I have a dream!

[English Lady]

Actually, I had a dream, took notes and I suspect it might turn into a very, very long story idea.

Have you ever had a dream inspire a story?


My first ever lit submission was a dream which drove me wild till I wrote it out. In recent times I've had two dreams that have notes on them and will eventually be )probably) novel length stories, possibly NaNo fodder.

If it doesn't hit you in the form of a dream, how does your inspiration hit?

 

[Belegon]

I almost never remember any of my nocturnal dreams...my stories generally grow out of a combination of waking fantasy and memory...

 

[English Lady]

I almost never remember any of my nocturnal dreams...my stories generally grow out of a combination of waking fantasy and memory...

Alot of mine are that too, I just get the odd dream that haunts me. I always remember at least a part of a dream when I wake up, most nights they're not worth the remembering if truth be known *L*

 

[sincerely_helene]

I almost never remember any of my nocturnal dreams...my stories generally grow out of a combination of waking fantasy and memory...

I read that as "wanking fantasy" at first glance.

 

[English Lady]

I read that as "wanking fantasy" at first glance.

attagirl

 

[NoJo]

I read that as "wanking fantasy" at first glance.

You should see what's grown out of my wanking fantasy. I need to go the doctor about it.

 

[sincerely_helene]

You should see what's grown out of my wanking fantasy. I need to go the doctor about it.

You're a real fun guy, eh?

By the way, dare I ox just what that is in your av?

 

[NoJo]

You're a real fun guy, eh?

By the way, dare I ox just what that is in your av?

Shut up and eat it.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Actually, I had a dream, took notes and I suspect it might turn into a very, very long story idea.

Have you ever had a dream inspire a story?

I submitted a story once that featured me as a homeless girl who gets "rescued" by a musician outside of a pub. He takes me to his recording studio and does all kinds of creative things with his instruments, and eventually even molds me into one of them.

Aside from dreams, most of my fantasies are based on images, stories, movies, and television series'. When I was younger I used to constantly pretend I was Miss Elizabeth from WWF wrestling and Macho Man Randy Savage would kidnap me, tie me to a chair, pull my head back by the hair, and force me to kiss him. Marty Janetty from the Rockers would always come rescue me just as Randy was sucking on my neck, readying himself to steal my virginity. Of course, I didn't write back then, though the ideas were still there.

 

[NoJo]

I used to remember my dreams often, and I'd keep a pen and pad by the bed to jot them down. Now, for some reason, I rarely remember any of my dreams. Dreams are definitely a well-spring of creativity.

 

[impressive]

I remember dreams. (Almost typed "all of" in there, but then thought: How would I know?) None have yet inspired a story or poem, because any "wet dreams" I've had were waking fantasies well before making an appearance in my sleeping dreams.

Most of my writing is inspired by fantasies, experiences, desires. Other times, a story line or sexual scenario will arise from a conversation (or a dare, even). The most recent being: "I'll bet you can't write a spanking scene that turns me on." (Won that bet, BTW. Heh.)

Interestingly, though, I write ABOUT dreams. My characters often dream.

 

[rgraham666]

Very unusual for me to remember a dream. My nightmares are usually something else. Too often I remember them.

One dream I had that I remember did inspire a story. One of my better ones too.

Otherwise, I can't really explain my creative process. Mostly it's just letting my mind wander where it will. Every so often, something crystalises enough to make a story out of.

 

[cloudy]

Most of my dreams are disjointed and nonsensical. One notable exception was the one with Colly featured as a CIA spy, with all these cool spy gadgets.

Hmmm.....may be a story in that one, at that.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I used to remember my dreams often, and I'd keep a pen and pad by the bed to jot them down. Now, for some reason, I rarely remember any of my dreams. Dreams are definitely a well-spring of creativity.

This really works. Keep a pencil and paper near your bed and write down the first thing you remember when you wake up, and in a couple days you'll be remembering your dreams. Guaranteed.

I dreamt about my story "Keeper of the Streets". Anti-depression medicine does all sorts of stuff to your dreams, and I'd just changed meds when I had a dream about a ghost office in the middle of the city, right out in the street. There were cubicles stretching as far as the eye could see, and that's where office workers went when they died, eternally shuffling ghost papers around and working on their ghost PC's.

In the dream a guy showed me a bag of frozen vegetables that had a big hole punched out of it. I knew immediately the way you do in dreams that someone was going to die, and that bag of vegetables filled me with horror. I tired to use that symbol in the story too, but it's hard to capture that certainty and clarity you get in dreams.

 

[English Lady]

thanks for the responses, it's fascinatin to find out how the inspirational juices flow.

And yeah, sorry Dr M but the bag of frozen veg isn't putting much fear into me right now, even with a whole in it!

 

[Boota]

I've never written a story from a dream, but there is a song on our first album that came from a dream. I woke up after dreaming about playing it on stage and hopped right out of bed and grabbed my guitar. In less than five minutes I had the entire song written, music and words. I played it for all my friends for months thinking it was someone else's song and I had unconsciously ripped it off. Finally, I was convinced that it was an original composition and we ran with it.

 

[Guest]

Have you ever had a dream inspire a story?

No, but some Litizens have inspired fantastic dreams; I even have my very own semi-professional dream interpreter . I can't tell you about them but what I appreciate about this kind of dream is how much sense they end up making, mostly through deciphering the interpolation of language and image. After all the study it's obvious I am talking to myself in my sleep. I love when that happens.

Perdita

 

[NoJo]

In the dream a guy showed me a bag of frozen vegetables that had a big hole punched out of it. I knew immediately the way you do in dreams that someone was going to die, and that bag of vegetables filled me with horror.

I get the surreal logic of that image immediately. Which points to Jung's theory of collective unconscious. And no, I'm not being facetious for once.

 

[NoJo]

I've never written a story from a dream, but there is a song on our first album that came from a dream. I woke up after dreaming about playing it on stage and hopped right out of bed and grabbed my guitar. In less than five minutes I had the entire song written, music and words. I played it for all my friends for months thinking it was someone else's song and I had unconsciously ripped it off. Finally, I was convinced that it was an original composition and we ran with it.

Sting reputedly wrote "Every Breath You Take" like that too.

Once I woke from a dream with a song fully-formed, only to find out on playing it to someone that it was a little-known George Harrison song which I'd forgotten that I'd heard.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

My dreams are seldom happy... like last time, when I woke up JUST as I was starting to make out with the cute guy on the tropical island.

My inspiration usually comes from pictures. I often draw people's faces, and all of a sudden I know what their story is about.

 

[Boota]

Sting reputedly wrote "Every Breath You Take" like that too.

Once I woke from a dream with a song fully-formed, only to find out on playing it to someone that it was a little-known George Harrison song which I'd forgotten that I'd heard.

I didn't know that about Every Breath You Take.

You're George Harrison song situation is exactly what I thought was happening. I'd play that song for everyone and ask them, "What is this song? Have you ever heard it?" After several months of everyone telling me that they thought it was mine I trusted them and we went ahead with it.