I have many story ideas and as crazy as it may sound, most of the ideas come to me in dreams. Recently, I had a crazy dream about traveling back in time and falling in love with a high school friend. The dream involved a train as transportation from present to past. Just add a few what-ifs to that scenario and we have ourselves a story. (Or a weird depiction of Back to the Future part three).
Before that dream, I had a dream about being held in some kind of controlled and dangerous community against my will and desperately trying to help my lover escape to find help. In the dream I wore a mood ring that doubled as a looking glass that either showed me the present or predicted the future regarding my lover. Through the ring, I watched him find another community and instead of getting help, he forgot about me and fell in love with a woman from that community.
Now tell me I don’t have a vivid imagination even while sleeping.
Some of my best ideas come from my dreams. And a little FYI, my dreams are very vivid and detailed. Ask my husband, he gets new, exciting stories every morning thanks to my dreams. I’m so in tuned with my dreams, long ago I created a technique to remember every dream I have. I can even wake myself from a deep sleep during a nightmare. Occasionally, I can change the outcome of a dream or mold it to my liking with what’s called lucid dreaming.
I enjoy dreaming. It’s beneficial to me. It takes me to new worlds, allows me to experience new things, and it serves as an outlet or release for my pent-up emotion . . . kind of like creative writing.
I’ve been intrigued by dreams since I was a teenager. I’ve read handfuls of books on dreaming and interpreting dream symbols. My favorite was a dream dictionary. I don’t remember a thing I read but it was fun.
It can sound a little crazy but even Stephanie Myers admits that the idea for her bestseller Twilight came to her in a dream.
Interesting.
(Edited to delete nutty rambling.)
Every night I look forward to what the dream world has for me. I wonder what crazy ideas will come to me in the form of dreams so I can incorporate those ideas into interesting stories to share. Next time you’re looking for ideas for your next novel or short story try turning to your dreams for assistance.
Leslie Lee Sanders
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