Friday, April 25, 2014

Using Your Dreams for Inspiration


We all dream.  I'm not talking about wanting to be a published author with a great following, or anything like that.  I'm talking about when you are asleep and your subconscious is working for you.  Most of our dreams, we don't remember, and that's just the nature of them, but the ones we do remember?  They can be our inspiration for great things.

If you don't already do so, consider journaling them.  Or write them down in a note file on your phone or in your computer.  Jot down what you can remember, and file it away for later.  You might not think anything of it right now, but it might turn into something big later.  If it evoked feelings, write that down too.

The same thing goes with daydreams or random ideas that come to you during the day.  If you don't write them down, you are likely to forget them, which is sad.

The novel I'm working on editing today was inspired by a dream, which is why I bring it up.  It was the kind of dream that would terrify most people, and yes, I was scared.  But when I woke up, the first thought in my mind was, "I can USE this!!" and I wrote it down.  It was the beginning of my zombie creatures, different than any other zombie creatures I've read/seen before (not to say it hasn't been done, but I haven't seen it myself!).

I got a feel for how they moved, ate, operated in a group, and lived.  I understood why they were nocturnal, and got a feeling for how the unchanged humans might feel if their loved ones had changed and disappeared.  And I have used all of that.  The details in my book and in my dream are different, but the feeling is what I'm running with, and it inspired me to use that world as a setting for another story I'd wanted to do for a long time.

It's working out beautifully, and I just wanted to share that little tip!  Dreams.  Write them down.  You never know when they might be useful!

Happy writing!  And if you missed it, a few days ago, I posted the Prologue for this work in progress!  It's rather a fun read, and is a unique way to show the zombies for the first time.  It was a lot of fun to write!