extremely vivid and detailed, and I wrote out a sketch of it the next day. The story retains some elements of the dream, but has gone its own way. The first dream was vaguer, but I remembered one line that will remain the last sentence in the short story.

Dreams that seem like good story fodder go immediately into my master Plot Bunny list, along with ideas garnered from reading, newspapers and magazines, TV and radio, observations, conversations, meditations, etc.

Prior to Stephenie Meyers, perhaps the most famous dream-inspired piece was Coleridge's "Kubla Khan": "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree..." Coleridge asserted that this poem came to him in an opium-induced dream, but he may have worked on it over many years, and a famous work of literary criticism (The Road to Xanadu, John Livingston Lowes) explores sources for many of the poem's images in Coleridge's omnivorous reading. Where do the subconscious and conscious meet and merge? Ever a fascinating question.

C.M. Daniels · Sep 29, 2008

I've never written a novel from a dream, but I've had a couple of neat short stories start that way. I keep a pen and paper on my night stand for this very reason.

vixey · Sep 29, 2008

C.M. Daniels said:
I keep a pen and paper on my night stand for this very reason.

I've started to do this too. It saves me lying awake trying to burn the ideas into my memory so I don't forget them when I wake up.

gypsyscarlett · Sep 29, 2008

The Lonely One said:
Well, I think yes for several reasons; first, dreaming unconsciously and dreaming (tapping the subconscious) while writing are very similar processes. Albeit the second is more lucid and less vivid to the one experiencing it, both seem to be causally linked in the way your mind ticks.

I have had dreams that become stories (recently, in fact). There is one issue with turning a dream into a story, and that is that dreams are often unstructured, uncontrolled, cryptic and incomplete. In most instances, dreams seem to inspire stories, but cannot stand on their own as such.

Regardless, there is much discussion about the linkage dreams and works of art. Many writers keep "dream journals" by their pillows for this reason.

Waves hello. :hi:

My trustee pen and journal are always beneath my pillow.

gypsyscarlett · Sep 29, 2008

Phaeal said:
Prior to Stephenie Meyers, perhaps the most famous dream-inspired piece was Coleridge's "Kubla Khan": "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree..." Coleridge asserted that this poem came to him in an opium-induced dream, but he may have worked on it over many years, and a famous work of literary criticism (The Road to Xanadu, John Livingston Lowes) explores sources for many of the poem's images in Coleridge's omnivorous reading. Where do the subconscious and conscious meet and merge? Ever a fascinating question.

Another example: Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

Straka · Sep 29, 2008

Too weird. Too violent. Too violently weird and occasionally to weirdly violent.

And that character development is appalling.

Samantha's_Song · Sep 29, 2008

I touched upon the weird dreams I've had in my life on here the other day, but have never put any of them into stories yet

Actually, I had a really strange dream the other night: I dreamt that I owned a hotel, dunno why, that's something I've never wanted to do? Anyway, I wasn't very pleased with some of the guests or workers there and had a rash of chucking them out and sacking them.
Inside this hotel was this great big black pot, like a cauldron with a big lid on it, except it had no bottom to it and seemed to go into the depths of the earth. We were using it to throw rubbish in, and I don't know why, but I had chucked one of the employers or guests in there. Later on I was trying to throw an old sofa's cushions into the pot and was pushing it down because it was practically full up (probably all the other ex workers and guests lol). All of these deep purple ashes were coming up out of the top of the pot, it was beautiful. But I could hear the young man, I'd thrown in earlier, saying how dark it was in there. He sounded really scared. I plonked the pot lid back on and made a mental note to myself to go and pull him out later on, thinking that maybe this pot thing went to the depths of Hell. I also thought that maybe I could be pulling a demon out along with the young man... But I woke up before I could save him anyway.

I don't think I'm insane? :Shrug:

Aschenbach · Sep 29, 2008

I have used images from dreams in stories. Dreams are a great source of striking and (quite literally) nightmarish imagery. But i've never based a whole story on a dream.

Calamity_Jones · Sep 29, 2008

I sleep with a notebook and a pen nearby. If I get a cool idea, I snatch the pen and paper and scribble away. I usually don't turn on the light, so it's always fun trying to decipher my own handwriting in the morning

Chasing the Horizon · Sep 29, 2008

My newest project (still outlining) is based on a dream. It was a very involved and detailed dream, and was extremely lucid. Normally when weird things happen in dreams I don't seem to really recognize and react to them as weird, but in this one I very much did. Most of the set-up for the novel and many of the key scenes came directly from the dream. The dream didn't supply a 'why' to go with all the whats, but I didn't have any trouble coming up with that once I was awake.

I don't ever write down ideas from dreams until I've thought about them for a few days and confirmed they're good enough. If I can't remember the idea after the dream fades, then it wasn't worthwhile to begin with.

Diviner · Sep 29, 2008

I get impressive metaphors from dreams. The stories seem useful, but I have never used them, though I have used the metaphors. Last night I got some images which will definitely show up in my work. My dreamwork is imagist rather than plot or character oriented.

A notebook and pencil by the bed are really useful.

Red-Green · Sep 29, 2008

I have in fact had two dreams that were like little movies, except that I could actually get inside the characters' heads and see why they were doing what they were doing. When I woke up, I wrote them both down and they turned out to be pretty decent stories. One has actually been published.

Dreams= Good novel ideas??

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