Do you get inspired by dreams?

[writersaurus]

I have had a few dreams in the past that have kick-started inspiration for a story. One I have in mind was a dream I had years ago where it was a wedding reception, and people began to fade in thin-air. And I changed it into a story where it was some mystical phenomenon where people were being transported an alien dimension. Of course, the story no longer exists. But I can still remember the dream. Weird, right?

So, my question is, who here has taken inspiration from their dreams? Please, spare no detail. (Because I also love to hear about people's dreams!).

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Not by dreams, per se. I usually don't remember dreams, but day dreaming, mind drift, that kind of thing. Things occur quite a bit when I'm driving, including, but not limited to: living in rural area, country road with greenery on both sides, people insist on going walking or running in camoflage gear or what amounts to camoflage gear. I can assure them, it works, particularly at spots where bright turns to shade with trees alongside the road. I would also say to these people that wearing something that gets noticed is generally a better idea where there's often not room for two cars to pass without at least brushing against the hedges lining the road. I once stopped to tell a guy that he was invisible at dusk and I only knew he was there because his dog's eyes lit up in my headlights.

So, I wrote a story about a guy lying dead in a field, unnoticed for months. It failed miserably at the contest in old .org but did get published in an online magazine and I got paid zero euros (not sure what that is in other currencies). I still like that story, though, and it came about from thinking what would happen if a driver failed to see one of those walkers/joggers at the last minute and swerve to avoid them.

 

[Trish]

Day dreaming is definitely a common way I land on ideas, much like Rigor stated, but there have been actual dreams that inspired a scene or two. The book I'm currently working on, the opening is from a dream I had. I have a lot of dreams and also remember a lot of them, so I'm sure some of the random ideas that pop into my head probably started there and I just don't remember.

 

[Mr Mononoke]

Hello @writersaurus

I have had many dreams and nightmares that have become stories. Many, with hindsight, delved into a lot of issues that was running in my mind at that time. I had a lot of stresses, over worked and tired for many years and naturally they formed into stories in which I would wake up just to type a few things onto my phone (I'll compose an email to myself) of this dream because it concerned me enough to wake me up.

One dream I had I wrote and entered it into a comp. I didn't win and placed 3rd I believe, but I was marked down because of the dark nature of the story.

I wrote (and dreamed) that I was holding a knife. It was dark (my dreams are often poorly lit places) and I could only make out this room from the moonlight peeking in. I looked out the window and I saw my reflection and the sheen of the blade...

I woke up then because I knew what would happen next.

In the story I entered, I elaborated it a little in that there was someone standing behind me silently watching and in the end I actually cut my own wrist and left it like that!

I scored poorly for my SPaG as I hadn't quite mastered (and I'm still learning) how to create that space needed to find the clarity to read the story without an emotional attachment so I missed a few words and wrote some clunky lines.

But I have many stories that are born from dreams.

How about you? Would love to hear one that inspired a story.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Very few, I would say. I have dreamed/remembered at increasingly lower rates with less vividity as I've gotten older. I also don't sleep much. Maybe 5 hours. Any more and I feel sluggish.

 

[Naja Noir]

I have vivid dreams, more often when I was younger, but still do once or twice a week. I like to think they are visions of past lives, but who knows for sure.

I dream a lot about being on another planet. Usually its raining fire, from asteroids or war, sometimes it's hard to tell. I've run out of oxygen there. Gone to war there. Been hit by an asteroid there, but I still like going back.

I wrote a story about a woman that goes through a portal into her past life and takes it over as the rightful queen. It was based in the world from my dreams. Story didn't do to well, so I kind of let it go. But I had plans to make more out of it. Neat place to close my eyes and see. I have other dreams that might get told at some point, mostly nightmares though. We'll see.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I can honestly say I have never got one single idea from my dreams. I wish I did!

 

[Set2Stun]

Oh, this is a fun thread. Since I was a kid, I've had extremely vivid, often lucid dreams. It can be very disturbing when I don't realize it's make-believe right away. It's only when unrealistic nonsense happens that I realize it's a dream and I can have some fun with it - ie. I'm flying again, there's zombies, I'm killing soldiers, etc.

It sometimes happens a couple times a week, but there can be weeks and months between such occurrences. Seems to be really random. I remember a lot of it when I wake up, especially when I am shocked by a horrific event into wakefulness, and I grab my phone and jot it down in my notepad before it goes away. If I go back to sleep again quickly, it's usually gone forever.

I've used these strange experiences in stories over the past couple of years. The original ones, anyway. There are often these recurring themes that aren't very creative or interesting, involving trying to navigate architectural mazes like airports and shopping malls and never getting anywhere. Trying to find a place to pee (), a way to get home, avoiding getting involved in crime/violence that I am observing, that kind of thing. Always a relief when I remember that I can fly and yeet myself outta those situations.

The rarest and most shocking ones which always result in a sweaty, instantaneous return to consciousness, is when I am killed or am about to be killed. One that I'll never forget from my childhood involved me hiding in my closet, feeling and hearing these bombs being dropped, closer and closer, louder and more intense, clearly being dropped in a line in my direction. And the last one that hits blows my bedroom apart and I can feel myself on fire, burning, dying, and then BAM I'm awake.

 

[buttercream]

Rarely. My dreams are usually too stupid and/or vague to make any sense out of.

The only one I considered developing into something was about a young human boy who was a DJ at a monster party. It'd make for a cute short story, but I'm not sure I'll actually write it.

 

[writersaurus]

Oh, this is a fun thread. Since I was a kid, I've had extremely vivid, often lucid dreams. It can be very disturbing when I don't realize it's make-believe right away. It's only when unrealistic nonsense happens that I realize it's a dream and I can have some fun with it - ie. I'm flying again, there's zombies, I'm killing soldiers, etc.

It sometimes happens a couple times a week, but there can be weeks and months between such occurrences. Seems to be really random. I remember a lot of it when I wake up, especially when I am shocked by a horrific event into wakefulness, and I grab my phone and jot it down in my notepad before it goes away. If I go back to sleep again quickly, it's usually gone forever.

I've used these strange experiences in stories over the past couple of years. The original ones, anyway. There are often these recurring themes that aren't very creative or interesting, involving trying to navigate architectural mazes like airports and shopping malls and never getting anywhere. Trying to find a place to pee (), a way to get home, avoiding getting involved in crime/violence that I am observing, that kind of thing. Always a relief when I remember that I can fly and yeet myself outta those situations.

The rarest and most shocking ones which always result in a sweaty, instantaneous return to consciousness, is when I am killed or am about to be killed. One that I'll never forget from my childhood involved me hiding in my closet, feeling and hearing these bombs being dropped, closer and closer, louder and more intense, clearly being dropped in a line in my direction. And the last one that hits blows my bedroom apart and I can feel myself on fire, burning, dying, and then BAM I'm awake.

I've had a dream where I was surrounded by fire - then it became 3rd person, where I was watching my own blackened skeleton in the flames. Very weird!

 

[Naja Noir]

The only one I considered developing into something was about a young human boy who was a DJ at a monster party. It'd make for a cute short story, but I'm not sure I'll actually write it.

That's amazing and you should write it. I've always wondered what aliens would think of music, would be fun to read.

 

[Naomasa298]

Not directly. I sometimes have quite complex dreams with a consistent narrative that actually make sense - but I don't remember them for very long after I wake up. By the time I'm alert enough to note anything down, I'll have forgotten it.

But what I *do* remember is the emotion that dream made me feel, and that, combined with the fragments I recall, can form the basis for a story.